The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-04-13

II looked Orlghter. moaning, unkllnt
noise crept along the floor of the vault.
stood still with fear, for the noise of the
train behind me was rapidly increasing
and turning for an instant in that direction
| observed that it was IN full sight.
could no longer disguise from myself that
stood in the full way Of another train, ad
vancing from the opposite direction. The
light before me was the engine lamp il
was now brilliant as a glowing star, and
the roar of the wheels was fully heard
amidst the gloom T; it come on with veloc
ity which seemed to me terrific.
A thousand thoughts coursed through
my brain on the instant ] was in the way
of the monster, and the next moment
might be crushed into bleeding fragments
The engine was almost upon me. i saw
the cleaning face of the driver, and The
glow of the furnace flashing its lurid light
far along the lower edge of the dense vol
umes Of steam blown from the engine
chimney. In an instant prostrated my
self on my face and lay there without the
power Of breathing, as felt the engine
and train laundering over me. The low
hung ash-box swept across my back
| felt the heat Of the furnace
as it flashed over, and glowing Gin
der was dropped near my hand. But
burst not move. felt as if the train was
crushing over me- The earth vibrated and
shook, and the roar Of the wagon-wheefs
smote into my ears with thunder which
made me think their drums would crack.
| clutched the earth, and would have cow
cred and shrunk into tiff Icould. There was
not a fibre Of my body that did not feel
the horrors Of the moment, and the dread
fuiness of the situation. But it passed.
With swoop and a roar the break-van,
the last in the train, flew over me. The
noise Of the train was still in my ears, and
the awful terror Of the situation lay still
heavy on me When raised my head and
looked behind, the red light at the tail Of
the train was already far in the distance
As for the meeting passenger train, it had
also passed, but had needed it not, though
it doubtless added To the terrific noise
which for some time stunned me-
| rose up, and walked on, calling upon
my dog. But no answer-not so much as
a whine remembered its sudden howl
1t must have been crushed under some part
Of the train. 1t was no use searching for
my little companion, SO | proceeded, -
anxious to escape from the perils Of my
situation. | shortly reached the shaft, which
| had before observed. There was ample
room at either side of the rails to enable
me to rest their in safety But the place
was cold and damp, and streams of water
trickled down the side Of the shaft. | re-
solved, therefore, to 60 on, upon the down
line, but the tunnel being now almost filled
with the smoke and steam of the two en-
gines which had just passed, deemed it
prudent to wait for a short time, until the
road had become more cleared, in case Of
any other train encounterlng me in my
further progress. The smoke slowly eddied
up the shaft, and the steam gradually con
densed, until I considered the road sufi-
ciently clear to enable me to proceed in
comparative safety. ! once more, there
fore, plunged into the darkness.
| walked on for nearly half an hour,
cropping my way my head had become
confused, and my limbs trembled under me.
passed two other shafts, but the light
which they admitted was So slight, that they
scarcely seemed to do more than TO make
the darkness visible" now supposed
that must have walked nearly the whole
length Of the tunnel and yet it appeared
afterwards that | was only about halfway
through it. II looked like long day since
had entered. But by and by faint
glmmer Of light danced before my eyes
and as | advanced saw il was the glimmer
Of the torches Of the workmen, and soon
heard their voices. Never were sight and
sound more welcome In few minutes
had joined the party felt quite unman-
ned for the moment and | believe that
sitting down on one Of the wOrkmens 8 tool
boxes, put my hands over my eyes, and
really could not help it-burst into
tears.
l never ventured into tunnel again
without an involuntary thrill of terror
coming over me.
The accident which occurred to the work
men in the Halshaw Moor Tunnel, was Of
a similar nature to that above recited. The
men employed we're plate layers, engaged
in the repair Of the permanent way. In
long tunnels, there are men belonging to
some gangs" who are almost constantly
employed there, and who see little Of
daylight except from what passes down the
shafts. Sometimes, when busy at their
work, and their ears are deafened by the
noise made by the hammers, picks and
spades Of the gang" engaged in driving
in spike, or tightening key, or packing
the ballast under sleeper, train sudden
ly comes upon them; and if close at hand
the men are only able to escape by throwing
themselves fiat upon their faces, and let
ting the train pass over them. The two
men In the Halshaw Tunnel we're engaged al
their work when two trains entered at the
same time, one from each direction. One
of the men threw himself down by the side
Of the tunnel, and called upon his fellow
workmen to do the same. But it had beer
too late. The trains had come upon th'
unfortunate workman with such velocity
that he had not even time to PROSTATE him
self or perhaps his self possession was fol
the moment suspended by the sight of th'
two trains shooting towards him from op
posite directions and when search wa
made, after the trains had passed through
the tunnel, it was found that one Of tn,
trains had run over the workman, and Gu
him into pieces,
7 EARTHQUAKES. half Of the city o
Antioch, in Syria, was recently destroyed b,
an earthquake, and fifteen hundred Of tn
inhabitants perished.
Later advices from the region of Lon
Pine, California, which was so terribly con
vulsed by the recent extraordinary earth
quake, fully confirm the frightful effects 0
that calamity. Many persons we're killed
and many others injured, by the falling o
buildings. Great chasms opened in tn
earth at several points; some streams disap