Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-02
HOW MINERS CAN DIE.
Calmly Writing Messages to Loved Ones
while Death Creeps Upon Than


while Death Creeps Upon Them.
Sixteen years ago.says a Scranton. Pa,
letter to the New York Sun, there was a
terriable colliery explosion in saxony.
by which large number of miners lost
their lives. OF that disaster an old miner
in this city has preserved a most remark.
able record in series Of manuscript
copies, translated into English. OF mes.
sages written to their friends by such OF
| the doomed Saxon miners as were NOT
! Killed outright by the explosion. but were
| preserved for the no less sure and more
| terrible death by suffOcatiOn as the Dois.
| Oned gasses slowly destroyed the pure air
that remained in the mine. These messages
were found in note books and on scraps
Of paper on the dead bodies Of the poor men
When they were at last recovered. The
/ manuscript copies Of these touching notes
| were made In Cornwall by relative OF
the ola miner, and were sent to him short
~ after the disaster. They are interest
ing, outside of their pathOs, as answering
the frequently asked question, How do
| men feel when about to die-nOt after be-
ing wasted and weakened by disease. or
| when the blood Is heated By the strife of
battle, but when they see inevitable death
slowly but certainly approaching them,
/ and know that In exactly so many min
utes it will seize upon them? Do they
rage and struggle against their fate. or
do the meet It with calmness and resigna-
tiOns These messages show that the poor
/ miners awaited the coming of death with
/ singular calmness and resignation. Not
one word in the whole record reveals a
feeling of bitterness against the fate they
could not avert.
There Is a curious pathOs in some of the
| lines scraWled by these death-besieged
men IN the gloom of their narrow prison.
| \ young man, Janetz by name, had
pinned 10 his coat a leaf from a note book.
! ON it We're written his last words to his
sweetheart: Darling Rika: My last
| thought was Of thee. Thy name will be
/ the last word my lips shall speak. Fare
WELL"
rhe miner Reiche, when his body was
found, clutched IN his hand a scrap of
paper. Dear sister," it read. ''Meyer, in
/ the village, owes me ten thalers. 1t is
/ yours. l hope my face Will not be dis
/ tOrted wnen they find US. l might have
/ been better to you. GOOd-by.' Reiche.
according to the old Scranton miner, who
seems 10 have the histories of all the I'M
| fortunate Saxon miners at his tongues
| end, was a severe man, and though just
/ 10 his sister, who was his only relative,
gave her no liberties. The thought that
/ he had not done right evidently haunted
/ him IN his death hour.
The absence Of all selfshness, all re
/ pinIngs ON account Of themselves, is
| tOuchingly apparent in all the messages.
| "My dear relations" wrote the miner
| Schmidt, ''while seeing death before me
| remember you. Farewell until we meet
| again in happiness" Lying next to
/ young JanetZ, whose message to his
| sweetheart is quoted above, a miner
| named MOTetZ was found. On paper in
N.ss.
| died ReIche Is dying, and says, 'Iell
! my family leave them with God Fare
| well, dear wife. Farewell, dear children.
| May God keep yOu.' The miners who
| died by sUffOcatiOn had evidently been
/ driven from one place of refuge to an
| other, according to the following, found
/ in the note book of miner named Bahr:
| This is the last place where we have
| taken refuge. l have given up all hope,
| because the ventilation has been destroy
/ ed 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, stake
good care of Mary. In a book in the
bedroom you will find a thaler. Fare
well, dear mother, till we meet again.
Mary was the miners only child, who
was blind.
4 miner named Jaime or Jaehn wrote
/ to his brother, who was a miner, out had
| been unable to work that day: "Thank
/ God for his goodness, brother! You are
safe"
''NO more toll in darkness" wrote an
other.
The uniform spirit Of piety that marked
/ all the messages of the dying men was
/ explained by the custodian of these
| touching records. He said the miners of
| Saxony 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.
Il never read the simple messages of
| those poor men without mOistened eyes, .
/ said the old miner, and his eyes were GER
/ tainlv more than moist as he spoke. Il
| 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 bewaIling
/ them as dead. While my heart bleeds
| over the picture, l thank God that, humble
| miners though they were, they showed
the world how bravely and nObly they
/ could de-"