Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-05-16

| body was soon after brought to the sur
face. and Immediately following the four
living men were brought up and deliv-
cred into the hands of their overjoyed
friends. Others however, were still
missing; others were mourning over
friends still immured in the pit, and
once more the explorers, with willing
hands and stout, manly hearts, set to work.
Once more knocking was heard, but at
considerable distance. These remaining
prisoners were, like their released fellows,
shut up in a chamber of compressed air
leading out of gallery which the water
had entirely filled. The other end of
this chamber was a thick, solid wall of
coal, filled with water. Divers attempted
to penetrate this latter passage but failed,
and it was not until Monday, the 9Th
inst, that the water in it was SO far re-
duced by pumping as to render working
practicable. Till Thursday following
the men who had volunteered for the
task worked continuously by constant
relays in endeavoring to cut passage
through the wall which separated them
from their imprisoned comrades. The
passage was about three feet in diameter,
and the men carried on the work on their
hands and knees. So great was the in
terest to effect their rescue that a colliery
owner worth at least 100000 went down
in the train of collier to lend bel ping
hand On Thursday the rescuers came
near enough to communicate with the
entombed. Shouting at the top of his
voice, a miner asked, GLOW many of
them are your" The reply came ba ok,
Five" 1t was then asked How have
you lived?" To this answer was made,
"By eating candles Do make haste"
Shortly after 10 o'clock on Friday morn
ing, the Goth inst, it was known that the
men would be brought out alive, and
message which came up to that effect
drew forth ringingcheer from the excited
crowd around the pit-a cheer which was
re-echoed from one end of the village to
the other. Between two and three o'clock
IN the afternoon the men who had been
living quiet ten days. in tomb far I'M
der ground once again came into the
light Of day and breathed the free air of
the upper world. By happy cohci-
dence, when the last man was brought to
bank and was being conveyed on a
stretcher covered with blankets into the
hospital message was received from the
queen. MIR. Parker, one of the officers
OF the company, mounted train and
with LIQUID voice said "A message
from the queen" There was a rush of
people forward and the miners and all
others having uncovered, it was read.
This was followed with ringing cheers
and waving of caps The message was as
follows: " Biddulph, Osborne, to Mr..
Wales, mine inspector, Pontyprida: The
i, e.
counts Of the poor men in the mine. Are
they saved? Pray telegraph
Everything was in readiness and the
five rescued ones were carefully attended
to by nurses and surgeons. It was learn
ed from them that they had nothing to
eat during their confinement except a
little grease which had run from the box
where they kept the candles. The first
two days they had light, but this went
out at the close of the second day They
suffered terribly from thirst.
During the Imprisonment and while
the work Of rescue was going on many
prayer meetings were held in the dis
trlct and the men commended to the
mercy of God.
1t should not be forgotten as one of
the many incidents connected with the
thrilling affair that the four men who
first escaped and the poor fellow who was
their companion and subsequently suffer
ed death, when surrounded by water,
took, as they thought, an eternal fare
well of each other, and then sang we'll
known hymn in Welsh, of which the fol-
lowing is translation:
In the deep and mighty waters
There is none to hold my head
But my only Saviour, Jesus,
Who slaughtered in my stead.
He, friend in Jordan's river,
Holding up my sinking head
With his smile I'll go rel oicing
Through the regions Of the dead
It appears that they were singing this
when the welcome tappings were heard;
(" and," said Thomas Morgan, off. went
our jackets, and my beloved son, who is
no more, worked all night with the
energy of lion. He passed the Jordan
river, and is to-day on the holy hill of the
better land"