Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-07-29

were kept in the outward bond of peace
Meantime the Great Ash colliery was
turning out well the seam was promising
and the dip was very gradual and uni.
| form. 1t was, therefore, resolved to sink
another shaft directly north of, and about
| 1900 feet from, the Great Ash shaft; and
it was estimated that, by the time this new
shaft was put down, the workings wrr',d
be driven from the Great Ash to NEE. it,
| and thus secure perfect ventilation. by
| means of an "upcast' and "downc ist''
shaft. Evan Hughes and Sam Grifiths
were employed to sink the new shaft,
which was christened the Great Oak
They took alternate shifts of four hours,
one boring" while the other, assisted
by an old bank's-man named Bill Con.
way, drew up the clay and stone with a
rope and windlass. When they descended
to the limestone each man drilled his
blast-hole with hand hammer, like that
used by stone-dressers, drilling it about
twelve inches deep, and then charge it
with coarse blasting-powder. No fuse
was used for igniting the charging; but a
copper pointed needle" was placed on
the powder and allowed to stand until the
hole was tightly stemmed with clay-slate
Then the needle was carefully withdrawn
and the hole filled with finer grain of
powder. The shot" being thus far pre-
pared the man below sung out for the cord,
when one end of tightly-twisted line was
let down the shaft and then securely
stemmed into the top of the shot-hole. The
bottom end Of the line being now secured
and surrounded by fine powder and the
other end in the hands of the bank s.man,
the man below gave the usual signal and
was forthwith drawn to bank. A red-hot
ring, three or four inches in diameter, was
then taken from the "hut" fire; the end
of the cord was quickly passed through it :;
the ring shot down the shaft and the blast
was fired.
One fine spring day Sam and old Bill
Conway were at bank, and Evan below
had just prepared his blast in the manner
described and had given the signal to be
hauled to bank. 1t was nearly noon and a
half-witted son of the old banks man was
walking quietly along behind an adjoin-
ing hedge with his fathers dinner. He
heard the shot" fired and hurried to the
pit-heap. There he saw Sam Griffiths
jumping and swearing around; he saw
the smoke pouring up the shaft; he saw
his fathers little dog; but he saw neither
his father nor Evan Hughes.
Where's fayther and Yeaven?" asked
the poor, half-witted lad.
Sans blood was up, and he struck poor
Dick on the cheek and BACKED his eye.
The lad ran home, and Sam went half.
way to the Great Oak shaft bowling
wildly for assistance. The fearfully mutt
lated bodies of young Hughes and the old
man Conway were brought to bank and
few hours after Coroner Peter Williams
held an inquest. Sam Gritfiths was the
only important witness. He testified that
Bill Conway, being old and stupid had, at
Evan Hughes signal to wind up" gone
for the red-hot ring by mistake. That,
seeing the old mans terrible blunder,
he (Sam) had rushed from behind
the hut" where he had been asleep, to
prevent the mischief, but that he had only
arrived in time to see the glowing ring
shoot down the shaft Almost instantly
the old man had discovered his fearful er-
ror, and, stricken with horror and re-
morse, he had plunged head-frst down
the shaft just as the smoke and debris
from the blast were rising. at was all
the work of half minute" he said to the
Coroner and jury; land it was all over be-
fore / could reach the spot. As for shout
ing was struck speeches. with fear"
The jury accepted the eXplanation-there
was none other to offer-and, though the
silly lad Conway, by his curious antics
and expressive pantomime, seemed to have
something on his mind, he did not under
stand the nature of an oath and was con-
sequently not sworn.
There were imposing funeral services in
Buckley on the following Sunday. The
village madens, with white handkerchiefs
on their heads, and sprigs of rosemary,
rue and balm in their hands, walked be-
fore Evan Hughes coffin, singing pathetic
dirges, until the graveyard was reached :;
but Anne Shepherd had been seized with
a fit when she heard the fatal tidings, and
was unable to attend the young mans
funeral.
Time passed. The Hughes family began
to repine less for the untimely end of the
pride of their family. The Great Ash and
the Great Oak Shafts were now each in OPP
Grafton, and the workings underground
had been materially extended Another
cousin filled Evan Hughes place. and
there was still sharp rivalry between the
eight Griffiths and the eight Hugheses.
In order to make plain what is to follow,
short explanation of the mine is neces-
sary. The two shafts, then, occupied each
an end of the long side of parallelogram
the Great Ash, or " downcast shaft" at
the south, and the Great Oak, or "upcast
shaft, +" at the north. From each shaft a
drift 200 feet long ran due east, and the
parallelogram was completed by running
another drift north and south, joining the
ends of these two easterly drifts. They
had thus cut clear round arectangular mass
of coal, 1900 feet long by 200 feet broad,
which they would work away Ivy sections
and pillars until it was exhausted. The
air that descended the Great Ash shaft, had
it been permitted, would have rushed
along the straight gallery and right
up the Great Oak Shaft, without ven