Tragedy of Sand Cave
Chapter 8:
Nature Trumps the Second Trick

There was nothing particularly sensational concerning the prosaic entry of Henry St. George Tucker CARMICHAEL, who first came to Sand Cave along toward the middle of the afternoon of February 3. A battered Ford touring car skidded wildly through the muddy field and came to a stop quite near the brow of the precipice overlooking Death Valley. A somewhat frail man attired in a well-worn sheep-skin coat and high-toped boots of his profession, ruddy of countenance, iron-gray hair surmounded by a battered felt hat, stepped from the machine, walked to the edge of the cliff and gazed for a moment upon the chaotic scene below. Have you ever glimpsed the steel blue of a winter sky? Such is the color of CARMICHAEL'S eyes. Have you ever studied the profile of Bonaparte? If you have you will recall the firm set of the lips and chin, and such are the features of CARMICHAEL, and yet you would pass him by as the most ordinary of men. There was no blare of trumpets when CARMICHAEL came, no one bowed in respect as he clambered stiffly down the path to get a clear view of the situation, no one suspected as the quiet man with the unfaltering eyes called aside this worker and that to briefly learn the exact details of what had gone before. Here was the man selected by God to carry on as commander-in-chief, to restore order out of chaos, to inspire with a clean, fine spirit of the born field marshall and to assist those he led with a stirring example of personal fortitude. Ten minutes after CARMICHAEL arrived the situation changed in the twinkling of an eye. He came from Kyrock, the home of the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co., of which he is the general manager, bringing with him a band of tried and trusted employees, selected personally for the tremendous task ahead. CARMICHAEL realized in an instant that the first need was organization, and the responsibility of leadership came to him inevitably. He did not seek it nor did he attempt to override the half-dozen or more of the substitute leaders. These came to him and said, 'We need you," and he replied simply, "Command me." [photo: Brig. Gen. H. H. DENHARDT, Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky and Director of the Military Forces at the Cave.] Brief interviews with those he knew had really penetrated the tunnel to COLLINS satisfied CARMICHAEL that the haphazard mthods of the preceding days had gone for naught. Long years of practical experience in excavations had satisfied him that careful surveying would be the first step. Listen then to the brief story gleaned from CARMICHAEL'S note-book: "The first thing I did when I arrived was to locate a bunch of men that I brought with me. I had previously selected Thomas SMITH, who is noted for his mechanical skill and good sense, and I sent him with ten men on a gas boat to Mammoth Cave. They had been insructed to proceed to Sand Cave from there and to do whatever they could and advise me as early as possible Tuesday morning of the conditions and how they found them. The men called me up and reported about five-thirty Tuesday morning that the situation was very serious and there was more or less confusion. "I asked what they needed in rescue work. They said that I, myself, was needed (there was nothing of an egotistical in the expression, merely the notation of a request made the same as if a piece of mechanical equipment were required). I told them I could not leave at once and really did not know what I should do. I arrived at Sand Cave Tuesday morning and found things a little confused. There did not seem to be any system and I did not see anyone in actual charge. When I got there, it seemed that the rescue party had just come out and advised that they were going in at stated intervals, an hour or so apart. Casey JONES, one of the men I had selected, had come up when I arrived. He was a boy of good judgment and nerve. I got my first real information from CASEY as to conditions in the cave. That information was, there was no special difficulty in reaching COLLINS, but that it was a horribly tough squeeze, and the hole was a small one and particularly tight. The end of the tunnel was the most hazardous place, about thirty-eight feet beyond the squeeze. [Photos: Capt. TOPMILLER Dictating a Communique; "And it Cost $3,000 - FAHERTY, the Diamond Drill Operator, Exhibiting the Valuable Point to his Buddies."; Physicians and BRENNER, After Collins Was Pronounced Dead]. "CASEY told me that he had reached COLLINS and fed him, found him in good shape physically, but in a horribly bad position. He described to me how he had to go over the rock, and back under the rock to the entombed man, who was in kind of a crevice, tightly wedged with only his shoulders sticking out at an angle of about forty-five degrees. CASEY found it impossible to get his hand down around COLLINS' body. COLLINS told CASEY his feet were caught in a crevice under a rock, he guessed would weigh about forty or fifty pounds. He understood that COLLINS said he loosened the rocks but some more loose rockhad fallen down, although JONES and all of the men expressed some hope in getting him out. No one knew exactly how he was caught so I picked two men to go in front, more or less to relay, but the men occupying the positions one, two and three were in very tight places. The plan was for the leading man to be assisted by the second man, who would hand him tools and pass rock and dirt to the others. The men would lay on their backs until they reached a place where the cavern was large enough to enable them, by removing the dirt to reach down to COLLINS' thighs. "As Tuesday wore on, there was a tendency of the organization there to rally around me, and they began asking, should they do this or that." Thus CARMICHAEL took charge, and for the first brief hours of his generalship permitted work to continue in the tunnel. He interviewed GERALD, MILLER, BURDON and one or two others, who had been in to COLLINS and for a time there was some hope that Floyd might be extricated through the tunnel. A group of expert timber men headed by Albert MARSHALL of Danville, began bracing the tunnel, starting at the entrance preparatory to bringing COLLINS out that way. Shortly after two o'clock Wednesday noon February 4, nature trumped man's second trick with a sudden collapse of about twelve or fifteen feet of ceiling between the squeeze and COLLINS' body. News of the collapse spread like wildfire and the spirits of the volunteers plumbed the nadir of despair. Many felt that COLLINS then was doomed because the rock fall made it impossible for rescuers to reach his side. Fotunately, however, an hour before the ceiling collapsed Leiut. BURDON, MILLER and a party of rescuers had reached COLLINS, fed him a small quantity of milk and had attached an electric light bulb in such a way that the globe rested on COLLINS' neck. Had the rescuers known of the impending collapse, they would have insalled a telephone receiver in such a way to enable COLLINS to converse with the outside world, and would also have placed a tube near COLLINS' mouth so that he could be fed, but there was no warning, no forecast of the terrible disaster. The hollow roar of the falling rock was in reality COLLINS' requiem. [Photo: CARMICHAEL - A Study in Expression.]

Prologue Ballad Chap1 Chap2 Chap3 Chap4 Chap5 Chap6 Chap7 Chap9 Chap10 Chap11 Chap12 Chap13 Chap14 Chap15 Epilogue Index