Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-10-20


A TERRIBLE SITUATIoN.-The Detroit
Free Press of the 29th ult., describes an
adventure by German named Henry
Osster, of Maxim township, who was
hunting missing COW and got mired in
a piece of marshg ground. The nara
tive continues:
To his right, about ten feet away, was
knoll of solid ground, on which grew
a thorn apple tree, one of the limbs ex-
tending almost over the mans head, and
about four feet beyond the reach of his
arms. Thinking that if he could get
possession of the gun he might secure
the limb. Osster took off his suspend
ers, tied them together and made moose
on one end, and after careful and tedi-
Gus work lassoed the rifle and dragged
it to him. This was after he had heen
in the mire nearly two hours, and quite
while after dark. He was induced to
believe that he had not sunk any for the
last halfhour, but the extra weight of
the gun as he held it up sunk him near
ly to his hips in moment, and he quick
ly laid it down.
Little tufts of grass, growing up from
spots of solid ground not much larger
than his hand, were all around the man,
but the moment he took hold of them
they would pull away having no real
support. Osster had pipe with him,
and he got it from his coat and twisted
off the German silver ring around the
stem. The ring he broke between his
teeth, bent it up like hook, and then
fastened it to his suspenders, determined
to make an effort to reach the limb
Time after time he made the throw, but
the hook failed to catch, or slipped of,
or bent out straight, and at ten o'clock
at night the victim was up to his hips
and slowly settling. Placing his coat
and vest on either side, he pushed them
down with his hands, and in this way
kept his body from settling as fast as it
otherwise would. He ceased trying to
shout, knowing that he could not expect
help before another day.
AS Osster did not return at dark,
StarKs feared that he might have shot
himself or met with some other accident,
and walked mile or so in the direction
from which the man was expected, and
stopped within half a mile of where he
was sinking down to death. Returning
home he agreed to make further search in
the morning, and when the time came
got a neighbor to go with him. They
took direction quite distant from where
Osster was to be found, and to be brief,
searched the woods until nearly noon,
and then determined to go to the hamlet
and see if Osster had been there. In
coming out of the woods they passed
within forty rods of Osster, and one of
them fired shot at squirrel on the fence.
All night long o ster had been slowly
sinking and when the sun marked noon
he was up to his shoulders in the mire.
Hearing the shot, he put forth all his
vocal strength into one grand shout, fol-
lowed by another, and his voice was
heard and recognized. Even after his
friends were within fifty feet of him he
had to shout to guide them, as his head
was below the grass. 1t is needless to
say that they instantly set about the
work of rescuing him. Logs and brush
we're piled into the swamp until they
could reach him. Finding that they
could not pull him out by the arms, the
mire was scooped away from his body,
and he was literally pried out by a lever
| inserted under his feet