PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 



429 



covered and a rope tied under his arms and they kept on taking 

 out stones and dirt until they could draw him out. He told me 

 that before he could see any light that his breathing began to 

 grow shorter owing to a lack of fresh air. That evening before 

 he went home they held a big party to celebrate his rescue and 

 called it Peffer's timely and wonderful resurrection. The next 

 year on the same date they held it again at his home, and they 

 followed it up while he lived. In his later years his friends in 

 Milwaukee would come out forty or fifty strong in a special 

 car and keep it up all night. Out of curiosity and at his invita- 

 tion, I attended once. It was certainly a miraculous escape from 

 death, and he afterwards lived to help introduce Peter Gideon 

 to your society in this city. Members, I thank you. 



Truman M. Smith— eight years president. 



