The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-02-25
PRICE THREE CENTS.
TRUE BEROusNI.
william Marks Descent ;u,o "a
burning Pit.

The fire broke out about midday. and
when first discovered the main shaft in the
mine was in blaze, with thirty.two men
and boys at work beyond and beneath the
flames, nearly forty feet below the level of
the earth In few minutes the whole
population of the place rushed to the scene,
and thousand or more men, women, and
children--the relatives, friends and neigh.
bors of the entombed miners-were gath
cred at the mouth of the burning shaft, stu
pefied with fear and anguish. All the wells
IN the town had run nearly dry weeks be-
fore, and scarcely enough water could be
secured to subdue the heat above ground,
much less to arrest the confagration inside
the mine. Thus matters stood for two aw-
full hours, when a railroad engine arrived
with full tank, which was hurriedly emp
tied into the shaft, and great shout of
hope went up from the people.
AT this juncture man emerged like
spectre from the blaze and smoke, and fell
in swoon at the very edge of the shaft.
An hour later two more men cried up
through the flames for help, and ladder
was lowered to them, on which they made
their way to the top, and were dragged forth
alive. but burned and blackened beyond
recognition. Three were now saved, and
the fire was not yet under control. Tie
terrified crowd stood aghast for few min
uies, and then suddenly panic of despair
seemed to seize them, the st fl means OF
the women and children breaking out
afresh. and the man drawing back from the
mine with blanched and averted faces. The
supreme moment of the emergenco had
come, and the ole man to meet it was there
His name was William Marks, and lie step
ped to the front with the promptness and
the modesty of true hero. ''Fasten a
rope around me, let me down into the
shaft" he said. The proposition was APP
pallng, but down he went into the horricle
cavern, without another word, and reaching
| the bottom, freed himself for his search in
the entries dverging from the main shaft.
AT alm's. the first step into the sitting
darkness he stumbled upon the inanimate
form of one of the miners in a coal car,
which he pushed to the entrance, secured
the rope around the body, called to those
above to hoist away, and in moment the
man was safe. Further search soon re-
vealed the whereabouts of the remaining
twenty eight, and slowly but surely Marks
piloted them to the mouth of the mine and
delivered them, one by one-many insensi-
bic, but all aliye-out vf the jaws of death
into the hands of their wives and children.
Then, when the last one had been rescued,
lie came himself to the surface, scorched
and blinded, and nearly suffoca-
| ted. and stood there silently among the
cheering townspeople, the master of the sit
uaton.
Thus the peril was surrounded without
any sacrifice of life; but the heroism was
there all the same. The rescue of the
helpless miners, and the escape of the man
who gave death scorn to save them, spoiled
the perfection of the tragedy; but the de.
struction of all concerned could not have
added to the radiance which belongs to the
unseltlsh bravery of William Marks. He
was common workingman.-.St Louis
| GtoJe,