Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-31
NEVER WHISTLE LIVELY TUNES In A
COAL SHAFT

| from foreign countries and represent past
generation of their Glass; are given to many
superstitious fears. The younger miners
| those born in this country, and who have
grown up under the influence of its en-
| tightening institutions-do not, as a gen.
| eral thing, share in this superstitious
belief, although some of them place as
| muchimportanceo on "eigns" and "omens :"
, of good and evil as do their more ignorant
ancestors. Among the superstitions cher
| ished by the miners is that of whistling in
| mine. To whistle in mine is considered
an evil omen. Miners never whistle while
at work. Sometimes they sing while toll
ing in the dark, damp, narrow chamber of
the mines, hundreds of feet below the sur
face, but never loudly, and only plaintive
| folk songs and ballads that have been
crooned over the cradles OF generations of
| their class. 1t is a singular fact that,
despite the peril that constantly besets him
In the mine, the coal miner is always cheer
full amid it all. Let one who may visit a
mine but whistle while among the work
men, and the cheerfulness he has noticed
az characterizing them will be gone at
once. Most all old miners believe that
'GooDLUcK SPIRIT"
Turks in every mine, and at the sound OF
whistling it flies and leaves the miners at
the mercy of the spirit of evil. Ii i'll be-
falls any of the workmen that day the
believers in the superstition ascribe it's
cause entirely to the frightening away OF
the good luck spirit by the fatal whistle.
In 1910 there was great mine disaster at
this place. Several miners were buried IN
one of the Delaware and. Hudson Canal
Company's mines by a sudden caving IN OF
the roof. Although the cause of the cav
ing was known to have been a lack OF
proper support by pillars and timbers, at
least one old MINER survivor OF the dis
aster still living here, has always MAIN
tanned, and still maintains, that it was
caused by ''dare- devil miner named
Jack Richards whistling in the mine while
working with his gang, against the pro.
tests of his comrades. Richards was a
skeptical young Welshman, who ridiculed
all the superstitions of his fellow workmen.
With the old miner mentioned above and
fifteen Others he was working in the mine,
mile from the entrance, on the day OF the
catastrophe. The mime was well known to
be scantily propped, and the miners were
"robbing it preparatory to its abandon
ment He is described as having been
merry fellow, fond of teasing his com
panions. On this occasion ne suddenly
laid down his pick and announced to his
fellow .workmen that he intended to
whistle them up the Rigs o Barley. ;"
THE MINERS WERE AGHAsT
| At the thought of Richards thus flying in
| the face of mine luck, and they begged OF
| him not TO chase tie good luck spirit away.
He laughed at their fears, and with clear,
| loud notes made the chamber ring with the
lively Scotch air. Not content with that,
says the old miner, shuddering at this day
over the sacrilegious temerity of the merry
Welshman, he ratified eff a jig known by
the miners as "The Devil Among the
Tailors, and ended by telling the good
| luck spirit to "take dance to that, and
be blowed to it." None of the miners
could speak for some time. Some of them
tried to work again, but the fear of disaster
was so strong upon them that they all made
preparations to quit the mine. The old
miner who recalls this incident, says he had
a brother and son working in another
part of the mine, and he made up his mind
to 90 to them, tell them of Jack Richards
| foolhardiness, warn them of its conse-
quences and escape with them from the
NINE. Jack Richards could not convince
any of them of the childishness of their
intended course. Suddenly, while they
the sound of distant thunder came to the
ears of the agitated miners They knew
too well what the sound presaged. The
ened The miners turned to Jack and
s. Il, Hri,
them by his defiance of the good-luck
SPIRIT OF THE MINE.
Jack replied that if the roof was falling it
was because of insufficient support, and
not because of his whistling, and knowing
the danger that encompassed them all, he
counseled his comrades to lose no time in
"getting atop" But before they could
take the first step toward reaching the sur
face second shock ran through the mine.
This time it was like clap Of thunder
near the earth 1t was followed by crash
that could be made only by the falling
masses of rock and coal from the roof, and
by gust of wind that hurled the miners
against the jagged walls of their chamber.
Then the mine fell in all about them, and
the seventeen miners and the car horse
were imprisoned behind o wall of fallen
coal, in a space not more than forty feet
square. The lights were extinguished, and
there was not a match in the party. With
death awaiting them in one of its worst
forms, they cursed Jack Richards, and one
of the miners tried to find him in the dark
to brain him with pick. To ascertain
whether any of the gang had been killed
by the falling coal, the name of each one
was called by one Of the miners. All re-
sponded except Jack Richards. He was
| found dead, half buried beneath the wall
of rock and coal The men worked for
hours, many of them working the flesh
! from their fingers in the sharp coal. Some
of them lost all heart, and threw them
selves upon the damp floor of
THEIR UNDERGROUND PRISON
And bewailed their fate. Suddenly ray
of light broke through a small opening in
the wall. Then lantern was pushed, fol-
| lowed by a mans head The man cried
out " Is there a man here that is alive ?"
! a glad shout from the miners was the re-
| ply. The man pulled himself through the
opening into the chamber. TWAS Alexan-
| der Boyden, the superintendent. He took
the dead body of Jack Richards on his
back and led the way, and two hours aft
erward the miners were 10 the arms OF
wives, parents and sweethearts on top.
Richards had no relatives but crippled
sister, who was dying with consumption.
| She died the next day. The brother and
son of the narrator of this tragic incident
| and twelve other miners were never found.
Three days after the fall, Mine Boss Hosie,
who had been in distant part Of the mine
when the roof caved in, emerged from its
| depths, worn to skeleton. With his pick
he had dug his way for more than mile
through an almost solid WALL without a
taste of food or drop of water to sustain
him. This mine tragedy forms one of the
favorite narratives Of the old miners of
| this region, and after relating it to inquir-
ing visitors they never fail to warn them
not to whistle if they intend going down in
mine.
Theodore Mommsen's villa at Charlotten-
berg, suburb of Berlin, has just been
burned. Prof. Mommsen was severely in