The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-02-05
sDPlEo IN SLIDING sann

"iIIins Neighbors Pull "A NJ,
sand Pit After Four Hours. w"fa
While a gang of men from -
were at work on Chamberlain q Slch
cranberry bog one of them, JAM. as
Uon, shoveling in a sand pit, was ,h.
ana buried to his shoulders nv : VWn
snde on a face of sand some tb;-.tand'
nign: In spite of very exact az Ieet
pnatic warnings the man was st,ns en-
with his back to the bank and II. lns
row between him and the exit. IT. var
ing sand buried the barrow. ana al
mans right leg was bound fas, o. Toe
left handle. The other bog hanSs lie
the rescue, but aside from nncoI4ato
the barrow and delivering the n-s
Tight leg, could not move him a,
The danger was that more sand : a
side and bury its victim alive ,,- 1sa'
were already cracks in the sand ,s-s 's
and one or two huge boulders a.
might come down any moment -
ooblders had inst been disclosed h G
sand slide. Zoe
Ii was soon apparent that with
lore and wise- help, the man w-%
certainly perish by exhaustion
smothered. The neighbors wa,a q
Among the new corners was DAM
OF the beach who afterward said ha
once seen a man buried in a we'll ava
common consent, as the only MAJ -,
dared to have a plan where an =
might cost the trapped mar his life ,1i
perhaps the lives of others, he was !,
lowed to direct. First of all he oaras
for a long plank. One was brop y,
from the bog, and carefully placed Soma
three or four feet above the man helo,.
and between him and the sand face ava
across the sand bank.
Then he ordered planks to be sawA,
some five feet long, and these 10 ~
placed upright inside the horizontal
plank and facing in and toward tho
bank and a man to hold each plank
steady and to stand to it if another slide
He then ordered short oak ana
pine limbs to be cut and put in the sand
above the upright line Of planks, 10
catch and stop the sand which momep.
tarily was sitting down. The whole
structure was hen braced at each end
by joist and plank, and served as a rude
sort of shield. Then, with the men
holding the planks, the others tried To
dig the man out. His left foot AMI
lower trunk seemed held as in a wise. A
shovelful of sand taken out seemed in.
stantly replaced by the sand sitting down
from the hill. Hands were then used
instead of shovels and some stones un.
der him removed. But it was slow,
hideous work for the strongest nerved.
And now came the crisis.
The rifted earth bank above with the
pine trees Oh it was moving-was slid
ing down. A shout among the men 10
hold fast-a second or two Of the terri
bic drift of earth-a second shout-and
the deadly mass stood still. The plank
barrier so far had saved. But the man
in peril had now been some four hours
IN a situation, the peril Of which he
knew, not expecting, as he afterwari
told 'the boys" but that he was TO be
carried home in a box, and though bear
ing up bravely, was very much ex-
hausted. He must be released speedily
or perish. OF all traps, sand under such
conditions is the most relentless We ever
set eyes upon, Every attempt Of strong
men to pull the man out failed. A new
way was suggested by Mr.. David Ellis.
A strong rope from one of the bog
was brought. A stray woman'o
shawl, left by some cranberry picker on
the bog, was found and used to mufie
the sharpness of the rope against the
mans flesh in hauling, the rope was
fastened tight under his shoulders and
then, as God willed, with strong men
assisting and others holding at the plank
barrier, and the sand hill settling down
every moment, the nan was pulled out
his sand grave-not a bone broken
not a scratch! The place where the man
lay four hours in deadly peril was the
next day found covered with four feet
Of sand.-Cape Cod Independent.