A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3818, 17 May 1927, Page 5

A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.

QUARRYMAN’S STRANGE

EXPERIENCE.

To be sent to almost certain death and to be saved in miraculous fashion by the same agency was the strange experience which befell Alexander Archie, a quarry worker, at Calder’s quarry, on Wednesday.

He was engaged on the task of loosening a large rock, when a piece fell from it and completely severed the rope which he had tied round his leg in the customary fashion to ensure safety. Though the face was not steep the suddenness of the break sent Archie reeling backwards, and as he was unable to arrest his progress, he began to slide down the rugged incline, followed by the detached piece of rock. As it rolled down the face, however, it fell on the rope, and stopped, holding the line fast and bringing the quarryman’s fall to an abrupt ending. Below the point where he was held safe by the line was 70ft of face, the whole length of which he must have fallen had his rescue not been so strangely effected. Archie, who is a married man, aged 42, and who resides at 23 Richardson street, St. Hilda, was extricated from his position without difficulty, and was taken I the hospital suffering only from shock and abrasions. His condition is not serious.

The manager of the quarry states that he has never previously heard of a falling stone cutting a workman’s safety line. The accident is made the more surprising by the fact that the rope in use on this occasion was capable of supporting 60 able-bodied men, or, in other words, a weight of five tons.