St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-07-28
MINERS sUPERSTlTIoNs.
A Veteran Tells How He Was Saved by an
Unaccountable Warning.

Unaccountable Warning.
81 do not know of more supersti-
tious class of men in the world than
miners. Their strange fancies and be-
liefs are at least called superstition,
but by miners whose lives have often
been saved by timely premonitions of
impending danger, they are as sacred
as religion. could give facts to sub
,stantiate my assertions. !"
The speaker was a. veteran mining
man who has spent the greater part of
his life among the miners of Cali
fornia and Arizona. At the request of
q reporter, who had become interested
in the subject, the miner continued,
and related some thrilling tales of his
own personal experiences.
mo one," said he, treated the
peculiar beliefs of the miner with more
derision than myself before became
one of them. A few years. experience,
however, taught me, the skeptic, to
hold these so-called superstitions very
sacred. Would you like to hear how my
life was first saved through a feeling
of danger which I fortunately needed?
Very well. You must know that in
1879, after the mines in the vicinity of
Bodie had been pronounced failure,
there was a great rush for the gold
and silver producing districts of Ari-
iona. | lost no time in beginning a
In,
appeared to be then, inexhaustible
territory. | was fortunate enough to
soon strike rich lead and, with the
assistance of an intelligent young man
whom / had taken into partnership,
began operations. We dug into the
bank of a gully, said to be a wonder
fully rich spot. The work progressed
favorably, and in week our excava-
tions extended in some fifteen feet
from the mouth. Not knowing that
our mine would be permanent, little
attention was paid to putting in the
proper timbers for safety. Well, ]
was working steadily ahead with pick
and shovel one afternoon after my
partner had departed to prepare
supper at our cabin, when I ex-
perienced a most peculiar feel
ing. My whole body seemed to turn
as cold as ice, and my hands trembled
SO violently that could not WELD the
pick. After trembling for a few Sec
onds, a voice of thunder seemed to
sound in my ears: Run for your life;
the mine is cavingr / obeyed this
strange and unaccountable warning or
premonition, and never ran faster in
my life as started for the mouth OF
our little mine. An instant after ]
reached the open air the roof caved In
and the mine was completely filled
with the falling rocks and dirt. Was
this premonition, superstition or
Imagination firmly believe that the
timely warning I received was the
voice of the spirit that watches over
the miners and saves thousands from
violent deaths. Laugh, if you will:
but I can account for it in no other
way. In the case I have cited, an in
stant's delay or hesitation would have
caused my life to come to terrible
end. You may be sure that after that
experience / never failed to take ad-
vantage of these strange warnings; and
] am firmly convinced that they have
8, we'd my life on at least half dozen
"A peculiar circumstance of the case
/ have told you, is that on the night
previous to the caving in Of the mine
my partner dreamed that it was going
TO cave in. He did not tell me Of the
dream for fear that would have moth
ing more to do with the mine. After
q little more experience he also came |
to believe in these warnings as firm as |
do.
Il know Of a vastly rich mine in the
San Gabriel mountains, Los Angeles
County, that has caused the death OF |
every man who tried to carry ore
away from it. You may call this SUI
perstition also, but there are a dozen
miners besides myself who know Of
the millions that could be taken from
this mine and yet are afraid to 60 near
It. Some half a dozen men had been
killed BY caves, etc, when my partner
and / arrived after a run Of six
months of hard luck in Arizona.
We worked around few days
nd took out some specimens Of as
tautiful gold quartz as man ever laid
res upon. My partner desired to 60
u San Francisco to purchase tools and
for developing the mine. He
vent and took several pieces OF ore for
assaying with him. The ore was found
% be worth about $1,000 ton. In
he meantime / remained in Los An
relies awaiting my partners return.
The next I heard of him was that he
lad been stricken with fleprosy and
IN horrible death in re pest-house.
N hardly necessary III state that j
XIV returned to the n ae. The GER
~ that also woule come to my
W. In short order preA knts me from
a .s,s's SO. San FrancisS Alta.
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