The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-09-17
THE BRAVE GOLFERS.
How Calmly They Net a Terrible Fate.


The recent appalling disaster at Scran-
ton, Penn, in which about two hun.
dred miners were sufi0cated or burned
to death, was the most extensive and
complete accident of the kind that ever
occurred in this country. 1t is to be
hoped that one of its results will be to
SO direct public attention to collieries
and the manner of wo king them as to
make, by legislative enactment if nee
essary, repetition of the Scranton
he Tor impossible. In what precise
manner these brave sons o. toll met
dea b in that great prison-house of fire
is not yet known, the only facts yet
received in regard to the disaster being
embraced in the meager statements
furnished in our Geographic dispatches.
Who can imagine the feelings and emo
tiols of men about to die-not after
being Frustrated by disease, or when
the blood is heated by the strife of bat
tie; but when they see inevitable death
slowly but certainly approaching them,
and in exactly so many minutes it will
seize upon them and extinguish the life
of their bodies? Do they rage and
struggle against their fate? or do they
meet it with the dignity of calmness
and resignation? In connection with
this inquiry it way be interesting to
mention few of the incidents of a re-
cent terrible colliery explosion in Sax
Ony. On that occasion all the miners
were not killed Immediately, as was at
first supposed; a number of them were
unframed by the explosion, and were
killed after an interval of some time,
by suffocatiol. Some of these poor
fellows occupied the last moment of
their lives i'm writing messages in their
notebooks to their wives and children,
and t :-e were found when the bodies
were discovered. There is a strong
pa.hos i'm some of these messages from
the grave, but the calmness and resig-
nation which they manifest is their
most notable feature. These men, in
thevery presence of death, haI thoughts
for every one but themselves. "Dear
care of Mary; in a book in the bedroom
you will find thaler. Farewell, dear
| mother and sisters, till We meet again. v
Ore named Schmidt had pinned
a paper to the breast of his blouse, on
which he had written the following
words: "My dear relations, while see
ing OeaLn DeIOre me, remember you.
Farewell till we meet again in happi-
ness" A man named Bahr wrote thus
in his note book: This is the last place
where we have taken refuge. 1 have
given up all hope because the ventila-
ton has been destroyed in three seper-
ate places. May God take myself and
my relatives and dear friends who must
die with me, as well as our families,
under His protection" Another had
written; "Janetz has died; Richter left
his family to God. Farewell dear wife;
farewell dear children; may God keep
you. Only one uttered complaint,
and it was not a violent one: Clare
well, dear wife and chileren; did not
think it would end so. Oberman."
One reads these simple messages with
moistened eyes, and pictures to himself
the scene of these rough-handed but
soft-hearted men spending their last
moments, not in wild cries for mercy
and screams of remoi sc, nor in repining
against their cruel fate, but in sending
these farewell words to their loved ones
who were even then bewailing them as
dead.