The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-02-22


nigla work. 1t was strange to see how
quick their armies of banded cups
would drink to emptiness car or YES
sci loaded with grain, and carry it up to
giddy heights to be tumbled into huge
bins. These bins, sir, are forty to sixty
feet deep, and funnel-shaped at the bot
tom, where there Is o sort of valve or
gate, which, when opened, lets the grain
into spout. If the gate Is opened when
a bin has six or seven thousand bushels
in it, you can judge, sir, that there
would be a whirlpool that would suck
down the strongest man to horrible
death. Wonderful, terrible monsters
are these elevators, with their humps of
houses on their roofs, their awkward
spouts, their dizzy heights, and dismal,
dusty, chasms of empty bins. 1t makes
me sick to think of them now"
The man really did look little whi-
ter in the face, and nervously fingered
the empty sleeve of his jacket; but he
was over with, the feeling in minute,
and went on with his story:
81 had been at work about a week in
one of the largest of these elevators,
when, one afternoon, / was sent, in
company with another laborer-a big
whiskered, swearing, ruffian fellow, to
tend to bin that was about to be emp
tied. We were sitting on the edge of
the bin waiting for the grain to run,
when my companion, who seemed to
be under the influence of liquor, called
out:
"I say, Nike
"As have said, the fellow was ruff
fan in appearance. He seemed to have
quite liking for me, as he tried to be
with me in my work as much as posi-
BILE; but l couldn't bear him, and did
everything to be rid of him. lie knew
my name well enough, and it angered
me to have him call me in this way, so
l said, sharply:
"'My name is not Mikcv
| "'I1ow should l know?' he asked,
looking angrily into my face, as if he
wished to make me quarrel with him.
"'You have heard it more than once,
said. You know very well what it
is, Joe, and there is no sense in giving a
man name as does not belong to him.
"'Then don't call me Joe that amt
my name; it's counterfeit. Pm Tom,
which is better name.'
"IIe had a piece of chalk in his hand
and began to print with it on the big
beam on which we sat. Tom, Tom,
Tom, he scratched in large scraggIy
letters, all the while looking at me from
under his heavy eyebrows. Then he
made B, and rubbed his hand across
it as soon as it was made.
"'Bob, it'sa long way down there,
pointing into the half-flled bin.
"'Twenty feet, perhaps
"'Twouldn't kill man, the fall, eh p
moving closer to me.
"'Nov
"'But it's as good as water to drown
him if the grain be moving, and the
dust and chaT flying?'
"'de wouldn't live long, that is
sure!'
"'Then go down there!' he yelled,
giving me blow and push that
hurled me headlong from my seat. Go
down there stay there! die there! rot
there! Bob Campbell and don't forget
when your a-dying, that Tom Brinton
sent you.'
"That fall didn't hurt me bit, and l
began to crawl toward the rope ladder
hanging against the side of the bin,
thanking God that the grain hadn't be-
gun to move, else I'd be dead man in
no time; but as soon as the rutiian saw
what | was after, he went round and
pulled up the ladder.
"'Let that alone' shouted, feeling
how little hope of escape l had with the
ladder out of my reach. He laughed,
and flung the ropes over the beam.
"'Do you mean to murder me" l
cried.
"'No! Pm going to leave you there,
Bob. You've fallen in you sec that'll
be the verdict when they find your
body. You'll want your shovel, man,
to make the thing look natural; I'll
throw it to you in minute
Il felt quite sure that it was so dark
in the bin that he couldn't see me very
plainly, if at all, and that he tried to
| hit me with the shovel. | crawled close
to the side, with one cheek against the
wood. Looking up, l could see him,
| 1iraatlNy ahnun nnprinpr Inu.n inf "a
the gloom, and with that shovel in his
outstretched hand, ready to spear at me
as if / were a fish. There followed Il
stiffness that continued for five minutes
during which he stood on his guard.
Suddenly, heard the muf1led rattle of
machinery, and felt strange power
pulling at my feet, while my whole
body seemed to be sliding gently down
"a bottomless pit. In an instant l knew
what was happening.
"IHe grain mdS r,Ulningl
'"I madly flung out my arms, and
my fingers clutched one of the upright
beams. As drew up against the rece-
ding torrent, | heard a laugh above me,
and the words:
Remember Bessie Tillott, Bob
Campbell, and that ! loved her, and the
words l spoke to you by the big elm
Good-byn
"When ] looked up the man was
gone from my sight / don't know eX-
actly how managed to climb that big
beam. think there were nails here
and there that helped my feet and