The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-05-29

the feelings InaU animate every miner
on such occasions.
1t didn't seem a minute before |
came to the dust heaps, round the
pits mouth, but some were there be-
fore me, and the off-men and the
woman were rushing up from the viii
1age In a stream The smell from the
pit almost knocked me down as I
camesup. and / had to get my breath
little, when three or four of us crept
on to the mouth and looked. down
The, explosion had destroyed the cage,
not leaving stick of it, but it hadn't
injured the signal rope hence means
Of com munieation remained for. any
one Immediately below.5s1As soon as [
saw this, / set to work to rig cross
bar, and presently had it ready o..
just lower me gently" ] said to
or two, if there's any near. . '''''
- You can't go down yeti" cried the
viewer. How many are in the pit?'
Half an hour ago there were, fifty, /"
repliedlthe timekeeper; but I am
thankful to say they ali came up but
ten" rr
And they are all lost, said the
viewer, :. for there will be another ex-
plosion ,directly.YqE aOJe1I
III go down, anyhow" [ said,
doggedly - a nd if nobody will lower
me, I'll jump down" ss.s t'.9n
A good many were on the heaps
lnow=men and -Women-some of the
women cryiE 6 and some praying; but
when l spoke out that way there was
a dead silence Then two or three
called out :. Good bye, Charley God
bless you, brave lad The banks
men lowered me down, and / sank
through the pits mouth, A-Dasy-.
lamp was tied round my waist, and Is
held rope in my hand, so that
might be signaled to be hoisted up if
the air became too foul. But | had
no intention Of going backCtiH Il had
searched the pit, and seen if there
care about my life; and another, |
folks above without doing something,
So felt impatient that they lowered
me at such snail's pace, and | kept
looking up and down to measure the
distance yet to be, traversed. The
shaft had never seemed so deep to me
before. l strained my eyes into. the
darkness below, and saw no bottom;
Ilglanced upland the CLEAN of light
grew smaller and fainter. | scanned
the walls of the shaft, and marked
only their black bound. But my
progress was. notified by the increas-
ing density of the air, which began to
affectmy breathing, and, as / went on,
l had to-shift my, face from side to
sidesto make a little current. At last
my feet touched ground
i looked round as 1 jumped off the
straddle, and saw. the, furnace . was
out, which put a stop to the ventiIa-
ton ofthe mine, as far as it depended
on the lbrattices, and no air entered
but by. the shaft The stencil was
overpowering, and, from this and the
silence, / guessed the worst. 1t was
plain that the explosion had killed
the horses, for not sound 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 [ didn't
stand to make these reflections; they
hoated across me, and l was working
forward before they had got through
my mind. knew the old mine blind
folded; but what with the foul smell,
and what with the gloom, and my
shortness Of breath, | was some min
utes scrambing to the top of the in
cline, keepingSmy arms stretched out,
as | went 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 I.zwas in,s that
would have finished me. Thus /
reached the frst gallery, which you
could only enter stopping. [ pushed
Open the trap, andaEent on "a few
steps, though my Pavy lamp was
what pitfnan call 'Aafre" the-~fame.l
being ahblue, and Fknew that the
.atmo sphere was so much gunpowders j
Bnt / stun bledsalong;i if [ wasn't to-,
save any one, it didn't matter what
became of myself, and [ pleased my
self with the@thought that Nelly
would hear | 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 hearts such a turn that |
aquitel staggered sand the perspiration
poured from my forehead like water.
| rushed forward as if [ was mad
my foot struck something; [ bent
down over what seemed a corpse, and
the CLEAN of the. lamp fell on his facet
1t was Jack Glover. | didn't know
whether he wasTahye or dead but i
caught him IN my arms, and with the
strength of a giant and the speed of
deer + hardly conscious. hardly
breathing-I made0 a. dash for the
shaft
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