Evening star., 1925-02-16
CAVE LATERAL CUT
CLOSE TO COLLINS;
GUARDS INCREASED
Doctors Ready to Enter
Shaft If Victim Found Alive.
Rescue PeriIs Increase.
HARD WORK EXPECTED
AFTER HE is REACHED
Voices in Old Tunnel Direct Dig.
glng Accurately Now-Less
Than 10 Feet to Go.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
CAVE CITY, February 16.-Sur
mounting serious obstacles and over
coming large falls, 1t now remains a
question of cubic yards and time
until Floyd Collins rescue party ex-
poets to reach the void which will
lead directly to him, said an official
bulletin today. However, as it re-
quires an hour to remove cubic yard
OF material, immediate results in
reaching Collins must not be ex-
pected, the bulletin said.
Additional soldiers were assigned
to guard duty around the Sand Cave
area this morning. This is the first
time that the guard has been in
creased since official reports were is
sued that rescue workers had found
assures and laterals extending from
the side of the shaft being sunk to
bring Floyd Collins from his trap.
Homer Collins, brother of Floyd.
broke by the military guard and al
most succeeded in reaching and going
down the shaft when a rumor reach
ed him that Floyd was being brought
up the shaft.
Medical Aid at Hand.
John Gerald, one of the last to see
Collins, said that it would take sew
eral hours hard work to release him
when he was reached, either in front
or behind.
Physicians plans include medical
treatment down in the cave, occupy
ing perhaps an hour or more, if the
fain,sst spark of life is found. Slim
ulants will be administered and
everything possible done to prepare
him for the shock of removal through
the narrow tunnel
No sign of Collins being alive has
been reported since Friday, when four
men testified before the State mill
tary inquiry that they heard him
cough and gasp. The sound amplifier
test failed last Wednesday. Collins
has not been fed for IL days and last
talked to the rescue party IL days
ago.
Inquest 10 PiaEaed.
An inquest will be called at the
scene Immediately. in event Collins
should be dead when found, 1t was
announced by Magistrate Clay Tur-
ner. He said that the jury would then
adjourn to Cave City to hear testi-
mony of other witnesses.
poets to continue sessions after the
finding of Collins to complete it's
record.
DR.. William Hazlett of Chicago will
not be the only physician to go to
Collins when found. Two medical
officers of the 149th Infantry arrived
here Sunday from Bowling Green.
They were Maj. NJ. NJ. Moss and Capt.
c. E. Francis. At conference today
T~1I fa+ 80
Floyd, and the aged parent said he
would leave it to the military. 1t was
then arranged that Maj. Moss and
Capt. Francis would go with Dr.
Hazlett to Collins as soon as 1t was
possible.
Early Statement To-day.
The official statement. by H. T..
Carmichael, NJ. E. S. Posey and Gen.
! H. H. Denhardt, follows:
Results In the lateral heading last
night are very encouraging and at a
distance of IL feet from the main
shaft an attempt is being made to
! break through the limestone roof and
drift vertically into the avenue, the
the Core drill log.
! Much trouble was encountered
during the last few feet of the head
! ing and falls were numerous, but it is
| being well timbered and is considered
safe.
! undications are sand will be found
| in the avenue which will facilitate
work, but progress from this time
forward will necessarily be slow, as
material must be relayed in a mar
row passage from man to man to the
| bucket in the main shaft 1t is
! thought the avenue referred to above
! is an extension or branch of the orig
! inal Sand Cave channel in which Col
Inns is, and it is thought that the
rescuing parties cannot be more than
10 feet from him.
! Hour to Move One Yard.
However, as conditions are such
as to require one hour to transport
one cubic yard of material from the
face of the heading to the bucket in
the shaft, immediate results in reach
ing Collins must not be expected.
ut is felt that the most serious of
obstacles has been surmounted and
that it is now only a question of GU
bic yards and time until Collins Is
reached"
One of the greatest difficulties con.
fronting experienced engineers in the
rescue shaft, to determine closely
the direction from the shaft where
FLOYD Collins lies imprisoned, Is
being solved Shouts between Sand
Cave tunnel and the shaft now form
the chief guide for the engineers.
Danger in Soft Mud.
The other great difficulty. ane
danger, too, is the instability OF th'
almost liquid mud encountered at B;
feet. In digging the sloping latera
tunnel the mud was too soft to sup
port the big limestone boulders en-
countered and many cave-ins oc'
Cured before the roof and walls
were braced securely.
Looking toward Sand Caves
mouth. up the little ravine north
the shaft is about 15 feet in from
Of the cave Almost in the middle oi
the intervening space is the 70-foo
drill hole which indicated s-fool
cavern at that depth.
The As degree sloping lateral now
being opened toward this caverr
slants slightly to the northwest, bu
itself twists somewhat because tn,
engineers decided to go around the
largest boulders instead of removing
them.
Il Today's first official bulletin sale
that the lateral had been pushed /:
feet toward the cavern and Collins.
r The only newspaper man to go dowr
the shaft since the lateral was decid
\ ID -