The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-12-24

The STOCKTON TRAGEDY.-The Philadel-
phia papers have fuller particulars of this ter
ribe disaster. 1t seems that the buildings
which fell were over and near one of the coal
pillars or supports to the roof of the mine, at
place where it had been worked to within
twenty feet Of the surface; and the destruction
OF life was caused by tho neglect of the compa-
ny to survey and map the mine and notify the
jewellers above of the impending danger. Even
now people come and go from the scene of
the calamity in great numbers, and considera-
BILE excitement still prevails, many apprehend-
ing that the entire neighborhood of Stockton,
as we'll as the town itself, is undermined, and
in many places very near the surface, and that
greater calamity may occur at any moment
Many acts of herosm are recorded. The daugh-
ter OF MIR. Wettereau, young miss of seven
bers of the house in which she lived, rushed
out IN alarm, clad only in her night-clothes,
and as she did so the earth opened before her
and she was precipitated into the abyss. Hap
PLY, however, at this moment, John Hoskins
saw her fall and desperately attempted a res
cue at the peril of his own life Others speed-
ly Joined, and the unconscious girl was finally
dragged out from the Jaws of death by the
stalwart arms of the assembled miners, almost
dead with cold and crushed by the falling tim
bers. A Mrs. Rough heard the alarm of dan
ger, rushed into the street to ascel tain the
cause, and could have saved herself, but ran
back TO rescue her aged mother; in another
moment the earth opened its jaws and received
them both. The miners, to the number of fifty
or sixty, are working night and day searching
and dangerous labor before them. The ground
gives unmistakable evidence that another fall
ing in may be expected.
A STRANGE ExpERIENcE.-A gentleman
who is now resident of East Boston, states
that after an unsuccessful sojourn in California
OF several years he took passage in barque
bound to New York. She touched at Panama
for provisions and water; and having procured
these, her captain proposed to sail the next
day. Ihat evening the gentleman wrote let
tiers to bis friends, stating that he might be ex-
pected home in three months. At the usual
time he retired to bed and fell asleep; but
about an hour afterward found himself on deck
fully dressed. He was somewhat startled, but
it to fit of somn ambulsm, after
taking turn or two fore and aft, and exchang-
ing few remarks with the man who had the
anchor watch, again undressed and went to
bed. Imagine his surprise when he again
found himself on deck, dressed as before
Thrice he went to bed, and thrice he found
himself on deck. As he had never before ex-
perienced any kind of somnambulism, and was
an incorporating teetotaler, he began to re-
hect whether there was not something super
and he Immediately made up his mind that he
would not proceed in the vessel, but go home
across the Isthmus of Panama. With this
thought in his mind he turned in the fourth
time, and dreamed that he had decided rightly.
Much to the regret of the captain, who had
been very kind to him, and who expressed an
ardent desire to enjoy his company, he left the
vessel, and arrived at home in safety. A few
months later he learned from the newspapers
that the barque had been captured by pirates
in the Straits of Magellan, and that all hands
but one boy had been murdered by pirates.-
The boy concealed himself below while the pi-
rates were killing the rest of the crew, and af-
ter undergoing great peril. succeeded in reach
ing Valparaiso. This led the gentleman to re-
cur to the date of his experience on board of
the vessel at Panama; and after relating the
story to his parents, they told him that in com
pany with some pious friends they had made
him the subject of special prayer that very eve
ming, and they regarded his leaving the vessel
and his return homa as an answer to their
TrdUeHer.