The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-12

belchod nom the exhaust steam pipes Of the
large pumping engine, that worked night |
and dsy,at the mine to keep ont the water, |
for she g made" good deal of water at that
lime, and the engine Rorked at tWenty two
inch SET"
r" was soon in bye at the " flat aad
dlyessed Of my upper clothes. examined the
. workings" and found everything all
right" -
"1be : fiat district had charge of,
was on the extreme rise Of the mine, and
we were driving pair of exploring drifts in
advasce of the fOrds" to hole into an old
mine. known to be inundated"
Ahe greatest caution was used in these
drifts; bore-hOles were kept IN advance Of
theira faces, and on each side, so that the
water would be tapped BY the bore holes,
wheE it could be drained Of Mt pleasure, and
sent TO the engine pumps, whose capacity
were. being enlarged for the purpose Of
drafting this standing water we we're ap-
proaphing.
" BY two O'Clock | met the hewers and
set them to their places. The two hours
before the lads came were passed in the
usust way, by timbering unsafe places, and
putting up few lengths Of brattice to carry
the az forward into the fiery boards.
:" The lads (putters) came at four o'clock,
clanmerlng, as is usual with putters. With
the asual ten minutes confusion got them
starred work, and each one days work was
placed TO the satisfaction Of all of them.
Things went on as usual till about eight
o'clock, at which time l was in the face OF
one: of the drifts that were approaching the
inundated mine. The pillar between the
drifts was fifteen feet thick, and we hOled
acress for air every ten yards. The face Of
heidrlfts were nearly opposite each other,
and in advance of the boards Of the
district, nearly four hundred yards.
II was just on the point of leaving,
when all of sudden blast of wind was
forced into the drift which extinguished
both the hewer's and my own light"
Some Of my readers, / have no doubt,
knew what panic atblast of wind creates
among miners. The cause of the wind may
be fall of roof in a goat, an explosion,
the caving in Of shaft, or an inundation.
Thtse all have their peculiar forms of wind.
The wind Of an explosion of FIRE damp is a
sharp double conclusion; that caused by
fail. or cave in, is simply rush, and then
except the air passages become blocked
the air follows on in its natural channel
but the wind from an humiliation is cOntinu-
Gus and with accelerated force. They are
not every one wh0-ater experiencing their
6rEi wind-live to experience their second.
If they do LIVE mean if they are so for
tunate as to escape with life in such cases
theg never forget such experience.
:" when our lights were extinguished,"
nv visitor went on, " the natural impulse
was to run. We scrambled down the drift
in the dark, and the rush of wind facing
US, was nearly strong enough to hold us
back. was inexperienced then and could
not account for TINS stream Ofair | fancied
an explosion Of FIRE damp had taken place.
We sped on however with as much haste as
possible, until we came to the lateral open
Ines connecting the drifts to the boards of
the district. Here, a roar as if of distant
thunder met my ears. The noise came
ne2rer and nearer l tancied l heard stop
pipgs and brattice burst away BY some tre-
mendous force. Still it did not occur to me
what in reality had happened; | was doing
mi best to escape to the shaft to avoid the
aftsrdamp; and the shaft was still a mile
dissant. How we battle against the grim
monster in such cases of peril, when such
terrible odds are against US
But the roar became 50 loud and 50 close
thSt l stopped to listen. had got ahead
of; my companions, and as l stood there
that half second, body of water crashed into
tbe board on my right hand side. If l had
been frightened before this time, ! became
absolutely terror-stricken now.
. 1t was useless to attempt to escape then,
as from the position of the shaft levels,
khew the levels would be cho1ed with
water
There was no time to be lost, 50 l turn
e5 back TO run up the rise to await death
there, rather than to be dashed to pieces by
the madly rushing waters as they came
piunging madly along the board. got a
short distance back towards the drifts, when
l met one of the hewers, strong young
fellow, whom l attempted to stay; but be
was headstrong and burst away from me,
and in few seconds he was swept off BY the
sabteranean fioJd his cries rising above the
roar of the careering waters. HIS fate was
swiftly sealed and his cries silenced forever.
There were still three hewers and
galloway "a small Shetland pony driver
il the pair Of drifts; and | met these, who
fortunately had not lost their reason 10 their
flight. We held brief consultation and
agreed to retreat to the face of the drifts,
and there await our doom.
owe had gained the drifts above the
point where they were intersected by the
boards, along which we could hear the water
water rushing with roar that almost drowned
our voices. We gained the face Of the drifts
and reconciled ourselves to the fate in store
FIR us we all thought we had not many
rlinutes to live, and the thoughts and wishes
ef our hearts found utterance in prayer.
(To BE CoNTINUED.l
T. III. W.
ASHLAND, Pennsy lvAnis, March 1879.
a NnUu MonorapU Suotprn