Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-03-25
Up to His Arms in ouicksand.

ant, nau very naTToW escape iIolu pc'
ing buried alive in a bed of quicksand,
at Elizabeth, n. j., Thursday.
Worth was digging an excavation to
make sewer connection in Pennsylva-
MIA avenue, in one of the least settled
parts of the city. and was working
alone. lie had dug a trench several
feet deep when ne reached what seemed
to be ledge of sand. He threw out
several shovelsful Of the sand when ne
felt himself sinking. Before he real
lied that he was in any danger he had
sunk until his shoes were covered with
the sand and he found he could not
move either foot.
Worth was thoroughly frightened by
this time and used his shovel with des-
perate energy. He could not remove
the sand as fast as it settled around
him. Every movement he made only
caused him to sink still deeper into the
treacherous sand, while it ran back
around his feet much faster than he
could shovel il away.
II did not take long for the plumber
to sink up to his knees and then he be-
gan to call for help. lie yelled at the
top of his voice, but there were no
houses near the place and no pedestrian
happened to pass. Worth kept up his
shouting until he had given up to de-
spair when he heard an answering
shout, and moment later number of
Italian lahorers ran TO the trench.
These men had been working on the
railroad, some distance away, and one
OF them had heard the plumbers cries.
When the laborers reached him
Worth had sunk into the quicksald up
to his waist. He was in niagony OF
fear and the sweat was rolling from his
forehead in great beads.
Standing on the edges of the trench,
the Italians caught hold of Worth by his
arms and tried to pull him out Of the
sand. They could not move him an
inch and only caused him great pain by
pulling his arms.
The more the men tried TO eXtricate
the plumber the faster the quicksand
drew him down, until it looked as if
Worth would perish while they were
trying to save him.
One of the laborers ran for a rope, but
by the time ne returned Worth had
sank almost to his armpits and was
nearly exhausted. The rope was hast
lily thrown around his body under his
arms, and five men tried once more to
pull him out. Again they were unable
to move him.
Finally plank was laid across the
trench, and the rope was fastened to it
so that Worth was kept from sinking
any lower. Then the men put up a
derrick over the plumber, rugged it up
with block and poles and fastened the
rope to one of the poles.
When the derrick was ready more
planks were brought and laid in the
trench in such a way that the men
could stand on them without sinking
into the sand.
Five men then began shovelling the
sand away from Worth as fast as they
could, while others hauled away on
the block and poles. For moment it
seemed as if even this would fail to eX-
tricate the exhausted plumber, but at
last the men succeeded in moving
Worth a trinc and then they knew they
would save him.
After twenty minutes Of the hardest
kind ofwork the laborers had Worth's
waist out of the sand, and in few
more minutes he vas drawn entirely
out of the trench.
ltwas some time before Worth was
able to walk, and then he was assisted
to his home by some of his rescuers.