A Mother Jumped Into a Well to Save Her Baby

The three children of John L. Sandell, who lives in a comfortable home three-quarters of a mile east of Green Lake, were playing in the yard a week ago yesterday. All were girls, two of them six and eight years old respectively, and the youngest a little tot not quite two. Near the house was an eighteen-foot well, with water in it two feet deep, the entrance surrounded by a frail picket fence. The children, in their play, pulled and tugged at this railing until it gave way, and before the older girls could comprehend what had happened their little sister, going too near, had fallen into the well and was struggling on the black surface of the water sixteen feet below.

The children at once called to their mother, who was alone inside the house. Mrs. Sandell, horrified, ran to the curb, but could see nothing but the yawning cavern that held her child. She thought of a ladder at the barn 150 feet away, and without losing a second brought it to the well, but it was only twelve feet long. She realized that desperate chances had to be taken, for the child had already lain in the water several seconds, and a few more meant that its life would be gone. She dropped the ladder in an agony of fear lest the ends should strike the baby dead. The instant it had settled in place she forced herself through the narrow aperture at the top, measured momentarily with her eye the distance to the ladder against the wall six feet underneath, and dropped. By a chance that seems miraculous she caught it squarely, and, balancing herself, instantly descended to the bottom of the well. There she found the child unconscious. It had been in the water at least three minutes and was almost dead.

Mrs. Sandell lifted the helpless infant and climbed to the top of the ladder, at the same time calling to the children above to run for help. While they were gone she repeatedly rolled the babe upon her own body, forcing from it the water it had swallowed until she was gladdened with signs of returning life. It was half an hour before the children returned, and when they came back they brought Otto Aura, an employee of the Fremont mill. He obtained from a neighboring house another ladder long enough to reach to the bottom of the well, and in a few minutes had helped both mother and child to safety above.

The babe soon recovered. Through great good fortune the ends of the ladder had struck one on each side of its body, not injuring it at all, but pinioning it beneath the surface of the water, and the vigorous work of resuscitation by its mother had rekindled the spark of life. Mrs. Sandell was in a delicate condition, and the shock to her nervous system was so severe that she has been confined to her room ever since the accident. Mr. Sandell is a carpenter and is working on a residence in Brooklyn. He and his wife are Scandinavians and have resided at Green Lake for a considerable period.