Evening star., 1949-04-10
One Shaft Abandoned
In Effort 10 Rescue
Child Trapped in Well
CONTINUED From First PSge.) }

LQe Chances OF uuQluB hdLIIy
alive. said:
Lets not discuss 1t please,
please don't"
Tears came to his eyes as he
waved the reporter away. The
family spent most Of the day in
a sedan parked about so yards
from the scene. They leafed
through kilograms from friends
and well wishers as they prayed
and hoped.
Engineers have driven two
shafts parallel to the abandoned
pipeline that imprisons little
Kathy.
The first. started shortly after
she fell into the abandoned water
well, was given up at 10 feet. 1t
was three feet in diameter.
The second, 80 feet across at the
mouth, was abandoned at 81 feet
today because of the danger OF
caveins and inability Of the big
clam shovels to operate efficiently
beyond that point.
Digging Too Dangerous.
This was the shaft from which
Mr.. Kelly sighted the arm and
dress. But officials deemed 1t too
dangerous to dig deeper there. So
rotary drilling was resumed in the
original rescue shaft.
AS drilling neared the 1o0-foot
mark in the narrower shaft. plans
were made to lower the 24-inch
corrugated pipe in five sections,
each 20 feet long. The bottom Sec
ton already had three-foot oval
hole cut in it to make 1t possible
for a workman to start tunnellng
toward the we'll holding Kathy
captive.
After the sections were bolted
together, the workman was low
cred by rope to the bottom OF the
shaft. From there, using drill and
shovel. he dug through toward the
well pipe. A power saw was to be
used to cut through the pipe.
The rotary rig used to sink the
100-foot shaft is powered by
q gasoline engine and is steadied
by a Soft. derrick. Digging was
slow and involved process, as the
bit that scoops up the dirt is
only two feet high and 80 inches
across.
Moreover, the rig consists of
several sections that had to be
taken apart and reassembled after
every load of dirt was brought to
the surface. The rate of dig
ging was estimated at about a
quarter of a yard Of dirt each
eight minutes.
AS darkness settled and the all
out rescue effort went into it's
second night, hundreds of persons
still pressed against police ropes
around the scene. Traffic in the
entire area was congested.
DR.. Robert ]. McCullock, the
FiscuS family physician, said
shock and unconsciousness might
be sufficient to preclude struggling
and fear in the mind Of the child
and sustain her until such time
rs rescuers get to her.
No Sound Since Yesterday.
No sound had been heard from
the child since she answered her
mother with faint cries shortly
after tumbling into the pipe at
4:45 pm. yesterday. raas
I'VE don't know where the little
girl is," Mr.. Hill said. "All we
know is that she is more than 80
feet deep in the pipeline"
Engineers said the work was
exceedingly dangerous because the
rescue shaft was dug without sup
porting timbers. This stuff is
pretty soft, watch it," came
voice from below over the micro
phone at one point. Look out,
there's a slide"
Mr.. Kelly, an experienced ma
chinist, went through "a lateral
tunnel to the old pipe and cut the
hole in it. 1--we got to drill deli
cately," he shouted up. That
pipe is rusty, in fact it's rotten" !"
Don Metz. a construction engi-
neer and friend Of the Fiscus
family, said he believed there's a
better than an even chance that
she's still alive If there's not water
where she is, and we know there's
very little water above the 200
foot level"
Another Doctor Pessimistic.
However. a doctor, who refused
use of his name, said he believed
that under the circumstances,
think the longest she could have
continued to breathe would be
four hours"
Fire Chief Jimmy Bolz said he
believed there is a chance the girl
may be alive.
When the first lateral shaft
reached the old corroded pipe in
which Kathy was trapped, electric
rotary saws were lowered to q
four-man crew of miners.
AL Linnell, driller. telephoned
up that his crew had hit the old
we'll pipe at 74-feet this after
noon. He called for q short
shovel and reported:
We're cleaning Il out and now
we're going to clear out around
the pipe and sound 1t for an OBJ
struction. We want to listen close
to the pipe and we can't hear a
thing,
At this point Mr.. Linnell's early
crew was ordered out and was re-
placed by fresh men.
Kathy tumbled down the shaft
while running after here sister
Barbara, 8. and her cousin, Gus
nnn'T uIcc