Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-03-07
A Man Buried Twenty six Hours

On Saturday afternoon last, while Chris
stapnard, Gus Cole and Geo. Lee were digging
on James Ashmores land about four miles
northeast OF Plat,eville, the ground caved in
burying Chris Siannard about 35 feet under
! ground. They were engaged in removing the
cribbing from an old shaft with the view of
abandoning il and Stannard and Lee were in
the shaft when it began to cave in Lee
grabbed the rope and was hauled . while
Stannard was buried as above stated. This
occurred about tive o'clock Saturday afternoon
The alarm was Immediately given and large
numbers gathered to the scene of the disaster
The work OF rescuing the unfortunate man
was Immediately commenced but owing to the
softness of the surrounding dirt great Difficult
ty was encountered in securing the cribb:ng
while the work of descent was continued. Tn
to l. O'Clock at night but little progress was
made. At this hour Mr.. VIM S. Waters. an
experienced miner, who has followed the bus
mess all his life and who had been sent for
arrived and at the urgent request of those
present he took charge of the work. He com
menced by securing and suspending the crib
bling with stout ropes from the surface and al
so secured the sides from the caving dirt, and
the work of descent by the process known
among English miners as "gundering," a pecu-
liar method of boxing employed in sinking
shaft in soft e ound. When within 10 or ~
feet of Stannard they could hear sounds of his
voice satisfying those at work that the poor
fellow was still alive and causing them to re-
double their efforts in rescuing him. An iron
rod was showed down through the dirt reach
ing the buried man by which means fresh air
in limited quantity was admitted but which
served 70 sustain consciousness until rescued
Work was continued all through tn, night and
next day until besw cen three and four O'Clock
p. m, when he v as rescued. Notwithstanding
he had been covered for twenty six hours lie
was conscious and remained so till he was
hoisted TO the top of the shaft when he tainted
away for few moments. 1t seemed almost
impossible for him to realize that he was IN
the hole so long and when told that it was af
ter 8 o'clock he thought it was of the same
day he went into the shaft. He was taken to
his home and aside from the weakness which
would naturally result from his long fast and
from being in such close place he suffered
no inconvenience and is now as well as ever.
He was found standing 10 the mouth of a
drift running from the shaft about Is feet. II
was sufficiently high where he was found to
allow him to stand erect. Had he been in the
bottom of the shaft as was feared he would
have been undoubtedly crushed. AS it was
it is not probable that he could have survived
great while longer. Great credit is due
those who so willingly risked their lives in res
cuing Mg. Stannard, and particularly to Mr..
Waters who was unwel at the time, but who
not only took charge of the work but went in.
to the shaft and did the most dangerous part
of the work himself. There were others in
GLIDING Bryan Dugdale, "Put" Davis. the
Shepherd boys, John Jones who deserve spe-
cial mention for their heroic services in rescu-
ing their fellow man, Witness.