Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-01-02
MINERS ODD BELIEFS.
COME OF THE STRANGE STORIES
 TOLD IN THE CAMPS.

COME OF THE STRANGE STORIEs1
 TOLD lN THE CAMPS.
 A Life Saved by . Presentiment-Disap-
 pearance of Bowlder-Fortune Tellers'
 Advice Sought by 0wnsrs of Claims-
 Naming Mines.
 Miners are superstitious Men who labor underground arc always so, and especially those who court hckle fortune, hunting for gold and silver veins in the mountains. Often you will hear miners say that rocks are more apt to fall at midnight thnn at any other time
 A friend of mine was once working in the Bull Domingo mine, and saved his life through presentiment or superstitious feel ing. He was working in the night shift and late in the afternoon was awakened from his slumber and notified by the foreman to get ready for work. In telling me the story afterward he said that something seemed to be warning him not to work that night. But he threw of the feeling. ate his supper, put on his miners suit and started toward the shaft house. He had gone about half the distance, when the same superstitious feeling possessed him, and, stopping a moment, he tuouSnk lut lldbUeT over, anu. TElUIElNR 10 the boarding house near by, hired man in bis place.
 There was an accident that night and the man who had taken his place was killed. The shift was sinking the main shaft deeper, preparatory to running lower levels The water was troublesome and the cage had been lowered with barrel, which was filled with water. When the cage began to ascend three of the men stepped out from under it, but the fourth stood in the center of the shaft leaning on his shovel When up about 100 feet piece of machinery broke and down came the cage, crushing the poor fel- low to death. The young man who refused to work that night, in telling me of the incl dent afterward, said: Something seemed to be almost pulling me back that night and saying, Don't go down the shaft, don't go down the shaft,' and didn't go. I don't know how to account for it and never will but it saved my life"
 A STRANGE STORY.
 One evening, while sitting around the stove | in one of the hotels in the camp, a man named Fletcher, hailing from Ohio, told a strange, weird story. He was quiet kind of fellow, and not given up to springing | wild stories. He and his partner, so his story | ran, had been working a claim above the | Verde hill, in the Sangre de Cristo range. They were prospecting for a gray copper | vein. A shaft had been sunk about forty feet | and then a drill was started on the,vein. | This drift was within twenty feet from the | shaft, and the last day they had worked the | claim powder about two feet in diameter | was blown out of the vein. ''It was about time to quit, i" said Mir. Fletcher, " and we concluded to windlass out what loose work there was and popshoot the powder the next morning. Before leaving we placed our | mining tools and bucket in a corner of the | shaft and then went to our cabin. It was a ! cold night and considerable snow fell The I next morning about o'clock we returned to | the shaft to resume our work for the day. I lowered my partner down and was preparing to descend myself, when heard him call out, \ Fletcher, hoist away I asked him what was the matter, but he would give mo nc definite answer, and in rather husky voice repeated his request that I haul him out which I did. After stepping on the platform, he said, You know that bowlderr Yes replied, but what of itr It is gone,' he said. 'GoneF Yes, gone
 | "I refused to believe him, although ob- served that his face was a little pale and he seemed quite nervous. had him lower me down the shaft, and, sure enough, that large bowl6er, two feet in diameter, was gone The tools had not been disturbed, and no one else could have possibly gone down that shaft since we left it the night before. The snow had fallen, and there was not the least sign of Q track leading to or from the shaft"
 "Did the mine ever pan out anything after wardf asked one of the interested group of listeners.
 "Pan outl Nol have been unable to ge, my partner down in that shaft since And one thing do know-the powder we had left that night was gone the next morning and neither of us ever knew what became of itn
 | THE FORTUNE TELLER
 Some men use fortune tellers in searching for mines and developing them. The divin ing rod has been used on many a mountain side and its indications followed. recently visited a we'll known fortune teller in Den yer for the purpose of learning something definite as to stories circulated that some mining operators seek this class to have them foreteIl or advise them how to seek for the | precious metals.
 Certainly they do," said the old woman in O weird manner, shuffiing the cards
 "Now, you keep out of the mines," she said
 speaking to me; "your fortune is on top oi the ground, yes, on top of the ground. Tn, cards and the white of this egg have broker show no veins of mineral for youn
 There is a superstition among some about
 naming mines, ana many seem to think tha'
 it is good luck to name mine for a baby
 Why! No one knows. A prospector onct | named claim for certain Pullman car
 which was afterward smashed in a wreck
 He changed the name for fear of an accident
 to the mine. Another changed the name o
 his claim because the person he had named il
 for died The finding of a vein on the ami
 versary of your birthday, or the anniversary
 of the wedding of your parents, is supposed
 to bring good luck. There are thousand
 and one little superstitions connected with
 the delving in mother earth, searching fol
 the buried treasures there.-New Yorl
 Press.
 The Perfected Monograph. The perfected phonograph will repea
 speech in a clear and distinct manner. Tn,
 first photograph would not wrrk successful
 ly, and it was found hard to make an ade