VAFLOYD-L Archives

Archiver > VAFLOYD > 2000-04 > 0955232538


From: "Tami Ramsey" <>
Subject: Re: [VAFLOYD] Anyone remember?
Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 18:22:18 -0400


4.9.1949 The nation watches as rescuers attempt to save three year-old Kathy
Fiscus from an abandoned well. KTLA offers the world's first extended news
broadcast (over 27 1/2 hours) from the scene. Stan Chambers reports.

I found the listing at http://www.ktla.com/backstage/station/history.htm
It also stated on another page;
Station manager Klaus Landsberg and reporter Bill Welsh already were in
place with two TV transmission trucks. Three-year-old Kathy Fiscus was
trapped deep in a narrow well; crews were drilling to reach her.
As the rescue effort dragged on, it was carried internationally by radio,
newspapers and, eventually, by newsreels. But Los Angeles watched the story
unfold for 27 hours on live TV, minute by minute, ending when the child was
found dead 50 feet from the surface.
My Mother had lived in the area at the time and remembers very vividly
standing vigil with her parents and other friends of the Fiscus family.
Hope this helps....
Tami Ramsey

----- Original Message -----
From: Edgar L. Vest <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2000 2:53 PM
Subject: [VAFLOYD] Anyone remember?


> Just wondering if anyone else can remember: On April 8th, 1949, death
> claimed a little girl that had fallen into abandoned oild well in her
> back yard. Seem like she was 3 years old and the workers had worked for
> many hours digging a shaft to reach her. The way I remember it being
> told on the radio news, (was before T.V. news in most of the country),
> she was playing in the back yard of her home in California and her name
> was Kathy Fiscus or Cathy Fiskus. Anyway it seems like it was maybe
> three days before she was recovered. For some reason it seems like I
> always remember this tragedy on April 8th.
> Edgar L. Vest

This thread: