The Osceola times., 1877-05-12
WELSH PLUCK AND ENDURANCE.
The Explosion nt the TroedyrhIw col
Iiery nenr POntypridd - smric
Hymns In Clmerimn Dnrknees.

II may be surprising TO learn that the
Turing the week from the gathering of
the armies in the east and directed to a
little hamlet in south Wales. II il not
hard to find in human nature the reason
for this The looming war, with all its
probabilities of slaughter, Of desolated
homes, of widows and orphans by the
hundred thousand, had only been re-
garded 10 the popular mind through dip.
lomatic lenses. The war was still game
of chess, but suffering brought to the
peoples doors, as it were, by the aid Of
newspapers, caught the sympathy of the
million. 1t was the story of di-aster at
the collieries. Scores of such calamities
to the men who work away dowd in the
dark, taking thlDlives by hundreds at a
time, have occurred within the last few
years in England, and the horrors of
them have arrested attention for day or
two. They were stories of sudden catas-
trophies; low subterranean rumbling
heard; column of smoke rising into the
air; the gathering of wkitefaced women
and children at the pits mouth; after
some hours the bringing forth of grimy
corpses in the cage next day a great
funeral that shook the whole country
side with its passionate grief, and then
all over All over in two or three days.
But there at Pontypridd there was a
prolonged agony. The correspondents OF
the morning and evening papers poured
into London's great ear. hour by hour.
the intensity of the effort and suspense
that hung around the Troedyrhlw col.
liery until London could think or rpeak
Of nothing else.
THE DISASTER.
An explosion, followed by an inunda-
tion, occurred ten days ago Nine men
were imprisoned behind column of coal
one hundred and twenty feet thick,
which had fallen with the first shock.
There was a mystery about their fate,
but the warm hearts OF the south Wales
colliers decided swiftly that il sturdy
arms could unravel that mystery ere too
late it should be done. Work was begun
and willing hands were superabundant.
Night and day the toll was unremitting,
and so it went for n week before the first
ray Ct hope was given TO the toilers. As
the time rolled on the interest grew, and
London held its breath in anxiety TO
learn the fate of the imprisoned or en-
tombed. At length on Thursday last
sufficient progress had been made to open
communication with group Of the men
five in number, the other four having
wandered away TO other parts of the
mine. Now came the awful moment.
Brave, tireless, ceaseless. and sleepless-
the rescuers worked inch by inch to their
brethren in the living tomb, guided only
by their knockings from the gloom. As
the rescuers worked onward the voices of
the men in the dark could be heard
singing their Cymric hymns. Tears of
Joy welled down faces black with coal
dust at the solemn sounds that told them
that God was STRENGTHENING the hearts Of
their comrades TO endure till they could
be saved.
THE RESCUE.
At last passage was made, and cne
by one, weak, but still alive, the hre
men were borne on brawny arms to thv|
light of day. This was yesterday after
moon. Hundreds of thousands all owe
Gbe land went with iov. In I,ondo,, H<X