Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-07-20
ABBY IN WELL.
Thrilling Rescue Of a Child From a Wen Seventy
Feet Deep.

a farmer named DetWlleT, who lives three
miles from Oakdale, Neb., had occasion to
draw out the wooden tubing from a deep
I bored well on his place, and had drawn out
/ seventy feet of it, leaving an unknown num-
/ Der o. 1eeU Of tubing In the well. This left a
hole about foot in diameter. A 3-year-Old
/ boy OF the family was missed, and q search
I being made for him his hat was found near
the mole The mother called down and her
child, from an immense depth. finally replied
Appeals for help were at once sent to Oak
dale and Neigh, and though all possible
haste was made, all the appliances for sink
ing shaft down alongside the bored hole
could not be got into the ground and the
work Of digging begun late in the afternoon
OF Saturday. StensOn & StrattOn, well bOrers
ana dlggers nom Oakdale, and q firm IN the
the same line of business from Neigh under
/ took the job, and there was no lack of help
ing hands. But, as the supply of air down in
tins deep, marrow hole might be insufficient
20 heIp the child an iron tube Mas sunk down
and q hand bellows inserted, through which
fresh air was constantly pumped down during
the forty hours while digging was going on.
From time to time the child cries could be
heard and often during Saturday afternoon
II called for mamma" and for food and
water. The process of digging went slow
" during Saturday night on account Of
lack OF light, and rapid diggers had at times
to give place to slow workers. All this time
the father and mother were enduring untold
torture of mind; the former sometimes raying,
and gray hairs almost mOmeutarily mcreas-
About O'Clock the child seemed to lose all
patience, and filed his narrow circular tomb
with his loud crying. 1t was hard matter
IOr strong men to endure the extremely dis
Uressing condition of affairs with anything
like cOmpOsure. All the time, day and night,
crowds OF men, women and children were
standing around with faces white with horror,
the hearts OF the men digging IN the shaft,
and those on the Windlas on top were bleed
ing at the cries of the helpless babe below.
During all of Saturday and Sunday night,
perhaps half the people who knew Of the al
fair slept little or none.
On Saturday an unfortunate experiment
was made IN the way of graphing for the
child with a wOrmer 1t is supposed that
the wOrmer caught into the tubing below
and raised it a 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
into and lacerated the flesh of the child or
had inflicted bruises on it for its voice there
after was less often heard, and much weaker.
As the diggers down in the shaft went deeper,
they heard the child moaning in pain.
By Sunday noon they had dug TO a
depth OF about fifty feet, and the child vet
twenty-five feet at least below them. By
nightfall 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 VIII Stensou and James Strallen,
OF Oakdale, both experienced men in under
ground operations were sent down; and they
remained there from II O'Clock Sunday night
till O'Clock Monday morning, when the aw-
ful scene was ended. StenSOn. a miner
and well-digger, had many narrow escapes
I during his lifetime and as he was now down
slEty--ive feet IN a partially dry shaft, with
tFeacherOus walls OF earth above and around
Nun, ms situation was very peruOus, Tor no
time could be spared to construct and sink
wooden curbing in the shaft. Soon after
Stenson and StFallen went down into the
shaft at II O'Clock Sunday night, they struck
loose sand and gravel. A few of the inpa-
| tient crowd above urged SLensOn to dig on
through the gravel the remaining seven feet
supposed to be intervening between him and
the child, but ne WithstOod them and began
to tunnel in toward the circular hole right on
top of this gravel bed, so he could have
firm clay r0OftO his tunnel.
He was then about eight feet to one side of
the circular hole. He tuuneled in q few feet
and then dug another shaft, closer to the
circular hole, down to where he thought the
child might be lodged. His object was to
strike spot underneath the spot where the
child was lodged for it would have been fatal
to have disturbed the earth wall Of the circu-
lar hole above the child. Finally he tunneled
toward the circular, and tapping it,
surprised to find himself vet above the child.
He was able then to reach down and tie
rope around the foot of the child and by the
same device hold him secure there, but he
dared not vet risk an attempt to draw him
up for fear he might break down the crumd-
ling walls OF the hole and of the tunnel and
thus bury both himself and the child alive.
SO he sank another and second small shaft
down few feet yet further until he knew he
was below the child Under these circum-
stances the work had to be very slow Stin-
son worked ike mole with trenches of sand
all around hlIns passing DIRT out by handouts
to Stralen in the first small shaft. and
Strallen doing the same to Sheriff ElwOOd
who was out in the main shaft.
All this time StjnsOn buTTOwinG and liter
ally working like a mole, through so treach-
erOus an element, could hear the child moan
ing family. Whenever q loose board ratified
overhead he could feel the shock and he did
know bT1r her no all of -bfs I1F4
coming upon him, and whenever the furious
wind, which was then Con Monday morning)
raging over the eaTth's surface. ratified down
loose earth and pebbles on top of the child. it
seemed to feel it. Indeed the child seemed TO
be as sensitive to the least jar as Stinson was,
for 1t would moan the stronger and more
plteOusly- The three men, unneryed by the
horror OF their situation, working and WepU,
and the sun rose Yet on Monday morning
with these men handing out dirt by handfuls
practically earned ashes, and with no hand
but that Of God to trust to, ever bring them
and the child to the earth's surface again.
Finally, by the most delicate manipulatiOns,
StinsOn was at last able to grasp the child,
and let himself and his precious burden into
the main shaft.
At 9:2O Monday morning after the child
had been IN the well fOrty-eight hours about,
StinsOn was hauled up to the top of the
shaft with the child IN his arms. A hasty
examination of the child was made. when il
was found not only to be alive, but bright of
eye and conscious, though very weak. Appar-
emily IT had slid down the circular hole slow
", rump first, but was found with its rump
Wedged into the top of the circular tubing set
into the hole, its feet a little above its head,
and its hands some six or eight inches above
its head.
When the child was brought to the sur
face the scene was indescribable. Stinson
staggered unnerVed and exhausted, but very
many of the two hundred people there sunk
to the ground Frustrated by emotion. There
were no noisy demonstrations; the hearts of
the crowd Of lOokers-On were too full for ut
terance.
Although all the parties who helped 50
faithfully are worthy of unstinted praise. yet
undar the circumstance II l. m trrraI ffIar-