The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-10

Man Sixty, Years Old Who Was Buried for
iwentyAfour Awful Hours Under Tons of Earth
at the Bottom of Well Forty five Feet
Deep and Was Rescued Alive.

work alone inside the well, family
heard below him:
ON, God save mel"
keep up your spirits, Bud Ike
Well get you all right
hurry, came the muffied answer.
"ChittWood'S almost dead"
He's alive!" cried Prather.
The crowd around the we'll cheered
Justify.
Now, knowing that Chittwood still
breathed, Prather redoubIed his EFF
1orts. But the work was slow, for
Prather was alone to fill the big~buck-
cts that were let down to him. At Q
O'Clock on Friday morning, eighteen
hours after he was. entombed, Chit
woods voice could be distinctly heard,
now sfaintly praying heaven to save
nm, again begging Prather to hurry
Az D a. m. Prather was within three
fleet OF the man whose escape from in
slant death was so remarkable
But mere new danger arose. Pra-
Their had propped the top Of sixteen
feet of the walls as his excayating
progressed, and kept it from falling
further. But the sides of the we'll,
full of quicksand, now began to crun-.
pie, not only menacing Prather but
threatening to fill the crevices through
which the air reached ChittWood 1t
look an hour to brace the sides, and at
q a: m. Prather resumed his digging.
Then Chittwood made his last des-
perate effort at SELF preservation. That
strange character never speaks of HIM
self as = always as "Chittwood.''
There's an arch of stone over Chit
wood" he told Prather, slowly and Ia
DorlouSly. You've got to be mighty
careful, for if you break the arch it's
all up with Chittwood. Just go slow
and be as careful as if you was here
N nod
Prather went slowly. At $50 q. m.
the keystone of the arch was uncover
ed and lifted out, and the top of Chit
WOODS head was visible. This was
the first sight of him for twenty-five
hours and thirty minutes. An hour
more and ChittWood stood free Of the
debris that had so closely imprisoned
him. He was as little able to move as
If he himself were carved out of stone.
80 Stlf was his arms from the cramp-
ed position in which they were held
that he could not lower them. He was
fa1nting from weakness, and so intense
had been the strain on him that when
Pfather hraIly reached him he became
UNCONSCIOUS.
AT 7sh a. m. he was drawn by ropes
TO the wells mouth and laid on the
grass. A physician, who was waiting.
gave him stlmulant, and after a while
he revived. Thanks to that remark
able protecting arch his injuries were
not more serious than scalp wounds
and painful bruises.
Chittwood Tells His Story.
Chittwood thus laconically told how
1T feels to be buried alive for TWENTY
four hours:
Ch1ttWood was hangin' on the rope
feel1n' the walls to see if they needed
repairs. just toI Townsend .alPs Well
in IIo1I ~ J
keepin' arms above Chittwood's head
Rocks rained down on, Chittwood and
big one rested on Chittwoods head and
on side OF wall. Every part of Chit
WOODS body was bruised with rock. At
first Chittwood could hardly breathe
guess ne was scared-later got breath
all right. Chittwood prayed God ia
save him and God done it, and Chit
wood promised God never to clean out
more wells, and ChittWood never will
go down in another we'll"
How did you breathe down there %
Held on rope. Air came down rope
and Chittwood got breath all right
Were you hungry?"
Yes, he answered. Hungry for TO-
bacco. You see, ChittWood could not
move hand or foot, couldn't move
muscle. Well, Chittwood wanted =
chew of tobacco bad while down in the
well: But he couldn't get it, for it was
in his hind pocket"
Chittwood has had other narrow es-
capes. About nine years ago, while
deepening we'll on Isaac Conrad's
farm, he was almost killed. He had
discharged blast of dynamite, and
going down in the well too soon he
was almost suffocated by the fumes
of the powder and smoke. His appar-
emily lifeless body was raised, and,
thinking he was dead, his relatives
summoned the undertaken Refora
their arrival he regained consciousness.
The man who has passed so MANY
dangers has been married three times.
and all his wives are living. The first
deserted him, and he divorced her. The
second, after twenty years, divorced
him.
Inen ne became woman hater for
while, and lived in a log cabin. In
November, 1900, he paid man S25 to