The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-01-29

er Of the house 10 take the pipe from bis
mouth and stare at her in the manner he
lid I; il was the expression Of her face and
,er wild, affighted looks
Hey, Jenny what's game wrang, lass,
70 LUX like ane that's seen the goblin p
"Ah! Willie, Jocks nae come hame
rot, fear something's no weel."
This was said with a voice that was full
IF foreboding, and the poor woman sank
into chair that was handed to her
Willie did not resume the pipe be donned
! coarse miners jacket and hat and drew
On his heavy mining boots for Willie, too,
was a miner, working in the same mine
as Jock. He lit his miners lamp at the
stove CRATE, and hurried off towards the
mine. Calling on comrade by the way,
they both entered the mine and traversed
the intermediate passages that lay between
Jocks breast and the mouth Of tho slope.
They said little on the way into the
mines, but each guessed the others thoughts.
1t is an occurrence quite frequent that some
Of tho miners are left in the mines, late of
an evening, and are thus hunted for BY some
Of their comrades. Nothing creates SO
much alarm among these missing miners
friends, for they are often found mutiated
corpses.
There are always two manways in a breast
of coal-that is, one on each side, as we
have already stated, but one Of these is
well supplied with steps, and is used as tie
travelling way to the face Of the breast.
The other way be used when occasion re-
quIres.
Willie, with his comrade, went first to
the travelling manway, and assembled this
uninterruptedly to point where they found
the manwsy closed up with broken pIanks
and fragments Of coal. These formed a
barrier to their progress in this direction.
They called Jock by his name. thinking
then that be was merely shut in, prisoner.
as has often been the case With miners when
some extraordinary crush has broken down
ter passages
Jock gave no answer, SO they descended
to the gangway and went up the other man
way, built on the opposite side Of the breast
This passage was open. and they gained the
face Of the breast. There they sought
among the loose coal, but they found him
not. Descending the travelling manway,
whose upper length of planking they found
to be driven out Of place, they came to the
debris that chOaked up the passage. They
did not find Jock. They went back to the
face of the breast, and removed a portion of
coal in all likely places, but their search
was fruitless.
"He's amang that rubbish i the man
way and naewhere else, says Willie.
Willie descended the manway again, and
on removing some of the pieces of coal
very cautiously, discovered human hand,
with its fingers grasping piece of plank
that lay crosswise in the manway above it.
The hand was cold and clammy, and its
grasp pOWerless. They went to work, re-
leased the body of Jock, carried it to the
face Of the breast, and laid it on the loose
coal. They thought it was dead, which it
was to all appearances.
"Puir jock" says Willie, as be con-
templated the helpless figure before him,
"what II become O. bis wife and bairns?"
! With the dexterity Of a surgeon, Willie
proceeded to examine Jocks person. He
found some severe cuts on his back and one
on the back of bis head not bone was
broken, however.
Willie had been confident that Jock was
dead, and not till be had examined his
wounds did be think of listening for the
beat Of his heart. When he did this be
gave joyful cry that Jock was alive.
The cramped posture into which Jock
had been thrown { be had fallen about thirty
feet) had done more in the direction Of
killing him than had all the blows he had
received. When released and laid in a
natural posture, the blood that had almost
become stagnant in his veins began to flow
again, and after Willie had rubbed heat
into the vitals and applied bis brandy flask
to Jocks lips, the signs Of returning life
rewarded his humane efforts.
With the tenderness Of nurses did they
bear him home, although this was no easy
feat to accomplish. Carrying man down
a small manway and up a slope, both Of
which pitch at an angle Of 70 degrees, is
not child's play. Besides, there were two
miles Of horizontal travelling on the surface
and under it together.
By the time they got him home be had
recovered bis senses, and Jenny's joy was
unbounded when she found Jock still
spared to her. It was late at night when
they brought him, and Jenny had expected
the worst.
Jock recovered sufficiently to taste the
turkey at Christmas, and join With the
family to give thanks to the good PrOvi-
dence that spared him.
Jock never swears or gets into passion
now, and a more grateful Christian you
never meet with in the mines. He feels
himself entirely in Gods hands.
Burns says in his address to the dell
Il laith I'll turn corner, Jehkin,
| Aud cheat We vet"
Jock promises to verify this quotation.
Reader few who have been found in the
position pictured here are found with life in
them; but for the piece Of plank that
erased the manway above Jock. and the
debris that blocked the manway below him
and stopped his falling, our little story Of
A Days Trials Of a Coal Mine' would
not have had such fortunate ending.
hope it is not necessary to state that
there is no need to draw on the imagination
for stories like the above. The miner,
when under ground, is in as much peril as
is the soldier on the field of battle.
T. III. w.