The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-07-30

!
down, the workings would be driven
from the Great Ash to meet it, and thus
secure perfect ventilation by means of
an "upcast" and "downcast shaft.
Evan Hughes and Sam Griffiths were
employed to sink the new shaft, which
and christened the Great Oak. They took
alternate ahifts of four hours, one "bor-
ing" while the other, assisted 10y an old
bank s-man, named Bill Conway, 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 stonedressers, drilling it about twelve
inches deep, and then charging it with
coarse blasting powder. No fuse was
used for igniting the charge; but cop
per pointed "neeGle" was placed on the
powder, and allowed to stay until the
| hole was tightly stemmed with clay
slate. Then the needle was carefully
withdrawn, and the hole filled with q
finer grain of powder. The "shot" be-
| ing thus far prepared, the man below
sung ont for the cord, when one end of
a tightly-twisted line was let down the
shaft, and then securely stemmed into
| 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 be-
low had just prepared his blast in the
manner described, and had given the
signal to be hauled to bank. 1t was
nearly noon, and half-witted son of the
old banks-man was walking quietly
along behind an adjoining 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 faythcr and Yeaven 2"
asked the poor, half-witted lad.
Sans blood was up, and he struck
poor Dick on the cheek and blacked his
eye. The lad ran home, and Sam went
halfway to the Great Oak Shaft, howl
ing wildly for assistance. The fearfully
mutilated bodies of young Hughes and
the old man Conway We're brought to
bank, and n few hours after Coroner
Peter Williams held an inquest. Sam
Griffiths was the only important witness.
He testified that Bill Conway, being old
and stupid, had, at Evan Hughes sig
nal 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 mis-
chief, 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 error, and,
stricken with horror and remorse, he had
plunged head first down the shaft Just
as the smoke and debris from the blast
were rising. cit was all the work of
half minute" he said to the Coroner
and jury; "and it was all over before /
could reach the spot. AS for shout
ing, / was struck speechless with fear. F"
The jury accepted the explanation
there was none other to offer-and,
though the silly lad Conway, by his GU
rious antics and expressive pantomime,
seemed to have something on his mind,
he did not understand the nature of an
oath, and was consequently not sworn.
There were imposing funeral services
in Buckley on the following Sunday.
The village maidens, with white hand
kerchiefs on their heads, and sprigs of
rosemary, rue and balm in their hands,
walked before Evan Hughes's coffin,
singing pathetic dirges, until the grave
yard 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 be-
gan 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 operation, and the
, workings underground had been mate
/ rally extended. Another cousin filled
= Evan Hughes place, and there was still
: a sharp rivalry hetween the eight Grif
fiths and the eight Hugheses.
In order TO make plain what is to fol
! low, short explanation of the mine il
necessary. The two shafts, then, occu
pied each an end of the long side of {
parallelogram- the Great Ash, or "down
cast shaft, at the south, and the Grea
= Oak, or "upcast shaft" at the north
From each shaft drift two hundred fee
, long ran due east, and the parallelogran
, was completed by running another drif
; north and south, joining the ends o
! these two easterly drifts. They had thu
1 cut clear round rectangular mass o
1 coal, two thousand feet long by tw
Z hundred feet broad, which they woult
| work away by sections and pillars mt
: it was exhausted. The air that descend
ed the Great Ash Shaft, had it been per
mitted, would have rushed along tn
l straight gallery and right up the Grea
: Oak Shaft, without ventilatng the thre
e other sides of the parallelogram wher
a the men were working but there wer
a massive doors placed close to the foot Q
V each shaft in the straight gallery betwee
D them, to divert the air through the work
5 ings. There was large escape of ga
J.. from the coal-face, and the pure air tha
8 descended the Great Ash Shaft consC
: quently assembled the Great Oak yer
4 much cborOp1 with carbOretted hydro