The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-05-19
4 Thrilling EXpsriment.

tenSely excited over an accident
which happened on Saturday last to
q family by the name of Detwiler
Living on a farm three miles north
of of Oakdale, Mr.. Detwiler had 0c
casior to draw out the wooded tub
ing from a deep bored well on his
place, and had drawn out seventy
feet of it, leaving an unknown mum
Der of feet of tubing set in the well.
This left hale about foot in diam
eter. During last Saturday forenoon
3-year-old boy of the family was
missed, and search being made for
him, his hat was found near this
hole. The mother called down, and
the child from an immense depth,
finally replied, The extreme horror
of the situation can now be better
imaged than described. Appeals for
help were at once sent to Oakdale
and Neigh, and though all possible
haste was made, all the appliances
for sinking a shaft down alongside
the bored hole could not be got onto
the ground and the work of digging
begun, until late in the afternoon
Saturday. Stenson q Stratton, we'll
borers and diggerS from Oakdale, and
firm of men In the same line of bus
mess from Neigh undertook the job,
and there was no lack of helping
hands. But, as the supply of air
down in this deep narrow hole might
be insufficient to supply the child
with air, an iron tube was sunk
down and hand. bellows was insert
ed. through which fresh air was con-
stantIy pumped down during the
forty hours while digging was going
on.
From time TO time The child's cries
could be heard, and often during Sat-
urday afternoon it called for man.
MAJ" and for food and water. The
process of digging went slowly dur
ing Saturday night on account of
lack of light. and rapid diggers had
at times to give place to slower work.
ers, All this time the father, and
mother were enduring untold tor
ture of mind the former sometimes
raving, and gray hairs momentarily
increasing on the heads the distracted
parents. About three o'clock the
child seemed to lose all patience and
filled his narrow, circular tomb with
his loud crying. 1t was hard mat
ter for strong men to endure the ex-
tremely distressing condition of af-
fairs with anything like composure.
All the time, day and night, crowds
of men, women and children, were
standing around with horror, and the
hearts of the men digging in the
shaft and those on the Windlass on
top were bleeding at the cries of the
helpless babe imprisoned below.
During all Saturday and Sunday
nights perhaps half the people who
knew of the affair slept little or none.
On Saturday morning an unfOr-
tunate experiment was made in the
way of graphing for the child with
a "Wormer," 1t is supposed that
the wormer caught onto the tubing
below and raised it little when its
hold released. and something was
heard to drop. Then there was a
new distress in the minds of the
waiting crowd lest the WOrmer had
caught onto and lacerated the flesh
of the child or had inflicted bruises
on it, for its voice thereafter was less
often heard, and much weaker. AS
the diggers down In the shaft went
deeper, they heard the child moan
ing in pain.
By Sunday noon they had dug to
a depth of about fifty feet, and the
child yet twenty. five feet, at least
below them. By night-fall the work
was necessarily going on slower, for
more time was being consumed in
hauling up the dirt. Besides, the
most delicate and dangerous part of
the job was now at hand, and Will
Stenson and James Strallen of Oak
dale, both experienced men in under
ground operations, were sent down,
and they remained there from IL
o'clock Sunday night until 8 O'Clock
Monday morning, when the awful
scene was ended. Stenson, as miner
and well digger, had many narrow
escapes in his lifetime, and as he was
now down sixty-five feet in par
TALLY dry shaft, with treacherous
walls of earth above and around him,
his situation was very perilous, for
no time could be spared to construct
and sink down wooden curling in
the shaft. Soon after Stenson and
Shallen went down into the shaft, at
IL o'clock Sunday night, they struck
Innua cand o,tH UraunI A faXv nf tho