St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-10-01

+b,+ tha unfortunate man would he Sot
ont alive but the news soon got anlol"
that his ncighborS had been too iiaStH
in giving him up. and that he still liVen
at the bottom of the well. 1t was apou'
3o'clock in the morning when sykes i'll,
ter previously complaining that the saiiI
was again falling III upon MN, hl"
ceased to speak, and was SUPPOSED 10
have been Smothcrcd to death; plli
when his nei.hbors returned between
Il and : o'clock to recover his dean
hndy. they discovered. to their great
sunrise. that the man WAS still alive
and able To converse with them through
the hole which had fortunately heei,
I,ft in the sand above his head. around
fine, ladder on which he stood. 10y the
falling of one of the thinkers. Elllah
Surkctt of this city. who had been sum
uoutd on "Wednesday night ana al
yised the cessation of work TIL morning.
then assumed charge of the operations
and. under his directions. the large en-
ca\ntion about the we'll which had been
b,"uu the daN before, WAS drrpehcd.
and after it had been carried down some
feet further. IL large crrhIn% MAS CON
siIuctrd to protect men VIII" should re-
move the earth in the well from over
the. mans head This wa> il very SLOW
op,ration, and slower the deeper Inc
hole. was carried only two mcn c"IIld
work to advantage III the hole. ana ~
the, made their way down. they were
Obliged To put the sand INTO Il hl'kri'
which had 10 he hol>tcd up every time
if vaS filled and cmpticd 80 that each
4 .,,,,i,.I ,.,,,sII,I.I lll.. tIpIt.
The rcscIIrrrS were encouraged, how
ever. all through the forenoon 10y the
knowledge that Sykes WAS alive. and
occasionally exchanged words with HIM.
About noon. however,. he began to grow
somcwh hat dcIiriouS in his replies, then
almost unintclligihIr, and finally be
tween > and 3 o'clock entirely ceased
to speak. Hope of recovering him alive
WaS then given up. hnt the slow work
of digging him out WAS continued until
halI-past 3 o'clock. this morning. when
the body had been reached. and IT WAS
expected that about tw" hours more
would he required to fully dig HIM ont.
During the afternoon the pipe. winch
had been forced down on eonc>'laN
night with the hope OF attordImg the
man more air. WIS pulled up. both be
cause it WIS believed that he WAS dead.
aud because il was thought ii hal been
80 titled up 1T the bottom with sand a>
Ia he useless i'll any event. Efforts Ia
get food ur drink To Sykes through this
pipe had failed. ;IS he WAS 80 prnncd IN
that he could not get il to his mouth.
The most wonderful thing about the
case l. that the man should have lived
IL ION" H. he did full - hours IN
that terrible position. with the sand
pressed in upon him To his head. ulI-
able to move hand or foot. with one
I'M broken. without tooi 81 drink. and
with only such air a> the little hole left
10y the ladder and the pipe afforded
him. But il does seem most dl>crcdli-
able to Yankee ingenuity and skill that
a man who had shown the power {"
survive 50 long should at the end ol
that time die in the pit. Aud even -
stronger word than dl>crrditahlc seems
required to characterize the conduct ut
those men who advised and those who
c"mrurrrd in the advice Ia suspend the
work at 3 o'clurk. Yesterday morning.
fuI hnul>. no matter how >trom" the
conviction that further efforts would be
fruitl,.>S To save his life. The great
lack all through WAS an intelligent cN-
rcutiNr: there wcr" plenty nt Willin"
hands. but the CuIIIt>ci> OF the leaders
were div idrd. and energy which might
and should have been utilized went
Inrmployc SpIiHpGcid H'P"biicnH.