Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1869-11-10
Life and Death Underground.

into the depths OF q mine, or are fami!-
lar in some degree with the dark, cav
ernous chambers, the narrow drifts and
passages, the numerous shafts, wines,
gaugways, and other fruitful ~opportuni-
ties for accidents to life and limb, and
the small chances for escape in case OF
a cave, o FIRE, or something equally
desperate, can reslizs the dangers to
which our subterranean workers are
constantly liable. A few days ago =
friend Of ours who is in the brokerage
line of business, had occasion to go
down into the depths Of the Yellow
Jacket mine. He was taking n look at
what was TO him an interesting part OF
the mine, when suddenly there was a
cry of "fre =" He well remembered
the terrible Ere in the mines, only n few
hundred feet further south, not many
months ago, whereby so many miners
los, their lives, the foul gas and smoke
shutting out all chance Of escape, and
he tells US tina. FOR the space OF about Il
minute he felt the near presence OF i'm
pending dearh-experienced the sensa-
ton that 10 was jus. about to perish IN
the midst of his iuiquities, and be effect
ually wiped out with no adequate oPpor-
tunity for repentance. That terrible
CRY Of fire :" was repeated, and in
stiuctively he followed the hardy miners,
who went clanbering down the ladders
70 the main level below. lie carried
his candle in his hand and Ills hear. in
his mouth, and when at last he stood
among q little group Of quiet, listening
men, he discovered for The first time
that he was more frightened than burt
that i, was only a blast about to be
let off, which induced the cry of "fre!'
usual on such occasions. The dull
thunder of the blast directly confirmed
this conclusion, and our friend felt re-
lieved, considerably.
In pursuance aud illustration of our
subject we need but briefly refer to the
terrible calamity in these Gold Hill
mines a few months ago. When that
terrible cry of .sGre !" was sounded,
men tried to escape but could not.
Stout hearted miners who were strang-
ers TO fear under all ordinary cireum-
stances. were overtakeu by the dread
messenger before they were fairly aware
of his presence. Indeed, there were
men who might have escaped had they
been u li;tlo more alive to the actual
danger Of tho situation and n little
more active in their efforts to escape.
They died in the company OF each other,
or in tho various drifts aud passages Of
the mine whittier they had fed seeking
safety and rescue. They died hope
%lcssly, sadly and inevitably. Body after
body was afterwards brought TO the
surface when the fire, smoke and deadly
Gas had subsidized. Those frs. brought
on, looked as though they had simply
fallen into a deep sleep, dying without
struggle or violent contortion. These
were the frst victims. The rest were those
who had fed through TO the Crown
Point shaft, or climbed from the sta
tons below, and most Of them showed
signs Of painful, despairing death. One
of the very last was found in an upper
drift where the foul gases had for weeks
been exercising a preserva,iye influence,
so that the body showed little signs OF
decomposition, but had lost consider
ably in weight. Three more bodies
Lni.y, Reinay and O'Neil-still remain
in those upper levels, and some day
thew will be brought out to the light of
day. Imagination may figure TO itself
what NAV he their condition and how
they NAV look. The following, which
we extract from q London paper, We
give "a m appropriate conclusion to
this article:
No. many years since, certain miners
working far underground cam upon
the body of q poor fellow who had per-
ished in the suffocating pit forty years
before. Some chemical agent TO which
the body had been subjcc,ed-an agent
prepared in the laboratory Of nature, had
eaectually arrested the progress OF de-
cav. They brought it up to the sur,
face. and for ~ while, until changed
through exposure to the atmosphere, it
Law the imsre Of Il iae, sturdy young
man. No CONFUSION had passed over
the face in death-the features were
tranouiI the hair was black as jet.
No one recognized the face-a genera
ton had grown up since the miner went
down into the shaft for the last time.
Blu. a tot,ering old woman, who had
hurried from her cottage NJ hearing the
news, came up, and she knew again the
face which, through all these long years.
she had forgotten. The poor miner was
TO have been her husband on the asy
after that on which he had died. Ihey
were rough people, of course, who were
looking on. a liberal education ana
refined feelings are not considered es.
seu,ial TO the man whose work IS 10 get
ND coal, or even in but there were no
dry eyes when the grey-headed old pr,
grim cast herself upon the youthiuI
corpse and poured into its deaftar many
words of endearment unused Tor lor'!.
six Years. It was a touching eon''ast
the one so old, the other so young.
They had both been young those ION
years ago; but time had gone gu
the living and stood still with tue ae'''