Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-08-19
Wife SAVES
HIM FROM
QUICKSAhD

N0AohNot IL Ay aug NC hhOS'
admired woman in Jamaica today is
Mrs. Mary Barth, whose rescue of her
husband, John Barth, from death in
quicksand is looked upon as little less
than miraculous. The little woman il
recovering from the strain of the
nerve racking experience.
With every muscle and tendon
strained to the breaking point, Mrs
Barth yesterday helped her husband
to wrench himself free from the quick
sand that threatened to engulf him.
Clinging to his wife and slowly
climbing out inch by inch, working up
from her ankle to her waist as she
hung over him from the bough of a
tree, Barth finally managed to free
himself from the sand that wa suck
ing him to death. But in doing so he
tested the heroism of the brave little
woman, who exhibited the strength of
a giant in supporting the strain. She
collapsed when her husband finally
wrenched himself free.
The Barths are well known In ia
maica. Mr.. Barth is bass soloist In st.
Mary's Catholic church. He weighs
over 200 pounds. His wife is slight
and frail.
MI. and Mrs. Barth went berrying
yesterday. They had heard that there
We're elderberries to be had on a piece
Of DOGGY ground On the shore Of Jamai-
ca bay, but did not know that In the
middle of this bog there was a dan
gerous quicksand.
They found the berries plentiful and
Barth, standing for several minutes
by the side of a bush, had filed his
basket half full when he attempted to
rejoin his wife, who was nearer the
roadway.
To his horror he found that he had
SUM to his ankles In the soft mud and
that every effort to free himself only
mired him deeper In the bog. 1t was
not until he had made several at
tempts to escape that he realized the
gravity Of the situation.
By this time he had sunk to his
knees, and every effort made his I'M
prtsonment in the quicksand more seri-
GUS. He called to his wife and told
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 Of a
tree that hung several feet above him,
II could pull myself out"
well, / can reach 1t and you can
reach me-" said bis wife, and, grasp
ing the branch, she edged herself care
fully along until she hung at the very
end of 1t. 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, suspending her own slight
weight, and when Barth desperately
caught. her by the ankles the strain
seemed ~unbearable. But the plucky
little oma knew that upon her de-
pended Barth's life.
She dug her slender fingers into the
branch and closed her eyes in an ag-
ong of pain while Barth pulled with
all his strength and finally freed him
self from the trap into which he had
fallen.
The struggle was a desperate one for
the man and torture for the woman
but she held on with grim determine
ton while he clasped her first by the
ankles, then the knees and finally by
the waist, and then with a supreme eff
fort lifted himself wholly out of the
qutcksand, caught the limb and swung
to firm ground.
The wife dropped by his side utterly
exhausted, and Barth, after a minutes
rest, lifted her in his arms and carried
her to the trolley line a mile away,
where they got a 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
jurles resulting from the muscular
strain are not yet known, but the
brave woman's nerves were seriously
affected by the physical and mental
agony Of those moments when she
stood between her husband and an
awful death.