Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-29
SAVES HUSBAND
FROM QU|CKSAND
Man in Bog Rescued by Wife
Grasping Tree Limb and
Swinging Over Him
-
WOMAN SUFFERS COLLAPSE
Falls Exhausted and with Nerves
Unstrung After Frightful
Ordeal
WOMAN SUFFERS COLLAPSE

NEW YORK, Aug 2S.-With every
muscle and tendon strained to the
breaking point, Mrs. Mary Bartn OF
Jamaica, L. l., yesterday helped her
husband. James Barth. to wrench hiIn-
self free from a quicksand that threat-
ened to engulf him.
Clineing to his wife and slowly
climbing out inch by inch, working up
from her ankle to her waist as sue
hing over him from the bough OF
tree. Barth finally managed 10 lree
himself from the send that was such- n
ing him to death. But IN DOING so Ss..i ho
xtested the heroism of the brave nttle
woman. who exhibited the strength OF
a giant in supporting the strain. She
coIlnnsed when her husband nnally
wrenched himself free.
The Barths are we'll known in Ja-
maica. Mr.. Barth is bass sololst IN
St. Mary's Catholic church. He welsns
over two hundred pounds. his VIE
is slight and frail. They live on west
street.
Mr. and Mrs. Barth went Deriving
Yesterday, They had heard that there
we're elderberries to be had on piece
of boggy ground on the shore OF Ja-
n1aiea bay, but did not know that IN
the middle of this bog there was
dangerous quicksand.
SWINGS ON TREE LIMB
Thev found the berries plentiful ana
Rarth, standing foS several minutes py
the side of a bush, had filled his pas
ket half full when he attempted TO re-
ioin his wife, who was nearer the road
way.
To his horror he found that ne mao
sunk to his ankles in the SOFT mua anu
40 frnn
mired him deeper III the bog 1t was
not until he had made several attempts
To escape that he realized the gravity
of the situation.
By this time he had sunk to MS
knees and every effort made ms I'M
prisonment in the quicksand more Sc
rious. He called to his wife and tolo
her of his danger, but warned her not
to attempt to reach his side.
"If / could only reach that branch.
he said, pointing to the bough or a
tree that hung several feet above him.
II could pull myself out
'rWell, I can reach it and you can
reach me-" said his wife, and grasping
the branch she edged herself caretuliy
along until she hung at the very enc
of it. She was still some distance from
her husband, but she swung back and
forth until her feet were within reach
of him.
1t was almost all she could do TO
hang there, suspendiug her own slight
weight and when Barth desperately
caught her by the ankles the strain
seemed unbearable. But the plucky
little woman knew that upon her de-
pended Barth's life.
She dug her slender fingers into the
branch and closed her eyes in an agony
of pain while Barth pulled with all MS
strength and finally freed himself from
the trap into which he had fallen.
The struggle was q desperate one for
the man and torture for the woman,
but she held on with grim determine
tion while he clasped her first by the
ankles, then the knees and finally by
the waist and then with supreme ef-
fort lifted himself wholly out of the
quicksand, caught The limb and swung
to firm ground.
The wife dropped by his side utterly
exhausted, and Barth after a minute S
rest lifted her in his arms and car
ried her to the trolley line a mile away.
where they got car to their home.
Physicians were called Immediately,
who said Mrs. Barth had reached the
absolute limit of her physical strength
in bearing the weight of her husband
and herself. The full extent OF the in
juries resulting from the muscular
strain are not yet known, but the
brave woman's nerves weree seriously
affected by the physical and mental
agony of those moments when she
stood between her husband and an
awful death.