The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-01-13
MINERS GRJEFS AND HEROIsM.

@lNEhS' UhJEtO AND HEKUISMs
Some Touching Instances ofthe Devotion
and Bravery OF the Men who work in
Mines,
Samuel Plimsol, writing in the Nine
tenth Gen ntuTy, says: / remember see
ing one poor woman day or two after |
the explosion at the Edmunds or Swaith |
Main pit. The dead body of her hus-
band was then lying in the mine; but
she had children-the daily work OF life
must be done, even by her. She wanted
n pan which, nearly full of dirty water.
stoud near her door upon q stone.
shall, l suppose. never forget Git is many
years ago now) the far-otf COX in her
eyes as she approached the pan; her
whole figure was the expression of one
without hope, the very embodiment of
despair; she raised the pan by the edge,
utterly careless that the falling water
splashed her dress and feet, and listlessly
moved away. Her grief was too deep
Tor words or tears, and turned away
with heart sick to see such suffering,
aud to know that she was but one of
more than 81 hundred in the same sad
condition.
Consider the men, their husbands, too.
What like husbands are theyP Remem-
Dtl LIS Ouc WuOSt DUO WIS lOuuu Ju Jue
Hartley mine, alter the accident to the
engine beam, laying with Ills hard upon
the side of which with the point of his
pocketknife he had scratched dying
p1essage of love TO bis wife Sarah.
Or that other husband who, going il
the dark in early morning to that same
colliery, in deep depression of spirit,
which he could not account for but
only felt, turned back to kiss once more
with tenderne SIS his wife and children,
and then resumed his walk to the pit
which in two short hours became his
living tomb-for they did not die at
once in This case, their fate hung in the
balance many days, during which our
kind hearted queen constantly tele.
graphed inquiries about the possibility
OF saving the mems lives.
Do you want TO know what sort Of
fathers some of these men arep
Remember the man who, escaping
with his boy and q comrade only this
year (I think it was in the Seaham col
liery after the explosion), found the boy
unable to go any farther; thisk he
was insensible. They could not carry
him, and the boys father was urged by
bis oomrade, who did escape, TO come
along with him. What was the fathers
replyp Nay" he said, looking at the
insensible boy, I'm bide with the lad
And he did stay, and father and son
were found after many days lying side
by side in death.
When the Edmunds Main explosion
occurred which widowed so many scores
OF poor women, there was doubt, as
there often is, whether all the men anC
boys in the pit had beer killed; there
was hope, very faint indeed but still s
hope, that there might be some mer
still alive in the pit; there was immi
nent risk of second explosion which
might occur at any moment, and tht
peril OF going down then was simply
awful. Still some men might yet b,
then alive below. What happenedP
Volunteers offered themselves to gC
down; the neeoiul number were select
ed U think seven men); they took thei
lives in their hands, qui unconsciou
OF the hCroism OF their conduct becaus
their moral attitude was simply that O
so many others; they went down Of
their errand of mercy, and in q shor
time these men (whose names even wer
NOT given to the published accounts, s.
little surprising did their conduct al
pear to those who krew colliersl wer
added to Tie list OF the slain, for tn
dreaded explosion occurred; and now
alas! there was no longer room to dout
that I'll below were numbered with th
dead.
Take another instance. When til
last dreadful explosion took place {
the Oaks coIliery, near Barnsly, whic
also kiled two hundred men and boy
if ] remember rightly. | went tLtI
immediately, and what had happened
My iliend Parkin Jettcock, mining er
2inecr, had been sent for after the frs
explosion had occurrt d; it was one {
extraordinary violence and had con
plctely destroyed the head gear, an
they were in momentary expectation
9 second, as it is clear that the first ha
utterly deranged the ventilation; bl
here also the hope was clung to ths
some OF the men might still be alive
the pit and, after most anxious consiC
GRAFTON, it was decided to incur til
awful peril of descending the other sha
to see if il were happily SO (scores upo
scores OF mems lives have been saved b
these heroic darings of peril.) Whe
the decision was taken, Mr.. Jeffcoc
said: u want eight men to 60 dow
with me; volunteers, stand forward
At once not eight but fifteen me
stepped out from the crowd; tht
then picked out and rejected Il
seven men who had the largest familie
and bad to employ the police to p
them back into the crowd, out of da
ger, lest the dreaded explosion khou
come even while they were gettil
ready TO go down; and Mr.. Jeffcock al
his eight companions (heroes every O
OF thtm-and this they would equal
have been had they all returned aliv
got ready ard went down. They h
not been down long before another G
pIosion took place, and they, too, We
numbered with the dead.