Bridgeton pioneer., 1900-05-24
TWO HORSES IN A TRENCH.
Night Excitement up on North
Pearl Street.

IHCIC WCIt dill h1IuS VI tAClU6IleuU
on n. Pearl st. Thursday night, two
horses failing into the sewer trench
which has been opened there, and for
two hours there was the hardest kind
of work done to get the animals out.
The sewer trench has been opened
as far up Pearl street as the residence
of Jacob Mengel, and last night when
Contractor Lupton's men left it they
carefully marked the dangerous spot
with line of red lanterns Anybody
but blind man, or man asleep
could not have avoided seeing these
bright lights and thus prevented an
accident, but all the excitement was
caused bya sleeping man.
Shortly after nine O'Clock, pedes-
trians along North Pearl street no
ticed double team coming down the
roadway, and there did not appear to
be any driver with the rig. The
horses were walking along quietly and
it did not occur to anybody that
there would be serious trouble.
AS the team neared the north end
of the trench, a couple of bicycle
riders came along and the horses
turned out and one of them got upon
bank of sand and the near horse
began to slip toward the trench. In
stantly there was a floundering, and
before anybody could rush to the aid
OF the team, one of the horses disap-
peared in the trench and the other
one was pulled in after it, The
| driver was pitched from the bottom
of the wagon in the ditch upon the
animals. He was then awake.
The shrieks of the horses and the
cry of the driver quickly. drew
crowd of men. A ''Pioneer'' reporter
reached the spot shortly afterward.
This is what he saw.
A trench little more than two feet
wide and possibly eight feet long.
About every ten or twelve feet were
walls of sand which separated the
trench and through the sewer pipes
were tumbed. Flat down in the bot
tom of the trench was one horse. 1t
had fallen upon all fours, with the
legs doubled up under it. Prone on
| top of this animal was the other
horse. He had crashed down upon
his mate, its fore legs being free, but
the hind legs were wedged against
the banks. For time the upper
animal fiounced around and pounded
the lower horse with his fore hOofS,
and the terrified animal shrieked
out in it's agony A rope halter was
placed about the neck Of the upper
horse and his head held up so that
he was prevented from attempting to
fiounce around.
Just where the accident happened
was very dark, because of the foliage,
and lamps and lanterns were secured
from the neighbors to see what could
| be done.
|. A bit of humor appealed to the re-
porter despite the condition of things.
The crowd of people pressed closely
about the trench, everybody in every
body else's way, and everybody was
anxious to help, at least ninety per
cent. of the crowd sacrificing them
selves to boss the job of rescue. Every
boss had different scheme to get the
horses out of the earth and each one
loudly directly. somebody, anybody,
everybody to FOLLOW their directions,
and the reporter obtained pretty
fair idea of what the conversation
seemed like about the tower of Babel.
Finally some gentlemen who were
not afraid of work proceeded to act.
They paid no particular attention to
the army of bosses, and the first thing
they did was to remove the wall of
earth from in front of the animals
head. This was a genuine relief to
the horses and gave them an oppor-
tunity to breathe. Then some big
ropes were secured, and one was
passed about the fore parts OF the
upper horse and he was raised off his
mate. Other ropes were made fast
about the lower animal and willing
hands in large numbers pulled him
out from his perilous position. Find
ing himself free from the weight of
the other horse, the animal made a
gallant effort to help his rescuers by
getting upon his feet but the poor
thing was so exhausted that it fell
helpless in the road and lay there for
some time. Finally it was helped to
stagger to its feet, and it was able to
be led home
More trouble was experienced in
getting the other horse out, but this
was finally accomplished but every
body thought the animal was about
to expire and if looked that WaY. tt