The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-02-13
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Nome and Kentucky Stage
Dramatic Stories Help
for Chicago Drainage.
BY EDWARD W. PlcKARp

BY EDWARD w. PlcKARD
DUBLIC attention was centered on
= two events that, while not of great
Importance generally, were dramatic in.
the extreme and even agonizing. These
were the heroic relief of diphtheria-
stricken Nome by mushers and their
dog teams carrying fresh supplies Of
antitoxin; and the trapping of Floyd
Collins In Sand cave, in Kentucky, and
the desperate efforts to extricate him.
The ice-bound Alaska town was at
tackled by an epidemic of diphtheria
and its small supply Of serum was
soon exhausted. Appeals for more met
with instant response, but the supply
had to be sent across hundreds of
miles Of snow and ice-c0vered coun-
try. The best mushers of the north
offered the services of themselves and
their teams. Leonard Seppala with
his champion dogs started the great
relay race against death and made
record-breaking time despite the ex-
IRENE cold and the raging blizzard. He
disregarded warnings not to cut across
the breaking ice Of Norton bay, and
delivered the package of serum to
Charlie Olson at Golofnin. Olson car
ried it to the village Of Bluff, on the
other side Of Cape Nome from the town
of Nome, and there he was met by
Gunnar Kasson, who made the last lap
Of fifty-fiye miles under conditions that
caused him to describe 1t as the tough
est trip he ever had in his Fl years Of
experience as musher. His malamutes
half wolf-were led by the famous
BALTIC, who followed the trail unerring-
ly though Kasson could not see his
hand before his face. Gunnar passed
through the villages of Solomon and
Safety without stopping, unaware Of
the fact that relays were waiting there,
and in the early morning hours the
heroic driver and his great-hearted
dogs dashed into Nome with the life
saving antitoxin. The people of Amer
lea will not soon forget the relief of
Nome and the gallantry of Seppala,
Olson and Kasson and their dogs.
ELOYDi COLLINS plight in the Ken
= lucky cave was SO extraordinary
and the week-long effort to extricate
him was so frantic and from the be-
ginning so apparently hopeless that
every line of news from Cave City was
read with avidity. The man was max
ing his way through long passage SO
narrow that there was barely room for
his body, when large boulder fell up
on one Of his feet, pinning him down.
For "a hours he struggled and called
for help before he was discovered; and
then it was speedily found that
rescuers could not get at the boulder
because Collins body blocked the way
completely. Hundreds Of men gathered
there and worked desperately, but nee
essarily one at time, and meanwhile
the trapped man was kept supplied with
food. Mining engineers and surgeons
Chicago, and the state militia authori-
ties took. charge, but no one could de-
wise a scheme for the liberation of the
unfortunate man. Further shifting of
the rock formation then caused the
floor Of the cave to rise in such way
that he seemed to be permanently en-
tombed, and those in charge of the
rescue work decided the only chance
to reach him was by sinking shaft
from the top of the hill. 1t was adj
mitted this would probably be fatal
to Collins, but at this writing it is be-
lieved he already is dead. The new
bulge in the rock floor had completely
closed the passage not far from him
and it was thought it might have
crushed him. He had called family to
his friends to ''go home and go to bed"
CHICAGO sanitary district officials
~ have made formal application to
Secretary of War Weeks for authori-
cation to withdraw 10000 cubic feet
of water second from Lake Michigan
through the drainage canal. and the
War department will hold hearings ON
the matter shortly. Coincidentally,
special committee Of the senate in
dorsed the Construction and main
tenance Of nine-foot channel in tine