Through the night, rescue workers dug beneath the glare of acetylene torches, searching for 14-year-old Thomas Zygil under tons of clay and sand.
The boy had been playing in a Chicago brick company pit when the ground suddenly collapsed. Two companions escaped, including one who was buried up to his shoulders, but Thomas disappeared completely beneath the slide.
As steam shovels arrived and physicians waited with resuscitation equipment, rescuers clung to one hope: that the boy had managed to create a small pocket of air before the earth closed around him.
Boy Trapped By Sand Pit Slide
CHICAGO. — Racing with time, a party of rescue workers, equipped with machinery, today tore desperately at the spot where Thomas Zygil, 14, is entombed under tons of clay and sand.
While it is feared the boy is dead, the rescue workers labored hard with hope that he still breathes.
The youth was buried late yesterday by a huge cave-in in a pit owned by the Bohnsack Brick Company on W. Grand Avenue.
Chester Emmerling, 11, and another boy were caught with Zygil while playing in the pit. Chester was buried up to the shoulders, but managed to keep the earth and sand from closing about his head. His cries brought workmen, who in turn called firemen. He was rescued a few moments later.
The third boy managed to extricate himself. Rescuers hope that Zygil, by working his arms about his head as the earth closed in, may have been able to open an air chamber sufficiently large to permit breathing for several hours.
The work with hand shovels progressed slowly throughout the night. Rescuers toiled through the long hours in the glare of acetylene torches which gave the big pit, lined with anxious spectators, the aspect of an amphitheater.
Shortly before dawn a new shift of diggers took up the task. Two steam shovels were brought into play.
Mayor Dever ordered all rescue equipment and fire department employees available to the scene. A corps of physicians with pulmotors stood by, ready to begin the work of reviving Zygil should he be brought out.
Source: The Indianapolis Times. Indianapolis, Ind. September 11, 1925.
