Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-02-08
DEATH IN THE PIT.
Two Miners Buried Alive, 20 feet under
Grcund--- They are Exhumed after 4S
hours. one Dead, the other vet Alive.


\ terrible and startling accident oc-
Cured at Dubuque last Thursday. Mr..
Thomas Alsop and his son George, who
was also married man, were working
in lead mine near the city, and while
so engaged, 20 feet beneath the surface,
the shaft caved in, burying them alive.
Some time after the accident a person
passing the spot noticed that the walls
of the shaft had fallen in. and three
coats lying on the ground near by gave
him fearful intimation of the tragedy
that had been enacted. He Immediate
ly gave the alarm and soon fifty strong
men were at work with might and will,
digging a new shaft beside the old one
by means of which to reach the unfor-
tunate men and rescue them if alive, or
recover their bodies if dead The work
continued day and night, without inter-
mission, until Saturday morning, during
all of which time the utmost anxiety
pervaded the city and thousands of peo-
pie visited the scene From this point
we will let the Times tell the story,
which has in it all the exciting features
of a tale of fiction:
A noble band of miners continued dill
igently laboring all night, at both shafts
hopeless of course, of finding any
thing more than the corpses. With the
4 70 hn
mense throng of spectators. Scores of
horses and carriages might be seen tied
to the adjacent trees and fence-posts.
A Gordon of ropes had been put around
the two shafts that were being sunk, to
keep curious spectators from crOwding
upon the miners and impeding them in
their work; and outside the ropes there
was at any time during the forenoon a
dense crowd of not less than thousand
persons, and sometimes there must have
been two thousand.
The eastern shaft, as has been previ-
ously explained in our columns, was
sunk with the intention of coming down
upon the drift which the Alsops had
been pushing eastward from the old (or
westward) shaft But it seems to have
missed the drift by little, and to have
gone three or four feet lower than that,
but very near it. About quarter af
ter nine o'clock the two men in the
eastern or new shaft-Messrs James
Hilary and Ralph Fawcett- heard Il
voice calling to them from the very
walls of the shaft, it seemed to them,
and to which they replied. 1t proved to
IL AZ ,,a;oo oe M, o,,,o AlOo,, tbo old or
of the two buried men. A small hole
was beaten through and the greetings
repeated. Inquiry was made as to Geo.
Alsop, the young man, to which the ia
Their replied, "He is behind me, dead"
The opening was enlarged and work con-
tinued with renewed zeal. The air in
the drift was so foul-the more so from
the odor of the decomposing corpse OF
the young man-that the experienced
miners could work little longer than
they could hold their breath a curious
fact was that here, where Thomas Alsop
had survived so long, lighted candle
would go out almost instantly.
Thomas Alsop was found lying down,
his head nine or ten inches lower than
his feet, his face nearly upward but tur-
ned slightly toward the right, with a
heavy timber across the chest and an
other across the loins, His son was
standing up against the wall, with a
beam or plank resting against his tenn
pie or cheek, pinning him there.
A man and team was at once sent for
a hose and windmill such as are used to
force fresh air into foul mines, and with
this air was forced down for the benefit
of the workmen and the man whom
they were working to rescue. This work
was very slow, necessarily slow on ac-
count of the danger, lest the least care
less move would bring down a ton or so
more of earth, and at once smother not
only the man who was fastened there,
but quite possibly the workmen who
were trying to rescue him. 1t took from
few minutes after nine until few
minutes after one-four hours-to get
the man loose after he was found. At
last one of his boots had to be cut off to
get him loose, Then he was brought to
the foot of the shaft and left there to
accustom him to the colder and purer
atmosphere. Then James Baxter fast
ened a rope about him, and fixing a loop
in the rope, put his own foot therein,
and encircling Alsop with his arms, the
two were drawn to the surface. Here
he was wrapped in overcoats and laid
upon lounge and taken in a wagon to
the residence of Mr. c. j. Richards,
about an eighth of mile distant. An
examination by physicians showed that
no bones were broken, and the prospect
is that he will soon recover AS soon as
he was found cup of coffee was given
him, and other nourishment afterwards.
He was of course very weak, and occa-
sionally little Eighty" He says that
the boy, George, lived about six hours,
and that they conversed together con-
siderable; that finally the boy became
discouraged, and said he was going to
die; afterward the father called him,
again and again, but received no reply;
the boy was unconscious, and when I'M
consciousness faded into death no one
Will eyer know. The father says the
two were at work near the foot of the
shaft, when they heard sudden break
ing and crushing, and the thought struck
him that the shaft was caving in; both
started for the other end of the drift,
but were caught. If they could have
got two feet further they would have
escaped unframed.
Alsop was asked what time of day the
accident occurred. He answered. About
10 o'clock this morning" He seemed to
think that he had been there but a few
hours. After being taken to Richards
he was informed that it was now Satur-
day afternoon. He was bewildered, and
exclaimed, MY God, have | been there
all this timer
The boy being dead, was of course
left whele he was found until the living
man was rescued, then he was brought
to the surface, placed i'll a wagon and
conveyed to his home.
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