The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-05-29

vt;cl5 of is, buJit hadn't Injured; tire sig
nal rope; hence means Of ccmnlunica-
tion remained for any one Immediately
below. ASS soon; as I saw this, set to
work tospigSa erossEbar, and presently haa.
it ready.
aJust,lower me gently / said to two
banksmen. sI may pick up one Or two,
if there,aeaty near" * ). :.
"You can't 60 down yctp cried D., the
viewer: allow many arc in the PIT :. - },
"Half an hour ago there we7e MY,
replied the t;me-keeper; but ara tnan b
full to saw they all came up but Ten.
And tbey are all lost" said the view
er, sfos there.Ewill Be another explosion
uliSSi -sI'iI 90 down, anyhow" said doggeesd;,
i, 10. IN aand if nobody will lower me, I'LL
Jump down.
| "a "a good many were on the heaps now
mem and dstwomen--7s@ome some ofsthe; OF ':Wome1
crying, and some praying; but when a: :
spoke out. that way, there was dead, 81
Ience.s Two or.tbree called out, .Gooq, !,
Ebve, Charley God bless you, brave laa.
The. hanksmen lowered me down, and
sank through. the pits mouth: "A Dayy,
iam,nn was t tied around my. waist, anu l
held held a rome in my hand, SO that ! might
s;vnal 10 be, ,hested .upsif the air became
tnos fnul. Il BntsI had nointention of going
hack till had searched the pit, and seen
If there were any alive. One thing, !
didn't care about my life; andanothcr. L
wonId have been ashamed to. face the
folks above, y;e,.w, without doing something, SO |
tolt impatient that they lowered me at
aucha. snail's 1. pace, and s kept lookinegsl
aid dokn' to imens1re the distance yet To
be traverscd. The shaft had mover seemed
so> deep to me before. l strained my eyes
into. tho darkness below, and saw no bot
tom; T glanced up. and the gleam OF
light grew. smaller md fainter | scanned
the walls of>the shaft, and marked only
their black bouni.- But my progress was
;notifiedsby the increasing density of the
air, which began to affect my breathing I;
and; as.I went on, / had to shift my face
from side to side to make little current
At-last my feet touched the ground.
I;looked round. :as jumped off the
st.addle, and saw the furnace WAS out,
which put stop to the ventilation Of the
mine, as faras it depended on the bratti-
-ces, and no air entered but by the shaft.
The stencil was overpowering, and, from
this and the silence. 1 guessed the worst.
1t was plain that the explosion had killed
the horses; for notasound came from the
stables, which were close to the shaft /;
and what hope could there be for. human
beings in distant part Of the pit? You
may be sure Isdidn't stand to make these
reflections; they foated across me, and [
was working forward before they had got
through my mind. knew the cid mine
blindfolded but what with the gloom,
and my shortness of breath, l was some
minutes scrambling to the top of the in
cline; keeping my arms stretched out, as
Invent along, to feel.for anything in the
way And it. was lucky did, or should
have dashed my head against some empty
trucks and, in the state Iiwas in, that
would have finished me.
Thus Preached the first gallery, which
you could only enter STOPPING. pushed
open the trap, and went on a few steps,
though my Davylamp was what pitinen
call s.afre"-the flame being all. blue
and knew that the atmosphere was SO
much gunpowder. But Istumbled along;
if L wasn't to save any one, it didn't mat
ter what became of myself, and pleased
myself with the thoughtthat Nelly would
hear that had died in. the attempt. And
then, all at once, it came into my head
what she had said about her brother Jack
being in the pit. This gave my heart
such tarn that Iquite staggered, and the
.persperation poured from my forehead
like water. rushed forward as if was
mad my foot struck something; bent
down over what seemed corpse, and the
CLEAN Of the lamp fell on its face. 1t
was Jack Glover. didn't know wheth.
er he was alive or dead, but caught hin.
in. my arlus, and with, the strength OF II
piant. and the speed OF u deer-hardly
conscious, hardly breathing-I made a.
dash for the shaft.
1t was easier work going back, when
YOU were once in the nMin.or horse road,
for now the shaft was before You instead
of behind, and, though you wouldn't think
it, this made Il wonderful difference IN
tho light Dark as pitch it still was,
though not to Il pitman's eyes, and l had
found out that Jack breatlied when |
reached the Shaft. The discovery nerved
tne afresh, and kept all my senses at
work, without my seeming to know it,.
| ONLY felt that there would soon be an
other explosion, so I placed Jack on the
striddle, and, taking the cord from my
Davylamp. tied him hand and foot, then
puzzled the signal rope, and as the people
above hauled the tackle, and lifted the
straddSe from the ground, ] hung on BY
my arms; thus we began to mount the
shaft.
1t wasn't till we had got twenty feet up
that ! felt the strain, of standing on moth