Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-04-24
THREE WEEKS BURIED.
THE STRANGE STORY OF JOHN BROWN
MINER.

THE STRANGE STORY OF JOHN BROWN
MINER.
One day in October, 1880 the
miners who were at work in mine
near Daily, Scotland, heard sounds
which alarmed them. The noises
were not loud, but to the miners,
who knew what they meant, they
we're terrible. There was a low
crushing sound, and now and then
a slight cracking noise, while the
bottom of the mine heaved a little
and trembled. 1t was not an
earthquake, but something quite
as terrible to men who were in the
long dark galleries underground.
The roof of the mine was falling in!
There was an enormous weight
of rock and earth above, and the
pillars OF coal which had been left
to support it were being crushed to
powder by the pressure.
The miners ran quickly
the shaft through which which
they were in the habit of entering
and leaving the mine, bat IFS walls
had already tumbled in. They ran
next to another shaft, through
which coal was lifted out of the
mine, but that, too, was already
blocked up. Then they stood and
stared at each other, while the
crushing and grinding noises con-
tinued and increased. Tho part of
the mine in which they stood
showed no sign of falling in, but
what OF that 7 They might as well
be crushed as imprisoned in the
depths of the earth, without food
or water or air, to die Of slow
torture. Indeed, it would bo bet
ter to suffer death at once than to
be buried alive in this way. Yet
there seemed to be no way OF
escape.
At the supreme moment one OF
the miners remembered that there
was q small tunnel which ran from
the mine to stream half mile
away. 1t had been cut nicely to
serve as a drain. and was very
small, but the miners believed it
possible to escape through it If
they could make their way to it,
which was doubtful.
Just as they were setting off to
try this forlorn hope, old John
Brown, a miner GO years of age,
who had once before been shut mp
for days in a falling mine, remem-
bered that he had left his coat
where he had been at work. He
wanted to go back and get it, but
his comrades refused to let him
take such a risk. Suddenly he
broke away from them and ran
back down the gallery before they
could prevent him, and as he did
so the roof between him and them
came down with a crash, com
pletely 6lling the gallery.
The roof over the gang OF miners
still held firm, but they could do
nothing for John Brown. Whether
he had been crushed under the
falling mass of rock or had been
shut up in the end of the gallery
beyond they had no means Of
knowing, but in either case they
could do nothing, and so they SET
about saving themselves. ...
Finding the end of the little
tunnel, they worked their way
through it very slowly and with
great difficulty and at last reached
the upper world in safety There
IA strange sight met their eyes. The
surface OF the earth heaved and
sank in places, topping houses
over, rocking others like ships al
sea and frightening the people not
a little. Great seams in the ground
we're opened, sometimes to stay
open, sometimes to close agair
with a snap. 1t looked like the
doings of an earthquake, bnt wa
in fact only the result of the gradua
fall in Of the mine as one afteI
another of the supporting columns
gave way. ...
This continued for three or fou
days, and until it ceased nothing
could be done toward recovering
| the body of poor old John Brown
who had been a general favOrlt'
among the mining folk. At last
the ground ceased to rock and sway
about aud work was begun at thC
shaft, At first it was hoped tina
Brown might be alive still and tha
he might be saved, and so thl
miners worked day and night. Blu
the hard granite which had fillet
| up the shaft was difficult to Gu
away, and at the end of week thl
work was only fairly begun.
At the end of a fortnight tn
shaft had been cleared out, but tn
mine below was checked up witt
rock, and tho work Of driving
gaIlery toward the point at whicI
Brown had been left still remaine'
| TO be done. There was no hope 0
finding him alive, of course, for HI
had now been buried there for tw
| or thee weeks. Still the miner
| worked on, determined to recoye
their cOmrad's body.
They drove narrow CALLER
toward, working day after day q