RESCUERS BEATEN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 107, 15 February 1935, Page 8

RESCUERS BEATEN

FIGHT TO SAVE TRAPPED MAN. FATAL FALL OF EARTH. After days and .nights of alternating hope and fear, death at last ended an amazing drama in which devoted rescuers laboured to save the life of a trapped man. Held securely by a fall of earth halfway down a well-shaft in a farmyard at Greystones, County AVioklow, Ire.laridj the victim of the tragedy, Charles O’Leary, a 32 year old plumber displayed amazing, fortitude wmle every possible effort was made under wellnigh hopeless conditions to effect his release. O’Leary was imprisoned while climbling a ladder inside the shaft, which he had descended in order to fix a washer •to a pump. Part of the side of the well suddenly collapsed when he was about ,50ft from the top, and he was buried Tip to the neck,'with one foot firmly held between the rungs of the ladder. His brother immediately sent for help,, and all the resources of human ingenuity that could be summoned were quickly got 'to work in- the hope of freeing him. Effort to Amputate Own Leg. First of all steps had to be taken to prevent further subsidences completely burying the entombed man, but it was impossible to stop these completely. After O’Leary had succeeded in working part of his body free' to find that his foot was caught, a sawas passed idown to him and with this, after two hours of agonising effort, he succeeded in cutting through one rung of the ladder. As O’Leary’s leg was still held doctors passed down surgical instruments to enable him to amputate it himself. After trying to do so without success, he cried, “You must take me up as I am or let me die. Oxygen was pumped continuously down the shaft, and O’Leary was fed with restoratives lowered in bottles. Army engineers then began digging a tunnel to reach O’Leary, and the work was pressed on with the help of Civic Guards, members of the Dublin Fire Brigade,’ farmers and farm labourers. At times it was held up by danger of the whole well falling in. O’Leary’s relatives meanwhile ‘sufjfered a torture of suspense as they wandered grief-stricken about the farmyard. Through a speaking-tube the entombed man’s voice was heard saying faintly, “Good-bve. I am dying,"’ and a priest came and administered •absolution. The rescuers had tunnelled to within a few feet of the man when a heavy fall of earth occurred in the shaft and destroyed their work. For hours afterwards no soiled was heard from O’Leary, and it was assumed be had died, until listeneis heard what was thought to be the sound of breathing. This raised hope Again. . . ~ AVorking; at great risk owing to the danger of further earthfalls, the rescuers continued their efforts. Dead Man Recovered. It was not until 68 hours after O’Leary' was trapped, that the well shaft was reached and O’Leary’s head and shoulders were revealed. The head was injured and blood-stained and the visible portions ( of the body badly crushed. A soldier seized the man’s 1 hand, but it was cold and lifeless. An injection of strychnine was given, but produced no response. It was then clear that O’Leary was dead. Under great difficulty the digging work was continued until the body was released'. It was found that O’Leary’s back and one of his arms were broken. The body was brought to the surface while a priest recited prayers for the dead and soldiers stood bareheaded to attention in pouring rain. The body was then removed in an ambulance. Afterwards the occupants of the farmhouse were ordered to leave the premises as there was danger that the walls of the house might collapse through being undermined by the digging operations.