The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-01-13
GROCZ
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what had nappeneu, anu N.Y., -.--,-----.
back with him to help dig out the man
who had been buried alive. Mean
while Mr. Howell left his house and
his gig. Just before starting
he noticed that neither Of the colored
men was to be seen, and he remarked
to his wife that he wondered
where they had gone.' Mrs. Howell
said she supposed Ithey had gone for
some tools, and would probably be back
soon. Mr.. Howell started off on his
trip from which he did not
return till Saturday night. Jeremiah
Arthur, who lives with Mr.. Howell,
discovered that the we'll had fallen in
soon after Mr.. Howell left, but was
ignorant of the fact that a man had
been buried there until Helms came
up with the gang Of colored men. The
colored men set to work deliberately,
supposing that after few hours labor
they would eNhume the body Of the
unfortunate Brown, or'' Ginger" as he
was always Familiarity called by them.
When they had been at work min
ute, one Of them suddenly stopped and
exclaimed: " Harkw The workmen
suspended labor for moment, when
they heard the sound ola voice directly
under their feet, crying Help, helpw
and 80 God save mew After this the
men went to work with redoubled en-
ergy, but at length, after having hoist
ed out many tons of earth and stones,
the foundation on which they stood
began to settle. This put them in a
quandary. They saw that if they con-
tinued to work on the surface the
stones and sand would settle down and
smother the man, who was all the time
crying for help The news that man
was buried alive in Joe Howell's we'll
spread all over Smithtown, and by
nightfall large crowd had gathered
about the living tomb. AS it grew dark,
lanterns and torches which had recently
been used in Hancock and Garfield
tOrchhght professions were brought
into service. After the discovery that
Brown was alive only one man was
allowed in the we'll at time and the
work Of excavation was necessarily
very slow. At about II O. clock at
night the question of sinking new well
close beside the old one was discussed,
as being the best way of getting the
man out alive. John Natho, German
of Hoppopne, and accustomed to
working in wells, offered to undertake
the job, and at midnight it was begun.
4 hole about four feet square was open
ed three feet from the side of the old
well. Mr. Howell's hired man, James
Turney, harnessed pair of horses and
drove off in search of lumber with
which to make a casing for the new
well, as such casing was needed to
prevent the treacherous sand and gra-
vel from falling in. AS soon as the
lumber arrived number of carpenters
set to work to make box about foul
teen feet long and four feet square.
The new well was sunk as rapidly as
possible, and slowly the wooden casing
was let down to prevent the sides Of the
excavation from falling in.
1t took till 3 o'clock Thursday after
noon to sink the new well twenty-five
feet. At about 10 A. NJ of that day
Browns voice was hushed, and every
body supposed him to be dead. HAY
ing reached u depth of twenty-five feet,
the wOrkmen tunnelled through into
the old well, and we're surprised to
tina 1t empty. A torch was taken down,
and, crawling through the tunnel, they
shouted to the buried man. No res
ponse came. Then, looking up into
the dark cavern, they saw that the
well was open up to within about fif-
teen feet of the surface Of the ground.
There it was clogged by the wedging
of three or four large boulders from
the side of the old well. Then the men
assembled till they reached the level of
those boulders, and there made another
tunnel. AS they reached the old well
and began to pull the earth and stones
they again heard Browns voice. To
undermine him would send him to the
the bottom of the well, which would
be certain death. So the work was
suspended.
Thursday passed, and Friday night
came. Nobody knew what to do, There
was stone arch under the buried man
which prevented him from falling to
the bottom Of the well, and another
stone arch over his head that preve nted
him from being crushed. A great
crowd had gathered at the place, and it
became necessary to put up a rough
railing around the we'll to keep them
back. Fifty burning torches lent a
ghOstly appearance TO the scene, and
now and then the sound of the mans
voice appealing for help was heard by
the excited crowd Nobody dared to
go down into the old well, as it was
feared at each removable basketful
of earth that the arch might cave in.
Atlength two or three 81 en- volunteered
to undertake the work, no matter what
the consequences. Only one at a
time descended into the well. Tons
upon tons of earth and rock were
raised, and by o'clock on Friday
morning Browns voice could be dis
tinctly heard He said that the sand
was fast filling in about him, that it
was nearly up to the level of his mouth,
and that if he was not out inside of
twenty minutes he would be sufocated.
He had then been in his living tomb
about thirty-fve hours.
The worklnen kept on. At last they
came down to the large stones that
formed the upper arch They were
then able to converse easily with the
entombed man, who begged for water.