Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-02-06


against the fate they could not avert
There is curious pathos in some of til {
lines scrawled by these death besege me-
in the gloom Of their narrow prison. a
young man; Janeiz by name, had pnne|
to his coat leaf from note book. o.
it were written his last words to his sweet
heart: Darling Isika: My last though (
was of thee. Thy name will be the las1
word my lips shall SPEAK. Farewell"
The miner Reiche. when his body VIZ
found, clutched in his hand scrap a
paper. Dear sister," it read, "Meyer, id
the village, owes me ten thalers. 1t ID
| yours. hope my face will not be dstorti
ed when they find US. | might have been1
better to you. Good BY" Reche. accord !
| ing to the old Scranton miner, who seen q
| to have the histories of all the unfortu4
nate Saxon miners at his tongues end
was severe man, and though just to hi a
sister, who was his only relative, gave hen
no liberties. The thought that he had nots
done right evidently haunted him in hid|
death hour.
The absence of all selfshness, all repin-l
ings on account of themselves, IS touch II
ingly apparent in all the messages. "MYI
dear relations" wrote the miner Schm idt i
while seeing death before ne remember
you. Farewell until we meet again inl
happiness" Lying next to young Janetz i
whose message to his sweetheart is quoted
above, a miner named MOretz was found.
On a paper in his cap was written:-l
"Janetz has just died. Richer is dying.
and says: Tell my family I leave themI
with God.' Farewell, dear wife. Fare-I
we'll, dear children. May God keep you."1
The miners who died by suffocation had
evidently been driven from one place of
refuge to another, according to the follow
ing, found in the note book of miner
named Bahr: "Tbis is the last place where
we have taken refuge. | have given up
all hope. because the ventilation has been
destroyed in three separate places. May
God take myself and relatives and dear
friends who must die with me, as we'll as
our families, under His protection.''
"Dear wife," writes Moller, ''take good
care of Mary. In book in the bedroom
you will find thaler. Farewell, dear
mother, till we meet again" Mary was
the miners only child, who was bind
A miner named Jaime or Jaehn wrote
to his brother. who was miner. but had
been unable to work that day: "Th.nk
God for his goodness, brother. You are
safe.''
ono more toll in darkass5," wrote
another.
The uniform spirit of piety that marked
all the messages of the dying men was ex-
planned by the custodian of these touch
ing records. He said the miners of Sake
ny are all reared in a strict religious
school, and that on entering the mines
they all petition Heaven for protection
through the day, and on leaving the mines
return thanks to God for guarding them
and bringing them safely through the
dangers of their toll.
81 never read the simple messages Of
those poor men without moistened eyes"
said the old miner, and his eyes were GER
calmly more than moist dis he spoke. 81
can picture to myself the scene of the
rOugh-handed but soft-hearted men, spend
ing their last moments not in wild cries
for mercy and screams of remorse, nor in
repinings against their cruel fate, but in
sending these farewell messages to their
loved ones, who were even then bewalling
them as dead. While my heart bleeds
BILE miners though they were, they showed
the world how bravely and nobly they
could dle.''