The San Francisco call., 1904-02-23
BURIED BENEATH
SHIFTING SANDS
Efforts to Sink a Well at the
Ocean Beach Almost Termi-
nate In a Shocking Tragedy

A strange incident that nearly ter
minated in tragedy happened on the
bleak sand dunes south of the Cliff
House during Sundays storm. Manuel
Nicholas, a Greek, was digging a well
and the sides caved in on him. The
hole was some ten feet deep and the
shifting sands made it a difficult task
for the rescuers, who, however, fought
death inch by inch and finally pre-
sented the Greek to. his sobbing wife
in a condition that might be described
as slightly dishgured, but still in the
ring"
The rescuers were a band of merry
makers-artists and writers-who now
laughingly tell how they ''jollied" Man
uel and kept his wife at bay, for at
times she came dangerously near the
edge and another cave in" was mo-
mentarily expected. 1t happened in
this way:
Xavier Martinez, the we'll known art
ist, has taken up his abode in the re-
motest car of Carville, with the inten-
ton of doing some sketching far from
the madding crowd. But, despite his
isolated situation, Martinez finds that
strenuous times follow him. Sunday
he invited a number Of his friends to
dine with him, promising them a Mexi-
can dinner cooked by himself. A Slav
named George w. Weldon came over
the sand dunes to the hungry artists
and asked them to help him dig a well.
I'VE came not here to dig wells" an
swered Martinez. 1--WE are here to rest
and eat and listen to the story of the
sea-" Whereupon the Slav hailed Man
uel Nicholas, who, with his wife, was
returning from an outing. The good
natured Manuel fell an easy victim to
the wiles of the Slav, and, armed with
pick and shovel, these two foreigners
set to work to dig a we'll in the un-
certain sands.
The little crowd in the car dismissed
the matter from their minds until they
were about to sit down to dinner, when
Weldon rushed in with the news that
his newly acquired assistant was
buried in the well. BY this time 1t was
pouring. The men of the crowd rushed
hatless acros the sand. They found the
man buried to his neck and the sand
still trickling in. His arms were pin
ioned, and one Of the men in his ex-
citement jumped in, carrying an ava
lanche with him, that completely COW
cred the unfortunte man.
Meanwhile the sand was pressing on
the buried mans chest in such a way
that he could not breathe, and he
lapsed into Inconsistencies. Clarence
Wilson, an able-bodied man, shoveled
increasingly. Herman Scheffauer, the
poet stood on a rudely constructed
scaffolding hauling up buckets of sand.
He was dressed in a cutaway, with a
carnation in his buttonhole and book
of Strings poems sticking out of his
pocket. Charles Unger acted as nurse.
running for smelling salts, which he
and Malcolm Fraser in turns presented
to Manuel when his head was once
again in view Martinez also stood on
the scaffolding and held the ends of the
rope that was around Nicholas body,
and when finally the weight of sand
was removed from his trunk the entire
company took hands at the rope and
pulled. 1t was tug of war" in real
earnest, and the best of every mans
muscle was on that rope. When Man
uel emerged from his temporary grave
a shout went up.
The ladies of the party had mean
while taken the hysterical Mrs. Nicho-
! las to the car. 1t was hard to tell
which was in the worse condition,
Manuel or his wife.
Now Mrs. Nicholas declares that
Manuel will never dig well again.