The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1907-09-05
SAVED BY A LIVING CHAIN
WORKMAN RESCUED FROM QUICK
SANDS By BRAVE OFFICERS.
Sergeant Holds "MiIe-a-Minute" Muir
ply by Legs and Latter Pulls Con.
slant Albert From PeriIous Position
in Submerged Well.

Buried to his armpits nthe quick
sand Of submerged well, below the
concrete cellar floor in the home Of
Patrick Shannon, a broker, at 1875
Madison street, Brooklyn, Constant AL
| bert, workman of q Wyckoff ave-
nue., was rescued from death last
| night by means of living chain. Pc
liceman Charles Murphy of the Adams
Street Police station and Sergeant
Bernard F. Clark Of the Greenpoint
Avenue station were the brave rescu-
ers.
Policeman Murphy, who is known to
| the bicycle-racing world as Mica
| Minute" Murphy, conceived the plan
of rescue. He descended head first in
to the dark twentytwo-foot cavern in
to which the workman had fallen, Ser
geant Clark holding him by the an
llIes. Then the workmen who had
been employed with Albert at the time
| Of his fall into the well took hold Of
the ankles or Sergeant Clark, and thus
lowered the human ladder into the
pit.
the policemen resulted in the placing
of q twelve-fC0t ladder which was in
Murphy's hands across the ive-foot
wide well In sucb a manner that it
inclined against the sides Of the hole
just above Albert's head.
The imprisoned man grasped the
rungs of the ladder, and at a signal
from MURPHY the human chain strove
TO pull Albert from the wise that held
him fast. Az the effort was made sew
eral c0bblestones that lined the we'll
became displaced end fell upon AL
bert's head with sch force that he
was rendered unconscious.
Seeing the mans plight, Murphy,
who was suffering from q rush of
blood to the head, clambered on the
ladder and called on the men above
TO haul Clark to the cellar floor. Muir
ply then had Clark lower a stout
rope. which he tied beneath the I'M
conscious Aibert's arms. Standing on
the rungs of the ladder, he again gave
signal to the men above, and, aided
by his own efforts, Albert was dragged
from the sands that held him fast.
Clark was again lowered, and Muir
ply, dragging the ladder after him,
was raised to the surface of the eel
lar. The two policemen and the work
men then easily drew up Albert by the
rope.
An ambulance was summoned from
st. Johns hospital, and DR.. Whitehall,
after an examination, said that Albert
was suffering from severe contusions
of the scalp, internal injuries, and
possible fractured skull. He was re-
moved in a critical condition to the
hospital.
Murphy's uniform was ruined by his
experience, but his captain promised
! that he would receive a new equip
| ment in compensation for his heroism.
Mr.. and Mrs. Shannon both spoke in
the highest terms of the fearless man
ner in which both Murphy and Clark
risked their lives and said they pro-
posed to go before Police Commits
| sioner Bingham and ask that they re-
| ceive medals of honor. Both men have
! already won metals as the result Of
| their fearless performance of duty on
| several noteworthy occa sions.
The accident to Albert resulted from
| the sudden giving away of the cellar
| floor of the Shannon house at a time
when Albert and several assistants
! were laying concrete.