Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-03-11
A Kansas Hero.

TIE stickful of information in the As
sociated Press dispatches concerning the
recent coaI-mine fire at Usage, Kan,
conveys but stingy idea of the horrors
attending that event, as related by the
local papers. The fire broke out about
mid day, and when first discovered the
main shaft of the mine was in blaze,
with thirtytwo 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 a
thousand or more men, women and chill
dren-the relatives, friends and neigh
bors of the entombed miners--were gath
cred at the mouth of the burning shaft,
stupefied with fear and anguish. All the
wells in the town had run nearly dry
weeks before and scarcely enough water
could be obtained to subdue the heat
above ground, much less to arrest the
confagration inside the mine. Thus
matters stood for two awful hours, when
q railroad engine arrived with full
tank, which was hurriedly emptied into
the shaft and great shout of hope went
I'D from the people. AT this juncture
a man emerged, like specter, from the
blaze and smoke and fell in a 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 recog-
milton. Three were now saved, but
twenty nine others were still below and
the fire was not yet under control. The
terrified crowd stood aghast for a few
minutes, and then suddenly panic of
despair seemed to seize them, the stified
means of the women and children break
ing out afresh and the men drawing
back from the mines with bianched and
averted faces.
The supreme moment of the emergency
had come and the one man TO meet 1t was
there, thank God as he always is. His
name this time was Marks--William
Marks-and stepped to the front with the
promptness and the modesty OF true
hero. Fasten rope around me and
let me down into the shaft" he said.
The proposition was appalling, but the
quiet courage of the man tied every
tongue and stilled the agony of the trem-
ulous crowd like special providence.
Down he went into the horrible cavern,
without another word, and, reaching the
bottom, freed himself for his search in
the entries diverging from the main
shaft. At almost 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 en-
trance, secured the rope around the
body, called to those above to hoist away,
and IN moment the man was safe.
Further search soon revealed the where
abouts 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 insensible, but
all alive-out of the jaws of death into
the hands of their wives and children.
Then, when the last one had been res
cued, he came himself to the surface,
scorched and blinded, and nearly suffo-
Gated, and stood there silently among the
cheering townspeople, the master OF the
situation.
Thus the peril was surmounted with
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 tragedy;
but the destruction of all concerned
could not have added to the radiance
which belongs to the superb and unset
fish bravery of William Marks. He was
only common workingman facing a
duty to his fellows; but he met that duty
like Roman monarch, and made grass
hopper Kansas splendid for one day with
his conquering courage. He probably
never heard of Cato pausing, sword in
hand, to welcome death; or Cleopatar
putting on crown to make royal end
ing; or even of Hays Jim Bludso, or
Harte's Flynn, of Virginia He merely
saw and felt the imminent need of risk
ing one life to redeem twenty-nine other
lives, and cooily accepted the challenge.
He was the right man in the right place
at the right time. May he live long and
prosper.-St. Louis Globe.