The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-12-13


directions. like the streets of town,
With many turnings-a black and
deep city, city Of coal. Some Of the
galleries are long and wide and well
ventilated; others are low, narrow and
tortuous, with the air suspiciously foul
and charged with danger. The laden
cars, trundling along the gloomy tram
ways toward the foot of the shaft, pass
the empty ones going back into the
hidden depths for other burdens. The
noise of blasts, the smell of gunpowder,
the rumble here and there of falling
coal, the glimmer of lamps whose fee
bic rays barely outline the ghoulish
forms of the miners at their toll, the
noise of water pouring from the many
subterranean veins sundered by the
pick and drill-these are the sights
and sounds that surround the life q
miner leads, by night ard day. hum
dreds and hundreds of feet beneath
the ground. Work never ceases in a
coal mine when it is being "run' to
its full capacity. One set of men 20
down the shaft at daylight and come
out at dark, meeting at the mouth of
the shaft the men who are going down
for the night shift" and whom they
will meet coming out again next morn
ing, if all has been we'll.
Nay, lad, don't thee never vessel
in the mine," warned ny old miner
guide; ''for thee'll drive tn gud luck
sperit DOT an let the bad luck divvel
in. Thurs many fall O. coal that
crashed doom on scores O. pore lads
a wurrikin' in the dep's that's coom'd
all along O. some cranky rattle-brin
oop an wesselin' afore they knowd tn
like O. him q dOin' ia wesselin' some
tune othat tn divvel likes to dance to-.
Ihe bosses may score the falls to shaky
props and the like o. that, but it's tn
wesselin' as does it oftentimes, lad.
SO don't thee vessel here what times
thee be's long wi u.s.
Flre-damp explosions and falls of
roof and walls are the greatest dangers
the coal miner fears. The one has been
greatly lessened of late years by i'm
proved ventilation of mines-an i'm
provement that was compelled by leg
islation, however. Before Davy gave
to miners the safety lamp that all but
canonized him among them, it was the
custom to light the fire-damp in coal
mines every night. It is within the
memory of old miners when it was the
duty OF one man to fire the gas in GER
tain mines, especially those of Cont
mental Europe, so that the explosion
might be provoked and the mine made
accessible and comparatively safe for
the men again next day. Wrapped in
covering of wool or leather, the face
protected by mask and the head en-
veloped in q hood like a monk 8
cowl, this man entered the nois-
ONE depths to perform the dan
gerous task imposed upon him. The
tire-damp is lighter than air, and floats
above it in the mine chambers. To
keep as much as possible in the area of
respirable air, the ''penitent," as the
man was called, because of the re-
semblance of his dress to that of a
religious order of the Catholic Church,
crawled on the ground, bearing before
him a long pole with lighted tape on
the end. As he dragged his way along,
alone in the poisonous mazes of the
mine, his taper came in contact with
the explosive gas, and defamation after
defamation followed one another until
the nOxious substance had been en-
tirely decomposed and the atmosphere
made safe. Frequently the penitent
was killed at his post, either by the
force of the explosion or by coal and
rocks dislodged and crushing him
where he crept. Fire-damp explosions
are still very frequent in coal mines,
and in too many instances investiga-
ton shows that the responsibility lies
with the carelessness or recklessness
of the miner himself
"Aye, lad" said the old miner, lit
be's wonder, surely, the rattle-brins
some o. We miners be. What wurr it
that pore Davy Richards did? Loord
save, us! Why, Davy wouldn't ha'
croosh'd a fly that stung him, sooch
wurr tn tender heart he had; out in tn
graveyard, in tn village atop yoonder,
tharr's nineteen graves as Davy
put THUR, an enoof O. them, tn good
Loord knows, we had the like oop
THUR afoor! They bed a warnin'
Davy. his fellows he'd as they wurr
wurrikin' wi tn damp aboov 'em in
tn mine, an some wurr that fearful to
go on wi tn task. An whites they
were shakin' THUR heads an hangin'
back, an thenkin' it'd be we'll fer tn
wives an tn little uns atop if wurrik
wurr stopp'd betimes, what does pore,
tho'tless Davy do but fill his pipe an
whisk a fire wi IL lucifer to light it!
Tn flash an roor went roornin' an
echoin' through tn galleries as fur as
tn dep's roon'd back, an W en- tn time
COON that we could get to whurr it
started we dragged from tn toombl' d
coal nineteen shapeless lads as we had
all know'd an gone doom wi monny's
tn time an ag en-, an pore Davy wurr
one O them. Only one o. tn shift
coom'd cot to tell how Davy done it
all. An tn pity O. it all wurr that
Evan Jones, a new one i tn mine, had
puttit by sil'er to fetch his wife an
little uns fran across the sea, an had
sent it, an wurr lookin' for them day
bV day. An so hanOanS thew cOom'1
tn day that Davy fired tn damp. an
Evan wurr lynn croosh'd in the de'ps,
wi never a sight, lad, O. tn pore wife
an tn BARNS! Loord save us! What
a time they coom'd amoong us!'
1t is remarkable that in the confined
and bad atmosphere in which the coal
miner lives at least half of his life he
contracts but few naladies. He never
suffers from fever. Still, in the course
of time, the bad air works destruction
to his blood, impoverishing it, and