TRAPPED!

by Robert K. & Roger W. Brucker Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 23, 1979

Speleologist Brucker, coauthor of The Longest Cave (1976), teams up with popular historian Murray to reconstruct the 1925 Floyd Collins tragedy--still, to many reporters, the greatest news story of the century for stark drama in a perfect setting. None of the drama is wasted as Floyd gets trapped and ever more trapped with the world's news services and its infant radio and movie news teams inflating his every last breath. The trap grows tighter and more merciless as modern technology proves useless; hopelessly, Floyd cries, ""You're too slow. . . too slow. . .""--his last words. But the world doesn't know it's too late, and efforts continue for 17 days to get at his foot trapped under a stone and loosen it enough to haul him out through tiny, winding, dripping passages 60 feet under the earth. Talk about clamminess! It may well have been Floyd's greed that sent him caving alone in search of a rival attraction to Mammoth Cave. Clearly he went too far and into one tight crack too many when a small but immovable rock fell and pinned him there with his lamp out. Then, as recounted, local rescue attempts catch the attention of Louisville reporter Skeets Miller who goes down into the cave and interviews the entombed Floyd face to face. Soon, Coolidge and all the government have suspended business to await the hourly word from Kentucky.A carnival atmosphere grows on the site, souvenirs are sold, the national guard moves in. . . . According to the press, the event is cosmic, man against Fate--while huge mining disasters that year are buried in the back pages. A gnawing page-gripper.

Pub Date: Aug. 23, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION