THE DEATH OF FLOYD COLLINS
as recorded by
Vernon Dalhart
Oh, come all you young people and listen while I tell
The fate of Floyd Collins, a lad we all knew well
His face was fair and handsome
His heart was true and brave
His body now lies sleeping in a lonely sandstone cave
How sad, how sad the story, it fills our eyes with tears
The memory too, will linger for many, many years
A brokenhearted father, who tried his boy to save
Will now weep tears of sorrow at the door of Floyd’s cave
Oh, mother, don’t you worry; dear father, don’t be sad
I’ll tell you all my story in an awful dream I had
I dreamed I was a prisoner, my life I could not save
I cried, “Oh, must I perish within this silent cave?”
The rescue party labored, they worked both night and day
To move the mighty barrier that stood within the way
To rescue Floyd Collins, this was their battle cry
“We’ll never, no, we’ll never let Floyd Collins die”
But on that fatal morning, the sun rose in the sky
The workers still were busy, we’ll save him by and by
But, oh, how sad the ending, his life could not be saved
His body then was sleeping in the lonely sandstone cave
Young people, oh, take warning from Floyd Collins’ fate
And get right with your Maker before it is too late
It may not be a sand cave in which we find our tomb
But at the bar of judgement, we, too, must meet our doom
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Most have heard the name Floyd Collins. Many know that he was trapped in a Kentucky cave and died there. However, few know the whole story. When factual accounts are told, it sound like a cautionary tale made up to entertain, shock and leave us with jaws dropped.
(Photo: Wikipedia/Fair Use).
In 1989, I drove to Mammoth Cave Baptist Church on Flint Ridge, inside Mammoth Cave National Park, for the cave explorer’s burial in the cemetery on the grounds beside the church. Collins would finally be laid to his rest (for the last time), after dying while exploring a sandstone-capped limestone cave on a neighbor’s property. Some 34 years later, I was on the road again, this time to visit the grave and pay respect to the “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known,” as well as take some photos. My interest in William Floyd Collins had peaked in my college years when I heard stories about Floyd Collins from my friend and anthropology professor Ken Carstens, who had done archaeological research in the cave country, and was well versed in the history of the cave explorer trapped in Sand Cave, who died there almost 100 years ago.
It was the winter of 1925 when Floyd, 37, told his stepmother, Miss Jane, about a dream in which he was trapped in a cave and saw angels coming to get him. The next morning, after being warned by Miss Jane, not to go, he ignored her and his premonition and ventured to Sand Cave. It was close enough to the main highway to draw a large tourist crowd if major passages could be found and commercialized. He thought it might even connect to Mammoth Cave. A few years earlier Collins had found Crystal Cave on the family property. While it is one of the most beautiful caves in the world, with gypsum flowers and other formations, it was well off the beaten track, and not a commercial success for Floyd or the Collins family. Floyd reached a business agreement with the owners of Sand Cave, and set off to prove the cave could be profitable for all concerned.
On Friday, January 30, 1925, Floyd was working in sand cave attempting to open up a passage. His gas lamp was fading and he decided to crawl out. Some 55 feet from the surface and 150 feet from the entrance, his foot dislodged a 27 pound rock which fell on his left leg. It was wedged tightly. He was trapped, and small, loose rocks fell around his body. The next morning neighbors found Floyd’s coat hanging outside of the cave, letting them know Floyd was inside. A call for help could be heard and Floyd’s younger brother, Homer, was notified. Homer was able to crawl through the narrow passage. He tried to remove some of the rubble around Floyd, but the cave explorer was tightly bound by the rocks and cave wall. Homer was able to bring in some food and coffee, and placed an oiled cloth over Floyd’s face to protect it from cold, dripping water. Various means were used to try to free Floyd, with no success. After two days, another brother, Marshall, offered a $500 reward to anyone who could free Floyd. There were no takers. Some offered to bring food and drink, but never made it through the tight passage. In the meantime, cold and exposure took it’s toll.
The following day, Monday, February 2, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal arrived on the scene. William “Skeets” Miller started asking Homer about the situation. The brother, who was tired and cranky at this point, told the reporter that he could go down in the cave himself, if he wanted to know what was going on. Skeets, a small man, crawled down and saw the dire situation and talked for a while with Floyd, and attempted to help. Another rescuer put a leather harness around Floyd’s chest and attempted to pull him out. The attempt was painful and unsuccessful. Some 200, or so, would-be rescuers and on-lookers were gatherer around Sand Cave by that time. Snacks and hot coffee were being sold, and a tent had been set up for first-aid. Skeets Miller wrote about the rescue attempt for his newspaper.
By the next morning, Floyd Collins had become a top news story across the country. More and more attempts, using jacks and other hand tools, were made to free Floyd and bring him to the surface. Skeets Miller and others were able to rig electric light bulbs and bring into the shaft to provide light and some warmth to the cave explorer, who remained in place. The cave opening was crumbling and becoming very dangerous. By Thursday, Kentucky Governor William J. Fields put the Kentucky National Guard on site, and an engineer, Henry Carmichael to dig a vertical shaft to Floyd. He estimated it would take 30 hours. Skeets Miller has done several interviews with Floyd, and the public waited for any new news. Newspapers around the country and world were reporting the news on the front page, and the new technology of radio provided live updates. William Burke “Skeets” Miller went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for his reporting at Sand Cave.
By Sunday, February 8, Collins was still trapped, and the efforts to dig a rescue shaft had been painfully slow. The shaft was only 23 feet deep. Despite efforts to contain a crowd, some 10,000 people and 4,500 cars had converged around the rescue operations. Reporters and film crews from all over the world were on site to hopefully be there when Floyd was pulled out of the shaft. The day has been called “Carnival Sunday,” as numerous tents had been set up selling food, drink, alcohol and souvenir items, which had nothing to do with the real reason for being there. This led to rumors and accusations that Floyd was not really trapped, and that it was an elaborate hoax to drum up business for Crystal Cave. A military court of inquiry was called in to investigate, as the rescue efforts continued in rainy, cold weather. When the shaft broke through on Monday, February 16, workers found Floyd Collins body. It was determined that he had probably died three to five days earlier.
The body was left in place and funeral services were held on the surface above. After a couple of months, Homer decided that his brother deserved a proper burial and dug the body out and took it to the local funeral home for embalming and visitation. On April 26, 1925, Floyd Collins body was taken to the Collins farm and buried above Great Crystal Cave, which he had discovered. They renamed the cave, Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave in his honor. The body remained there until Floyd’s father, Lee, sold the farm to a local dentist and cave owner/operator Dr. Harry Thomas in 1927. He exhumed Floyd’s body and put the coffin on display inside Crystal Cave and charged admission. A tombstone was placed next to the coffin noting “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known.” The body remained there for two more years, until it was stolen. Bloodhounds found the body in a nearby field, along the Green River, with the left leg missing. It was placed back in the cave, this time with a chain securing the coffin. In 1961 Crystal Cave was acquired by the National Park Service as part of Mammoth Cave National Park. The Collins family asked the National Park Service to remove the body and bury it for a last time in Mammoth Cave Baptist Church Cemetery, around other family members. Fifteen men spent three days bringing the coffin and tombstone out of Crystal Cave and moving it to the cemetery where he was reburied, for a fourth time on March 24, 1989.
There are supernatural stories, also. The ghost of Floyd Collins has, according to stories and lore, been heard, felt or seen at various locations including the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church, Sand Cave where he was trapped and died, as well as the Collins’ homeplace, all withing a few miles of each other.
