The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-09-25
The Death in the Well.

The sad accident by which Lester Sykes
of West Springfield, Mass, was buried 10
a well on Wednesday afternoon, was the
engrosslng subject Of local interest IN
Springfield, and an almost unbroken stream
of people from all the county round
poured to the scene Of the disaster, from
early morning till late at night The an
uouncement in the Republican that the
rescuing party, after working for IL hours
from the time sand caved in upon him at
half past 2, Wednesday afternoon. had
finally reached the conclusion that he was
dead and suspended work for the rest of
the night, Of course left no hope that the
unfortunate man would be got out alive
but the news soon got abroad that his
neighbors had been too basty IN giving him
up, and that he still lived at the bottom of
the well. It was about o'clock in the
morning when Sykes, after previously
complaining that the sand was again
falling in upon him. had ceased 10 speak,
and was supposed to have been sinntiered
to death; bu when his neighbors returned
between 6 and 7 O'clock 10 recover his
dead body, they discovered, TO their great
surprise, that the man was still alive and
able TO converse with them through the
hole which had fortunately been left in the
sand above his head. around the ladder on
which he stood, by the falling of one of
the timbers. Elijah Sackett of this city,
who had been summoned on Wednesday
night and advised the cessation of work till
morning, then assumed charge Of the
operations, and, under his directions. the
large excavation about the well which
had been begun, the day before, was
deepened, and after 1t had been carried
down some feet further, large
CURLING was constructed to pro-
tect men who should remove the earth in
the well from oyer the mans head, This
was very slow operation. and slower the
deeper the hole WAS carried; only two men
could work to advantage In the hole, and
as they made their way down. they were
obliged 10 put the sand into bucket,
which had to be hoisled up every time it
was filled and emptied so that each bucket
full occupied considerable time. The res
cuers were encouraged. however, all
through the forenoon by the knowledge
that Sykes was alive, and occasionally ex-
changed words with him. About noon,
however, he began to grow somewhat de-
lirious in his replies, then almost unintelli-
gible, and finally between 2 aud 3 o'clock
entirely ceased to speak. Hope of recover
ing him alive was then gwen up, but the
slow work of digging him out was contin-
ued until half past 8 o'clock, this morning,
when the body had been reached, and it
was expected tina. about two hours more
would be required to fully dig him out.
During the afternoon the pipe, which had
been forced down on Wednesday night
with the hope of affording the man more
air, was pulled hp, both because it was be-
lieved that he WAS dead, and because II was
thought II had been SO filled up at the bot
tom with sand as ID be useless in any
event. Efforts to get food or drink to
Sykes through this pipe had failed, as he
was so penned In that he could not get it
to his mouth.
The most wonderful thing about the
case Is that the man should have lived as
long as he did-full "a hours-in that ter.
rible position, with the sand pressed IN
upon him to his head, unable to move hand
or foot, with one arm broken, without food
ordrink, and with only such air as the
little hole left by the ladder and the pipe
afforded him, But it does seem most dis.
creditable to Yankee ingenuity and skill
that man who had shown the power to
survive 80 long should at the end of that
time die In the pit. And even stronger