A butcher took a bad tumble down a lead-shaft (twice!) and was there for two days before being rescued from his situation. He eventually recovered from his injuries, but we want to know what happened to his horse?!
“On Wednesday the 26th ult. as Mr. Hutton, contractor for supplying Dartmoor prison with butcher’s meat, was returning from Tavistock market, in the evening having dismounted to refresh his horse at a rivulet, it being dark, the animal escaped from him, and in endeavouring to recover it, Mr. H. missed his way and was precipitated into an old lead-shaft, upwards of 68 feet deep; but there being several feet of water in the bottom, it in some measure broke his fall. On rising to the surface, Mr. H. laid hold of one of the cross-pieces on which he supported himself; and he plainly heard the passengers conversing on the turnpike-road, but his efforts to make known his situation proving ineffectual, he endeavoured, by means of a pair of scissors, to dig holes in the side of the pit, to facilitate his ascension, and had got within a few feet of the surface, but the earth giving way, he was again plunged into the dark abyss. He remained in this dreadful situation until the Friday following, when he was discovered by a labourer, who was passing by; ropes wre immediately procured, by which he was soon released from his perilous situation and we are happy to state he is now perfectly recovered. In his endeavours to extricate himself he lacerated his toes and fingers in a shocking manner. – The danger to which travellers are often exposed from the old pits being left without any kind of fence, ought to be a matter of strict investigation.”
The Stamford Mercury, 4th January, 1811.