Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-05-18
TWENTY-FIVE DARK HOURS.

! I'm what we calls a ganger, and have
so many men under me when we're ma
king a new line of rail. I passed best
part o. my time in the country but
| have worked on the lines in France and
| Spain but what I'm about to tell you
| happened in London, where we'd sank a
! shaft right down, and then was tunneling
/ fOrraTds and backards-the shaft being to
/ get rid of your stuff, and sometimes for a
/ steam engine to be pumping up the water.
| It's rather dangerous work, and a many
men gets hurt but then a great deal of
| it's through carelessness, for lots of our
| fellows seems as though the whole O. their
/ brains is In their backs and arms, where
| they're precious strong, and nOWheres
/ else; but I'd got so used to it that in cut
/ ting or tunnel it was all the same to me,
/ and now l was busy spuring the men dig
/ ging, and sometimes bricklaying bit, so
| that l thought very little about danger
when d seen as all the shores and props
was we'll In their places.
It was just at the end o. the dinner
hour one day, when / was gone down the
shaft to have a good look round before
work begun again, and I'd got my right
hand man, Sam .Carberry, with me. 1t
was new shaft, about thirty foot deep,
with ladders to 60 down, and a MINDLESS
and basket for bringing up stuff and let
ting down mortar.
We hadn't tunneled more than p'r'aps
some ten or a dozen foot each way, SO as
you may suppose 1t was VERY fresh
green, as we call it; and I wasn't quite sat
isfed about the snoring up, and so on, for
you know fellows do get so precious care
lessWhen once they've got used to danger;
and as for some Of our big navVies, why
they're Just like a set o'babies, and
for every thing else but their regular
work they're quite as helpless. Tell 'em
to fill a lorry, or skid wheel, or wheel a
barrer, they'll do 1t like smoke but as
to taking care o. themselves-but there,
l needn't say no more about that-jUst
look at the great, good-tempered, lOllop-
ing fellows A man can't have it all
ways and if he's got it all IN bone and
muscle. why 'tain't to be expected as his
going to have all the brains too.
That's giving a bit there, Sam, l
says, appointing to one part O. the shaft
where the earth was a-bulging and looked |
loose. " That amt safe. Therell be a
barrer full O. stuff atop o. SOMEBODY'S !
head afore the afternoons over. That's !
the rain-that is Take your NELL and !
knock out that lower shore, and we'll put /
in a couple foot higher up. Mind how |
you does it p Sam mods his head, for he /
was a chap as never spoke if he could |
help 1t, and then he gets up, while L takes /
a look or two at the brickwork, SO as not |
to be done by the men, nor yet dropped /
on by the foreman. Then | hears Sam /
banging away at the bit o. scaffold-pole, /
and directly after It comes down with |
hollow sound and then there was rat /
Ting O. loose graYelly earth as / peeps !
out, and then feels as though my heart |
was in my mouth, for L shouts out : /
s That's the wrong one p But in an in
slant Sam dropped to the bottom, and as
he did so it seemed as though some one
drew a curtain over the hole, and then l |
felt a tremendous blow on the chest. and |
was driven backward and dashed up /
against the wood scaffolding in the tun-
mel, and l suppose was stunned. for L /
knew nothing more for a bit: Then it |
seemed as though was being called, and
L sorter woke up but every thing was /
dark as pitch and silent as death, and,
feeling heavy and misty and stupid, l
shut my eyes again, and felt as If going to /
sleep, for there didn't seem to be any
thing the matter to US. 1t was as though |
something had shut up thought and sense
in the dark, and not a wink of light could
get IN. But there l was IN a sort of
dreamy, comfortable state, and lay there |
perfectly still till a groaning noise reused /
me, when thought came back with blin
ding fash, and so sharp was that flash
that my brain seemed scorched, for L
knew l was buried alive
For a few minutes / stood where l /
first rose up in a half-stOOping position, /
with my head and shoulders touching the
poles and boards above me but fresh /
groRn made me begin to feel about In the
darkness, and try to find out where L was
and how much room L had to move IN.
But that was soon done, for at the bot /
4 Oh ont q g
far up as l could reach 1t seemed couple
of yards, while the other way there was
the width of the tunnel l dared not /
move much, though, for the earth and /
broken brickWork kept rolling and crum-
bling in, so that every moment the space /
grew less, and q cold sweat came out all /
over my face, as l thought that L should /
soon be crushed and covered completely /
up. just then, however, another groan
sounded close by me. and for the first
time / remembered Sam Carberry, and /
began feeling about in the direction from
which the sound came.
Bricks, bits O. stone crumbllng gravel, /
the uprlghts and spices and bits OF
boards all in splinters, and snapped In
two and three pieces, with their ragged
ends sticking out of the gravel. But l
could feel nothing of Sam, and sat down
at last painting as though had been run
n1ngs ana bnere was Ene Dig drops a-fOu-
ing off me, while drew every breath that
heavy that I grew wild with horror and
fear for it seemed as though I shouldn't
be able to breathe much longer, and then
[ must be stifed. It was awful the
thought of all that and had such an ef-
feet on me, that I dashed about like
bird in a cage-nOW here, now therein
mad efforts and struggles to get out. [
cried, Help, help !" and swore and tore
about, jumping up and plunging my hands
into the earth till at last painting, and
bleeding, and helpless, lay upon the
gravel crying like a child.
All That did me good, and seemed to
clear my thoughts, and make me mad
with myself to think 1 had been wasting
my strength so for nothing, when per-
hans I might have been doing something