Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-12-27
The Goal Miners Peril.

and | guess I'm about as healthy as
most people," The speaker was
Edward Herbert an old mining boss,
and though he was too modest to say
much about himself, there were gath
cred, partly from him and partly from
other sources, some particulars of life
that has been full of perilous adven-
| ture.
One of the first subjects of inquiry
was that ever-present object of the
miners dread, " "iire-damp." Mr.. Her.
| bert was asked he had ever been blown
| up. go, yes, q few times; but | never
was hurt much"-and then followed a
short disqusition on mine explosions,
which, as containing the views of
practical miner on subject little. un-
| derstood, may be worth noting. al
have occasionally gone into fire-damp
| (carburetted hydrogen) so pure that it
could not explode, except at the edges,
where it mixed with the air. | never
went far and never staid long, and |
always shut my eyes and held my
breath until | came out again-iust
went in little way, to get my tools or
something like that. Well you feel its eff
fects first in your ears; it stops your hear
ing. Then your head seems to swell; it
don't ache, but you feel as if it was going
to split open. / never cared to expert
ment any further with it. When | hap
pen to be in an explosion, my practice
is to shut my eyes, hold my breath, and
try to get as near the floor of the mine as
possible. Men are often so scared when
they see the fire flash that they open
their mouths and holler; then they in
hale the flame, and that kills them; it
burns their lungs, and they never get
over it. | have known men to drink
quart of fish-oil after inhaling the fire,
but it didn't do any good. Miners can
always tell when there has been an ex-
posion, though they may not have
heard or seen it; there is a peculiar
sensation, certain feeling in the air as
if it was being drawn away from you,
and thenthey know what has happened
Now, the books tell you that after an
explosion 'black-damp' (carbonic acid
gas) gathers along the floor of the mine
and sutfOcates the men who have been
knocked down but not killed by the ex-
plosion. | never found it so. l have
helped to get out lots of men hurt by
explosions, and we always found we
got along best close to the bottom. The
reason is, think, that there is more nj
trogen than anything else in the after
damp, and that is light and hangs along
the top, while what fresh air there is
comes in along the bottom. Another
queer thing about an explosion of gas
is that just where you expect it to have
the most effect it has none at all. l
have known men to be driving gang
way, for instance, and get so far beyond
the air current that tire-damp would
gather in the "face." (The face of
miners working is the wall of coal or
rock at which he is digging.) By and
by some careless fellow would fire the
gas and men fifty or sixty feet back
along the gangway would be burned to
death, while those close to the face
would not be hurt. The force of the
explosion always travels against the air
current, and that little bit of notion
less air at the face was left untouched,
while the blast went out into the back
workings. 1t does not even give the
man in the face that shock that is felt
by those who may be near, but not in
its path further out. remember once
L was driving heading from one
chamber to another when the gas fired
behind me. | was not hurt or stunned, |
but the fire all went out into the cham
ber my heading opened into. l ran
right out after the fire and Jumped
down the breast to the gangway, where !
l found fresh air. A man can live I
little while in after damp, but he must |
not stay in it long"
Herbert told how he once went alone |
to the rescue of five men imprisoned |
and suffocating from fire in old Hick- |
ory slope; but the action as he told it |
was such a commonplace affair that it |
seemed a mere matter of everyday |
business, instead of the heroic deed it |
was. The story is better told by gem
tleman who at that time was engineer |
of the mine, and is substantially as fol-
lows: There was gang of five men
employed in sinking a slope in mine
a mile and a quarter from the main at |
which they entered. They went to
work as usual one night, and it was
not suspected that anything was wrong
until about midnight, another party
going in to work at another place
found a gangway door open. The ex-
perienced miner does not ''live in a saw
MILL" and when he finds door open
that ought to be shut hesuspects some
thing wrong at once. These men were
cautious. They closed the door and |
sat down to await developments. Pre-
sently came the shock of light ex-
ploslOn, and the door was burst open.
Then they began to smell smoke and
gas, and they knew that the mine was
on fire somewhere, and that the air
current was carrying the suffocating
fumes straight down to the poor fell
lows digging the new slope. They has
tened back TO the surface and blew the |
engine whistle long and loud, and the
well-known warning brought the whole
population of the town of st. Clair to |
the mouth of the mine. Herbert at
that time was inside boss" The sit
uation was soon explained, and Her
bert called for volunteers to 90 to the
rescue; but though miners are daring
to rashness, and though in the crowd
were men who had brothers in peril,
the thought of mile of gangway,
filled with smoke and black-damp, APP |
palled them all, and not a man re-
sponded. Without giving a second in
Vitation, Herbert went alone. At the |
foot of the slope he found boy who
had tried to take car in, but had been
driven back by the smoke. Herbert
sent the boy out, took his mule and
car, and drove off along that death
laden passage. Progress was slow.
The mule putfed and painted in the suf-
locating atmosphere, and would occa-
sionally stop still, draw long breath,
and doggedly go ahead again; while
the driver was obliged to stop more
than once and lie down in the gutter
beside the track, where the running
water brought him little air. No ami
NAL but mule, and no man but one of
vigorous constitution, could have made
the journey alive. AT last there was a
faint cry from the roadside. The men
had discovered their danger, had
annpht To nscana and hnrn Nuao tho