Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-08-07


obliged to sit in crouching position, his
feet bent under him: When he Lad dugs
out a sufficient quantity of earth he threw
1t out with a spade into a vertical pit,
where another of our men filled it into
iron pals and third carried these out
and emptied them into dark closet stu
atcd at the back of the house. When
the gallery was dug out SO far as to render
the throwing out of the earth with spades
impossible, light sheet of iron, with Its
sides beat so as to form flat box, and
with rope attached to it and wound at
its other end around a windlass, was used
to draw the earth out of the gallery. We
met with the greatest difficulty in this re-
spect. When the gallery had reached
half of the proposed distance the strong
ropes we used to pull out the iron box
with the earth turned QUITO be too weak
and broke several times. The load was
too much for one man, even though his
strength was doubled by the windlass. In
consequence of all this we lost a great
deal of time. We had to redouble all our
efforts and worked without resting.
Sophie Perovsky bore her part OF the
work, which was eXhausting in the eX-
IRENE, with extraordinary and calm hero
ISM She had to be at work constantly
from o'clock in the morning till mid
night. She had to cook the meals three
times day for the four men working at
the mine, to sweep and clean the rooms
in the upper story, to be always on the
lookout for visitors, to entertain them in
the dining room and to warn us by means
of bell communicating with the cellar,
of every possible danger. This was her
ordinary work But when the difficulties
of our mining enterprise began she insist
ed on taking part in the actual work like
all of us. She sat in the mine, digging,
worked at the windlass, besides attending
to all her ordinary duties, and kept her
spirits up in a manner that cheered and
encouraged all of u.s. AS the excavation
of the mine advanced we secured its
sides by means of boards three inches
thick, which, being placed one against
each other in form of sloping roof, kept
the earth from falling into the gallery.
The latter was lighted by lanterns sus.
pended from the roof, and thick iron
tube communicating with the stove CHM
ney in the house, and fastened to the roof
of the gallery, was used as a ventilatOr.
Despite, the strong air current which
passed through these tubes the air in the
mine was often so close that the lanterns
went out, and those who were at work
tainted from want of air.
BEsET WITH DIFFICULTIES.
The hours of work were distributed in
the following manner: At 5 a. m. we de-
scended to the cellar and worked till
6, when half an hour was allowed for
tea. Then we worked till dinner, which
was served at 3 p. m. From p. m. we
again worked till 7, when we drank our
evening tea and rested half an hour. The
work was then continued till II or mid
night. according to the progress we had
made during the day Only two of us,
myself and N, being the smallest in
stature, worked in the gallery. Each of
us had to remain crouching in the foul,
damp air of the mine for eight hours con-
secutively The rest of the time was
spent in helping the others in their work,
pulling out the earth, preparing the
boards for the roofing of the gallery and
similar duties. Our work advanced at
7 first steadily and successfully. We dug
out daily seven feet and hoped to reach
the railway track in the first days of No
vember But twenty ght feet were left
to dig out, when difficulties and dangers
which seemed insurmountable assailed us
on all sides. Nature and man seemed to
have consplred to ruin us and our enter
prise. Rains, storms, frost, snowfalls,
police officers, railway guards, prylng in
to our house, sickness in our ranks, want
of money, suspicious neighbors- these
came at once upon lis and
we expected every moment either to
perish in the mine or to be delivered up
to the hangman. [ must dwell little
longer on this part of my narrative. The
reader will remember that we were in
November, when in the variable and I'M
steady climate of central Russia the bit
terest cold alternates with snow, rainy
and stormy weather The sandy ground
in which we worked absorbed water very
easily. The water stood always at least
two inches deep at the bottom of the gal
lery, and a thick vapor emanated from it,
vitiating the air and rendering pro-
longed stay in the shaft almost deadly
Under the circumstances it became I'M
possible TO work in winter clothing, and
we had to work in the damp, cold shaft
for eight hours and more in our linen
shirts and underwear Two men fell ill
and became unable to work. They
were Immediately replaced by two others
But our worst trouble was yet to come
One day we awoke about three hours be-
fore dawn. The whole night it had been
raining fast, but we did not suspect what
that rain had cost us. At O'Clock we
descended into the cellar, and Golden
berg crawled into the shaft. Two hours
later he returned shivering and said in a
low voice:
"There is water in the shaft
took lantern and entered the shaft
myself, but went no further than five or
six feet from the entrance An ominous
roar from the water pouring from over
head into the shaft arrested nv steps.
The water [ found to be about one-and- "a
half feet deep. We all returned to the
upper story and looked at each other in
dismay.
/ "What is to be done?' was asked.
eve must at all events measure once
more the depth of water and determine
exactly the place of the leak,' I an
severed, and snatching up lantern,
which tied to my fur cap, 1 once more
crawled into the shaft on MY hands and
knees. At ten feet distance from the en-
trance my arms dipped into the water
over the elbows. The water was so in
tensely cold that my whole body was en-
tirely benumbed. I felt nothing but a
horrible Wranchjnr paip lilo tootbooho