The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-17
KNEW HE WAS DEAD.
JAMES SHERWOOD THUS DESCRIBES
HIS SENSATIONS.
Was Buried For Eighteen Hours Under
Forty Tons OF Rock-His Splendid Con.
stitution May Pull Him Through--Dc.
scribes His Physical aud Mental Tortures.

stitution May Pull Him Through-De.
James lshorwood, formerly OF Lanca
shire, England, and now of New Jersey
quarryman by trade and ut present wei
digger by occupation, lies at st. Mlchael's
hospital in Newark dangerously injured,
but does not seem 10 know 1t. He Is the
man who lived s hours in the bottom Of
n well at Franklin, y. j., with 40 tons OF
loose rock between him and daylight.
When seen, ho was propped on his mar
row cot. Near him stood bowl of soup.
He was laboriously feeding himself with
his bruised right hand, while his left hand
wandered almlessly about the coverlet
There are five abrasions of the scalp, each
of them surrounded by a heavy black
bruise. His face is Scared from forehead
To chin. His arms have been mashed and
strained until they arc not of much use b.
him. On the right Side OF the stomach,
just below the ribs, Is lump rs large as "A
cocoanut and there Is a similar protrusion
at the base of his spine These were
caused by the tremendous pressure of the
masses Of stone, front and rear, which held
him In an upright position through all of
scalp were caused by what he calls the
table rock, fat mass Of stone, which
became lodged just over him and stuck
thero under the strain of the mass above
It, His legs have not Jared any better than
the other parts Of him.. At the hospital it
was said that he was dangerously injured,
but might survive.
sherwood is 45 years old and unmar-
ried. He is man Of immense strength,
with u massive chest and shoulders, and
is powerfully muscled.
II don't know whether or not I will
pull through he said, "but / am back
from the grave for n little while anyhow.
have been hard at work since / was
years old, thank God, and / guess that
gave me tho strength. The fall Of that
rock sounded like the crash of 10, 900 guns
and for minute or two knew l was
dead. Then found my voice and called
but nobody heard me. l kept calling and
after awhile l got an answer. II was
like the voice of God TO me- 1 wondered
that / was not choked with dust or for
lack of air, but did not suffer In that
way. OF course death would have been
boon to me, and l prayed for it many
times before they got me out. knew the
boys were doing all they could, but / had
no hope they would reach me I'm time. 1
pictured how my dead body would look
when they found 1t. standing swollen and
upright, with one hand grasping tho rope
tied about my body. / tried TO signal with
that rope, but could not move II. l was
shut up in darkness that could be folt
That, i believe, was the worst part OF it,
sherwood painted hard as he spoke.
"There was a mass of the stone jammed
against my back and another mass press
ing against me in front. One arm was
pinned tn my side. and / could move only
the wrist and hand of the other. Buried
in loose rock up 10 my waist, all the tor
lures of hell shot through my legs. ! did
not want food; but, my God, how | want
ed water l was afraid that my voice
would GO from me, and Kept calling, and
the boys answered mo every time. say,
you don't know what II WAS 10 me. ]
could hear the thud Of the rocks as they
were thrown away from tho well, and
know that every thud meant there was
that much less above me, but knew, too,
that the well was 80 feet deep, and 1 was
AT the bottom ~ II.
"All of tho lime bright fires and flashes
Of light were coming and going before my
eyes, and the blood In my head made so
much noise that sopiofiinos l couldn't
hear thing on the outside Then I
thought would go crazy The fear that
the workers would loosen some of tho
stone too soon made me- worse. ! saw the
fires and the light flashes when ! awoke
this morning. / hope they won't come
back. They arc very troublesome. l am
not nervous, but IL I live / guess Will
dream OF this thing for long time
They tell me i asked for whisky as
soon as they got my head free. don't
know what asked for. The table rock
was pressing on my head, and IL seemed
To mo that IL got heavier every minute. /
could feel myself being jarnined down un-
der il. Every now and then the rocks
would tumboas IL they were getting ready
for another fall, and could feel the sweat
pouring down between my shoulder
blades. The small rocks that buried me
up TO my waist were settling all the time,
end 5heir pressure got TO be- something
awful. They weighed u thousand tons TO
the square inch and were redhot Some
body onco told me of man who was shut
up in a room whose walls got closer to-
gother every day till at last he was
crushed, and thought of that man. My
friends tell me was I'm th well Is hours
but can't make myself believe that it
was such little while. i spent lifetime
down there, and every minute of IL was
pain. have been working In stone a long
time and have seen many men smashed,
but don't think any one OF them suffer
I'd as did. Now York Recorder.