Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-07-06
f,{.5:1f..F5TS

,4{:.:lEfs3Il
The reporter had an interview with
Mr.. Van Dusen. He is rather slim
man, about five feet seven inches tall,
= tith thin, dark beard, prominent nose
and lantern jaws Indeed he could
> stand very well for y redReed photo
gtaph of Brother .,Jonathan. But
Nan Dusen is not q Yankee. he Is -
r4atigsof Mishigan, / aud 81 years of age
Tie reporter found the hero of the day
in the Mushroom of azpattick, Is boaxd-
! Isg4tpueiin Lower Gold Hill, rubbing
SOAP on his hands, and wholly absorbed
in the occupations He looked up With
iSaEge Csarprise fkbm~his basin in the
wooden sink when the reporter spoke TO.
him and said he wanted to interview
him. Van Dusen is not a talkative man,
land it was only in response to the jour
nalist's constant questions that the story
of his adventures was drawn from him
piecemeal. While giving q bit of infor-
= nation as to, his i,eriiosfs Journey, S Van
Dusen would pause between splashes in
hisIbaSin, tiin up his Ndripping oounte,.
nance for moment, and then industri-
his abiutions. was-
rather amused than otherwise that q
pswseapsrsheald .thinlit ywerth while
to~sahd a.x4postaf 70 ash hinratoutsuch
, q tribe LAS. Sning info q. .dfixs-1 00 feet
long, $50 feet below the surface, filled
in part with almost scalding water. Dyers
three feet deep and loaded with poison
Gus gases thatfhad slain two men who
had ID sde the Attempt s1sfprs him.
= There was no affectation about his I'M
consciousness of his having done any
thing heroic It was absolutely real ~
"Oh, no; TIM not exhausted" said
,YaN Qusen. as he rubbsd his face yigor-
: ously With the towel ON the sfoIler
=" I'm feeling chipper-never better in
my fife.A SsKss7J[SAkkrsgSA tsxSSyS5SA
He encountered the bodies of Bennett
and Callahan. Both were lying en- their
backs. He merely paused as he came
AoeachcorPss~andpassed oQst' Then, ~
. ssid-Taa Bison, q / gotstoSthe COOLING
house and SAY the boys y -
He seemed to think that the statement
{ stehis fact furnished all the inform alton
that was Necessarily I'll /
"They were glad to see you, of
eladdesto 30 IN ne i5e n MY msshih sa:
He had to leave his lantern out in the
: aHfs al there was a ACCOMPLISHMENTS
IN thenookng house. SiC4NSAA ! 3
ftIt was pretty dark in the cooling
house," said Van Dusen, sand when 1
ven. in the first thing l asked was how
N any u Them Were olives They said
the whole seven, and Isaid I was mighty
gAe TO- eafs it, gaVhat do you fellows
want most?' says, and they said grub
aud ice. They did go for my ice. Mr..
3 Nku RIseH chuokled atthe recollectiOn 4
One chap-it was so dark couldn't
place him-laid his arm across his
breast and began hauling it out of my
machi1e and piEhgi it mp on his ARM Il
guess they knew what Mad happened to
the two boys that went down in~the /
/, morning.. for they, asked me if there
were any dead bodies in the drift. I
said there wasn't, for it wouldn't have
done 'em any good to know. They had
seen the lights that the boys carried, and
they went out kind of sudden wl1enthey
fslA, of course, so it wasn' t.hard toguegs
what had Happened. --s
s.They haI fixed things in the coeling-
house and were pretty comfortable, man,
. Wnters They wanted all the air they
could get, Of course, and one of 'em
sings out to me as was going to tell
'em ON Top to.work the compressor. /
Thought, perhaps, that there might be
one or Sc, i'm the crowd that was near
givfng in, and Asked il any one wanted
my knapsack to try to make the rifle |
for the shaft, but they wouldnt hear of
sSaoSI HSFted back Bennett walked
down the DRIFT a ways with me. He had
his head on him and wasn't scared or
anxious a bit, soIfar as I could see."
On the return trip one of the rubber
air tubes'of his knapsack got loose, and
he had to depend upon one. Then the
foul air put his lantern out, and his only
Guide as he foundered' through the last
500 feet of-hot water was the faint
CLEAN of the candles of the men at the
station. One of the doctors at the mine
said that not one man in a thousand
would have achieved the feat accom-
.piished by Van Dusen, and that it was
masyelous chat he shpuld-,apparently 4
suffer 30 little physically and mentally
from so terrible an ofdeaE Van Dusef1
at 6 O'Clock was back in the hoist
ing-works, standing around with his
\ hands in his pockets, taking q Keen but
calm interest I'm all the work that was
being done toward the rescue of his fell
Icy mirnsrs..ysrgitssq c'sy { Nev. : En-
0OyA scheme thalaswould,at work. II
The Newburyport. Herald contains an
saeco1rt az how D prominent merchant