, 1885-04-15
mo a WELL.
A Boys Disastrous Experiment
With a Self-Hoister.
Forty Feet Under Ground and Help
less Nine Hours.
How a Painful and Extraordinary
Family Adventure Happened.

STEADY now. lake II easy and slow
and ] will pull on the rope. Steady
steady. Great Scott The boy is killed.
1t was an old man who spoke and who
made the exclamation; a scream, a thud,
and all was still. Eight hours afterwards
a dog barked and howled at the mouth
of a deep well out on the prairie, lanterns
flashed, and the anxious voices of men
were heard.
On the prairie east of lake Minnehaha
Mr.. A. Martin has been havinga deep well
dug. An old man named Atteberry was
engaged inithe work and was assisted by
his son, a lad Of some IA years of age.
The other morning Atteberry and his boy
began work at the usual hour, the father
being at the bottom of the well while the
lad operated the windlass The older
Archery was not making very good pro-
gress with his share of the work, 50 the
boy decided to descend to the bottom of
the well.
A loop was tied in one end of the rope,
the other end was thrown to the bottom,
a turn or two of rope was taken around
the windlass to act as a brake, and while
the elder Atteberry slowly paid out the
rope the boy descended to the bottom in
safety. The two continued their toll until
about IL O'Clock when it was decided that
the boy should go to the surface and wind
lass up the earth ready to be taken out.
The lad again placed one foot in the
loop of the rope, and with one arm thrown
around the other rope began the ascent,
pulling himself slowly upwards while the
old man aided him by pulling on the long
end which hung in the well. The boy
had assembled about twenty from the bot
tom when the accident referred to at the
beginning of this article happened.
By some means the boy lost control of
the foot in the loop, his presence of mind
deserted him for an instant, his foot
slipped from the loop, in his efforts to save
himself he released his grasp upon the
looped end of the rope and seized the
other one His weight was thus trans
ferred to one side of the double line, and
the counterbalance being taken from the
other end it slipped over the windlass.
The lads feet few upwards and he shot
to the bottom of the well where picks,
shovels and heavy buckets lay. The
father made a quick spring and by half
catching the boy lessened the force Of the
fall. The little fellow was stunned and
bruised, however, although not as seri-
ously injured as was feared at the time.
When the boy fell the rope slipped over
the windlass and came to the bottom of
the well. All hope of escape was thus
cut of. The sides were smooth and even
and offered no footholG, the diameter
of the well was fully six feet, and skin
ming the sides was therefore impossible.
Forty feet interviewed between the bottom
and the top, and escape was out Of the
question. Atteberry called until he was
hoarse, but the well was far from any
house and no one heard his cries. The
injured boy lay on the hard earth at the
bottom of the well and the old man sat
by bis side. Thus the hours dragged
slowly by; the long afternoon came to a.
close at last; darkness came on, and the
man and boy were growing cold and numb.
The time for their arrival home had
passed some two hours before Mrs. Ate
berry really became alarmed. Neighbors
were aroused and inquiries were made at
Mr.. Martins home. lie had not seen
the mar nor the boy, and fearing an acct
dent had happened he hastily harnessed a
team, took ropes and lanterns, and made
all haste to the well. As he approached
the well Atteberry's dog was heard howl
ing vel the shaft, and the party was then
satisfied that something was wrong. A
lantern was lowered to the bottom, a new
rope was adjusted to the windIass, and the
man and the boy were pulled to the sur
face. Both were chilled to the bone, and
the lad was suffering with pain. They
had been helpless in the well for nine
hours.
The boy soon recovered, however, and
is o at work, but he will not lower him
self into a well again.