The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-03-21
THE MINER.
The Origin of Coal No Is
The Perlls Of the Mine.


In an explosion of tiredamp, the miners
are either scorched to death, or are speedily
and emphatically sutfocated by the choke
damp-the result Of the explosion In
these cases suspense is not of long duration
death does its work in few hours at
most But there are many other dangers
which overtake the adventurous sons of
sIbterranean toll, where the certainty of
death is accompanied by the horrors of
slow and lingering destruction. lnunda-
tions of water. the closing Of the only ave
nue. Of escape by fall Of roof the closing
shaft by fall OF fire, etc. are the more com
mon perlls. where the miners are placed
beyond hope ~ rescue, and are forced to
await the SLOW but moving hand Of death
in the darksome mine Sometimes men
have been rescued after all hope had been
abandoned Of their recovery i'll life. A
remarkable instance Of this nature occur
red i'll France, in the year 1884. Two
miners, while sinking a shaft near Lyons.
we're enclosed by fall from above, but
were uninjured by the accident
The work Of rescue was commenced by
sinking a new shaft, from the bottom of
which al entrance was to be cut into the
old opening. where the two entombed mi
ners lay In the hurry to get down, the
new opening was TOO insecurely timbered,
and it fell in before communication was
reached. One of the imprisoned miners
died Of starvation at the end Of few days
but the other, man Of uncommon powers
of endurance lived on, and encouraged the
rescuing party to put forth renewed exer-
tions for his recovery For many days,
distinct communication was held between
the poor imprisoned miner and the rescu-
ers, but before the opening was completed,
Ef1ve, but pale, wan, and srv ssssee14ett o..
He was removed to the hospital Of Lyons,
where he soon died.
Another remarkable instance of this char
acter occurred in Scotland, in the year
1885, at the Kildrummie coal mine, where
collier, named John Brown, man sc years
Of age, was imprisoned IN the mine by
fall Of roof for p days and was brought
home alive. The pillars Of the mine hav-
ing been left too weak for the support of
the superintendent structure, a crush
came on the workings the miners rushed
to the bottom, but the shaft itself had be-
cor,o iDvoIvad IN ha cr,tsh re Is
day level, originally cut to carry off the
water Of the mine, all the workmen found
safe egress, except Brown, who had been
working by himself in an advanced place
of the mine, beyond the reach Of the crush
He, however, had been appraised Of the dan
ger by some Of the miners who had ran 40
to his work place, and Brown, too, would
have been saved also, had he not returned
for his coat, which he had left behind in
the excitement consequent on the perilons
tidIngs
As soon as the crush had settled, the
miners resolved 10 reopen the mine for
the recovery Of the body Of the unfortu-
nate man left behind. BY the end Of the
first week, all hope Of his being yet alive
had been abandoned As the miners were
at work opening up the level, they often
heard strange, unearthly sounds, and being
of a superstitious turn of mind, believed
the place to be haunted, and they repeat
edly left their work and rushed to the bot |
tom in extreme terror. On the 23d day
after the catastrophe an opening was made |
through the crushed roadway one Of the !
men, in brushing out the foul air, struck |
his arms against Browns body, who was
still alive. The poor man uttered low |
groan The miner ran back iii terror to |
communicate the fact to his comrades, sew
eral Of whom advanced to the spot. They |
heard the groans Of seemingly human
being, and their knees shook with unwont-
ed fear At length one of the number, |
mastering up all his courage, exclaimed
I'm the name Of God, John Brown, if that
is you who groaned, give another" Brown
groaned again, and the men advanced and
found him still alive. All this was done
in utter darkness. for the foul air Of the
mine had 50 accumulated during the crush
as to extinguish light. The colliers laid
their hands upon the body of their unfor-
tunate comrade 1t was cold and clammy.
They stripped off their coats and shirts and
lay with their naked bodies next to his to
create little heat He soon rallied, and
asked for drink of water The water
still farther revived him, ana he exclaimed,
''Oh, hoys but you were long in coming
Thcy brought him to the bottom, and plac-
in him on the knees Of the lessee of the
Mrs, ne was raised to day. His body was
covered with the white fungus of the mine,
and it had taken root in his hair His flesh
was gone, nothing save skin and bone APP
pearing. Every bone looked as though it
were coming through the skin, and on plac-
ING the, hand on his stomach, the inner sur
face of the backbone was felt. He had
tasted nothing in the shape Of food during
the whole of his confinement, except the
oil from his lamp, and that made him sick.
He had walked around in the mine for sew
eral days sitter the crush, occasionally
drinking water. At length he grew so weak
that he stumbled and fell, but he never
lost hope of being rescued and saved. He
had heard the rescuing party working at
the level falls. he told his comrades that