The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-02-18
Sand Cave Slowly
Closing in on Body
of Floyd Collins
(Continued from page ~

CONTINUED from page ID
shelterng canopy, yawned silently
as he gazed.
Rev. Roy II. Biser of Glasgow, a
neighboring community, climbed to
a stump to open the scriptural ser
vice, and motion picture camera
started to whirr.
Brotherhood Of Man Revealed
At the outer fringe of the group
stood sentinel with his rifle. Huge
rocks were the benches of the out
door chapel.
Men who had spent days in the
struggle, unshaved and muddy in APP
pearance, barred their heads in the
chilling breeze. The prayer was Of
fered. The little gathering of $50
men and women heard Rev. Biser
tell them "they were standing on this
precipice in the midst of death" and
listened to him give thanks "for the
brotherhood of man as manifested
by those who have risked their lives
on this site
Mental comfort for the Collins
family was besought and then Mrs.
Ira D. Weathers of Cave City, sang
a solo.
Newspaper telephones, but recently
installed all over the hillside, rang
:nans wered from various tree sta
tions. A soft wind rustled the dried
brown leaves and carried the song
off down the valley.
Romance of Mankind Itself
The story of Floyd Collins, un-
certain in its outcome, uncertain even
from day to day, Reverend Biser re-
ferred to as paralleling the romance
o. mankind itself No other incident
within memory, he said, has brought
so many prayers from the brother
hood of man for one fellow man trap
ped underground.
'Floyd loved the caverns and
caves; loved them as some of US love
flowers and the BIRDS" he continued.
"Now he is enshrined in his sarco-
phagus of stone where his body lies
in peace"
at was Floyd's wish to be buried
in cave the speaker added, and
then related dream which Mr.. Col
Inns said his son recently experien
ced, a dream that angels came and
took him away from a cave where he
was imprisoned.
Heroic deeds have laid a perma-
nent monument for the whole coun~
try in the exhibitions of courage
and stamina revealed for 10 days at
Sand cave" Rev. c. X. Dickey, Of
Horse Cave said. He supplemented
e. Reverend Biser's statement that the
spot would forever be sacred to the
memory of him who had called forth
SO much loving kindness.
Services Last IS Minutes
J. F. Van Cleve of Glasgow, spoke
in voice so low that the trickling
Of water down an opposite hillside
only emphasized the solemnity of
the occasion. Faint clicks from cam
: eras were audible as Van Cleve told
softly of how men emerging from
: the rescue shaft had dropped like
dead on their cots night after night.
The remainder was short. Rever-
!. end Dickey conducted the committal,
and A. F.. Pearson, Glasgow un-
dertaker, dropped piece of ash,
tiny fluttering fern and a bit of
cdICu DIS rloyu uuSccH 'IcUldlHS were
; committed to his maker.
Fifty-five minutes had elapsed
J when the final "amen" brought the
closing of 1.-THE services.
. Such was the last hour of spiritual
! tribute to Floyd Collins. A few more
!. hours and his. body will have been
: sealed in its tomb deep in the earth
below. A block of concrete will be
: permitted to solidify in the lateral,
leading from the rescue shaft, while
!. the shaft proper will be filled with
. rock and earth. The entrance to the
cave will be boarded shut with heavy
timbers and Floyd Collins hence
forth will rest undisturbed.,
UNNECESSARY RISK.
Cleveland, Feb. 18.-Poor judg-
!. ment he used in going into the pas
sage in wet weather cost Floyd Col
. Inns his life, Prof. Jesse E. Hyde of
the Department of Geology, Western
! Reserve University. declared last
. night. ~
Prof. Hyde, who was guided
! through Crystal Cave by Collins last
! summer, said he would have been
|. safe in the summer months when the
boulders which imprisoned him
would have been eemented in dry
) clay. d
YOUNGER NJ. P's.
Eat s- ~, n