Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-10-06

\ TfER1HIE DEATH.-At West Spring
field, Mt~>., the I'D. Lester Sykes. while
AZ the bottom of a newly dng we'll. thirty.
seven feet deep, was buried by the quick
-ind which undermined the curbinr
The planking of the curb was forced
au:tin-t him and projected him from being
crushed His cries for help soon brought
.,s-i-ttncc. and large number ct work
men, under the direction of the imprison-
e. man. BEGAN digging Il circular pit for
dirty feet around the well. the trcacher-
au- quirk>and rendering this large cxca.
yation necessary. The work was contnu
rl all night, Il large bonfire being lighted
for the purpose of enabling the men to 90
on \ pip" was forced through to give
him air. and until three O'Clock next
morning the mans voice was heard t,
answer the inqniries made by the rescuno
Ir,Itv After this no response came from
him, and it was Il thought for some tim,
that h" was dead. Later. however. it was
asserted tIIAt faint means could be heard
and tie. relief party vigorously renewed
their rl.orts. The news of the singular
accident -prcad rapidly, and caused grea,
excitement. hundreds visiting tn" place
and remaining all night.
The work Of th,. rescue continued I'll day
Thursday, and until Friday morning. On
Thursday noon, the imprisoned man spoke
md asked the men to be careful to protect
him and g"t him out and give him some
water. \ physician wa> summoned 80 a<
10 render every assistance should the man
he got out alive. At twenty-five minutes
past one. Sykes fe"bly answered eyes, to
!hr question . Are You alive yrt?' and tn.
= u. i
m"n. w9> not needed. for every man was
doing h~ brst. 50 far is tools could be
obtained, and many more brought bun Hes
# straw. which We're used to pack about
the plankin@ ana stop the leaking sand.
Al haIf-past two another utterance from
sykes encouraged the tired men None
stopped for dinner. Huge baskets of crack
"r- and checst We're passed around. bat
few had time or desire to eat. The earth
WIS irtrd and gravclly, and digging wt>
Ii-rouya9ing work. The crowd increased
and probably 1000 persons and 200 teams
were in the vicinity At three o'clock NJ
food or nnurshmcnt could be given Sykes
~ hr could not get hands or mouth 10 the
PIPE which furnished him with ar. More
than tNcntV- four hours he had been cram D.
ed, blricd and starved. and vet he con-
t.uurd to live and retain his faculties He
WIS heard to speak frebly at three o'clock
After that all WAS silent The work after
,!Iat time proceeded with the utmost spec
consistent with safety; vet slowly at the
best, IL all the earth from the we'll had It
b,' hlulr ont with baskets. As night :,
second time closed over the scene it wa.
iighte y by the glare of two locomotive
headlights. Large numbers of people re
nanrd far into the night, hoping, almost
against h pr, th't Sykes might vet be res
rurd. Al midnI gilt all ctf fprts to obtain
even Il wrrI from Sykes We're unavlil-
my. and there was no hope thtt he wa.
alive. For some mex! !lictble reason, the
pirc. Of gtS-pipe through which Svke,
had been furnished air was pulled ont dur
irt the afternoon under the suppositior
tItt he had air enough without. and h,
mly have Sutlocatcd in consequence. Or
triiay afternoon, the body of Mr.. Sykes
Vts recovered. 1t seems discre,liable tc
Yankee ingenuity and skill that Il man who
had shown the power to survive so long
should IT last die in the pi.