MADMAN'S EXPLOIT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 119, 12 January 1932, Page 2

MADMAN'S EXPLOIT

PERCHED IN PERILOUS POSITION IN MINE SHAFT OFFICIAL'S TACT SAVES LIFE Details of an amazing _pit shaft drama played out in the Forest of Dean came to light in England recently. The chief actors were a man who had returned home to Whitecroft from a Gloucester mental institution and a friehd named Wintld. As the men were strolling past ohe I of the shafts of the Princess Royal 1 Colliery, Wintle's copipanion, ,a powerful fellow over 6fi. high, suddenly dashed to the railings,* climbed over, and, catching hold of the winding rope, vanished down the shaft, which is 180 yards deep. ' Wintle's calls for help brought Mr. Robert Young, the chief engineer, and Mr. MacAvoy, the colliery manager, to. the scene, and they : wound up the two cages which were then suspended in the middle of the shaft, but there,; was no sign of the vanished man. Descending the sh^ft in one of the cages the colliery officials made an exhaustive search of the pit without ■ finding any trace of "the man." As they were making their ascent i they discovered the missing man | perched in a perilous. positio'n on a projecting plank supporting the pumping pipes with a chashi of X50v yards yawning below- him. ' ■ The moment he was seen he disappeared again, and the cage had to I be lowered another 16 feet before I further trace of him was found. I This time the man was resting on, i another projecting plank. j As his rescuers approached he asked for a mateh to light a cigarette, and as this was handed over he was seized and taken to the surface. His life was undoubtedly saved by ; the tact of the colliery officials. He ! was none the worse for his amazing exploit.