Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-06-09
Singular Effect of anhExcited Inn.
aginatiOn.
June 6, 1870.

Singular Effect of antExcited Im-
4 aginatiOn.
I I took an early dinner at Redrutb,
which is situated near tho sea, in the
center of the great mining district of
Cornwall, and started forthwith for one
of the deep mines near by, from which
copper and tin have been taken since the
days of Julius Cesar, when England was
Roman colony. Arriving at the shaft
house, L saw stalwart women breaking
and separating the ore that had been
brought ont of the mine. Near by was a
small laons, in which was the engine that
drew the ore from the mine by means of
fonr-oord cable that run over pulleys to
the shaft and was attached to a wrought
iron hopper-shaped crib or ore bucket,
with bottom which could be opened to
dump the ore drawn up in it. 1 nego-
iiated with the boss and engineer to de-
scend into the mine. Doffing m, own
clothes and substituting the dress and cap
of miner, entered the crib and COM
menced descending into the earth.
! Unlike most shafts, this was mot per-
pendicular nor straight, but evidently
| followed the lead of the vein in its down
ward course. Where the shaft sloped,
timbers were placed along side, so as to
form grooves into which guards run to
guide the crib or bucket in its upward or
! downward course. I was not allowed a
! light, for the reason that it might prod uee
nausea if l were able to see the sides of
the shaft in my downward trip of two
thousand feet. 1t is usual to run the en-
| CINE at half speed when a visitor is as
cending or descending the shaft of a mine
in England. / had decended into many
mines and always felt satisfied with the
cautious arrangement
1t was but a few SCI ,onds after L COM
menced descending bel ore the shaft turn
ed and as l looked up, mo- ray of light was
visible. Chuck, chuck emit the guards
into the grooves. and for IL time III the
dense darkness, L busted my self in, count
made in its descent which was always
preceded by a chuck of tn e guards rs
they entered the grooves of ach succeed
ing set of timbers. Down, do WI L went
and began to cast nay eyes ov, II the edge
of the crib, expecting to see the lights of
the miners at the foot OF the 5, 1aft. But
they did not appear.
Suddenly became impressed with the
belief that my course was chang ed, that
was ascending the shaft. I wondered
what had happened that the eng ineer had
reversed the drum and was dra wing me
up. l queried whether strands of tbs
ropes had not broken and were di covered
in season to prevent an accident y their
parting wholly asunder. l fanci ed that
could feel myself ascending and began
to cast my eyes upward to see Il le light
from the mouth of the shaft, VIII en- sad
denly there was jar, all motion ceased
and J f2and myself at the bottom /, in the
mine
The wierd, half.naked and b lackened
the dim light fastened to their caps
fully realized say situation and My Won
dered that had been SC bewilde red as to
think myself ascending, when n fact, 1t
was evident that no change had been
made i'll my downward trip.
Having spent the afte rnoon in travers
ing the various drifts aud exal mining the
lodes of copper cd tin ore being worked
paid my " FOOT ngs" and req uested the
mining boss to give no notice to the en-
gineer of my in .tention to ascend, but ask
ed the priviles Re of getting into the Grill
when it was half filled with ore and b.
drawn up at full speed. thought, by
doing so, tn It I should avoid "a repetition
of the bewi ldered state of mind that L hae
experience ID in my downward trip. A
any rate, should not be kept 80 long in {
painful suspense.
He a. first demonstrated with me, but II
comph ance with my wishes, yielded, and
enter ID the crib. He gave the wire thai
led the engineer the usual jerks, and IL
an instant / started at full speed up The
she it In AZ twinkling all was pitch dark
an d chuck, chuck, went up, as appeared
t. } be, many times faster than L had de
Scended. I was feeling happy at th'
I thought of my rapid ascent, and wonder
, ed why it was that l should have been 81
, deceived when descending, for it was now
/. perfectly pInin to me that I was going up
After while began to look to see if the
light WIS not visible from the mouth o.
the shaft. Again, and yet again looked
up, but no light was visible. Chuck
chuck, vent the guards into the timber
grooves, but no light appeared. Sudden
ly, to my mind, the sound changed, and
was imr ressed with the terrible thought
that sol nething had broken and that
was rap ldly descending to the bottom.
at once comprehended the sad result tha
must a tend a fall of nearly two thousand
feet. The problems of my school-boy
days. m which had reckoned the increas
ed aIocity of falling bodies, rushed
throl Ugh my mind, and I felt that thu
prof. lem was being demonstrated IN way
tina must inevitably result in my death
1 was standing and held fast by the bal
} or handle of the large bucket. I though
} o { those who had fallen from great height
J and lit upon their feet; and fearing tn
u lingering death that might follow, shoul'
1 stand upright, let go my hold from tn
u bail. souatted down and waited the result
At what fearful rate was l descending.
III could feel the air rush past as though
4. would raise the miners cap from M
= head. Every second seemed the last, bu
Y second after second came and passed, aa
G. still did not reach the bottom.
3. The suspense was terrible. With
lie feeling of mingled dread and impatieno
l looked over the edge of the crib to see