Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-30

in the slope in his younger days, and iis
 executive mind and energetic spirit were
 of great benefit in directing the work ot
 extricating Eckert from the fearful pri-
 son into which he had been shut by the
 frightful fall of roof that followed tl,.
 awful explosion of fire-damp.
 For six long, painful and perilous hour
 the workmen toiled for life and death al
 the grim task of trying to save Tom
 Eckert's life. They succeeded ill !ocat-
 ing his whereabouts at first by listening attentively and hearing his faint half
 stitied cries of pain. and they laboTed
 zealOusly and earnestly in that direction.
 It was a difficult and dangerous task. The after-damp was so dense as to make the air almost unbearable, and the fall
 ing of the roof, all around at frequent intervals, gave warning of impending peril. Still the hardy rescuers toiled on with heroic and admirable unselfsh-
 ness, until the right hand Of Eclzert was visible, sticking out from under a great mass of anthracite by whic h he had been pinned down.
 The sight of the hand gave the rescu, CTS renewed strength and hope, and caused them to redouble their energies Presently they were rewarded by a sight of Eckert's head and body. Detec- tive Sawyer, who had been out for Q breath of fresh air, had just returned to the slope a few minutes before Eckert had been reached. It was found that Eckert was held fast to the floor of the mine by block of coal, weighing sever al tons, which lay across his legs. His head and body were but slightly injured, as they were protected by the contact of two big boulders, which met in the crash and formed an inverted A un broken.
 He was not aware of this latter fact. however, until the enormous weight w, lifted from his limbs and he made nn effort to stand erect, when he fell in $ dead faint on the floor of the mine.
 Right beside where he was found was 2 cash-boX bearing the name Philip Car son."
 This box was taken possession of by the detective, who assured all around him that he would give a good account Of its contents. He called upon Ned New comb and two others to examine the papers which it contained, along with him, and they found, among the rest United States bonds amounting to S2OO- 0GO in the box.
 The discovery filled them with amaze ment, being such an unusual sight to see in the mlne, and many were the conjec- lures indulged in as to what could have Eal- I,;, a place.
 Sawyer's keen mind took in the situa. ton at glance, but he said nothing As soon as Eckert showed signs of ,e- turning consciousness, the detective quietly gave orders for his immediate from the mine.
 Eckert, however, kicked and struggled against removal, and as he lay writh, ing in the coal dust, cried out to his rescu- CTS ill pitiful tone of voice:
 "For Heavens sake, kill me and end my torture. Let some one of you men knock me in the head, and put an end to this misery"
 Miners looked on in pity and in wonder at the prostrate, struggling man, who begged for death ill any form, so that his sufferings of mind and body might he at an end; but Dective Sawyer whis- pered to Ned Newcomb that no time was to be lost in carrying him out of the mine. Accordingly the necessary ap- pliances were procured, and Eckert was removed to the mouth of the slope as speedily as the circumstances would permit. He was then placed in an ambu- lance and conveyed to the Gri,nsby hospital, where it was decided at a con. of physicians that the only chance of saving his life lay in the ampu tation of both his legs, which were bad. y shattered in several places.
 Detective Sawyer ascertained this fact, and begged that he might be per mitted few minutes conversation with Eckert before the operation took place.
 The doctors were reluctant at first to grant this privilege, but Sawyer soon convinced them that it was highly i'm. | oortant in the interest of justice Eckert was rational then, but it was difficult to 'ay whether he would ever recover con- ! 'ciousness after being placed under the | influence of anaesthetics; and knowing now much there was at stake, the de- 5ective decided on making the best of lis present opportunity.