Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-04-29
THE INSANE MINER.
An Experience Which Proved
 Nearly Fatal

An Experience Which Proved
 Nearly Fatal
 Some years ago business led me to visit
 and examine number of the silver mines
 of Peru, and at one of these met with a strange and thrilling adventure. | had obtained the usual permission to de-
 scend through the narrow shaft down into the dark bowels of the earth, and a miner named Pedro had been sent to me as a guide.
 l merely glanced at the fellow, Tn his coarse, close fitting, dirty costume, with the | lighted lamp depending from his skull-cap,
 and then told him to lead the way. l l had visited so many mines in my time that looked for no novelty in the descent l was now about to make. The mouth of the present mine was only some six or eight feet in diameter, and the excavation was
 but few degrees from the perpendicular For the first two hundred feet our descent was by earthern stairs-or rather by suc- I cesslon of notches for our heels, cut in the | soft, moist earth. Great care had to be ex- | erclsed to prevent our feet from slipping | for, if the foothold were once lost, it might not be regained, and the death of the un- fortunate individual would probably be the result, if not the destruction of all before l him.
 On reaching the bottom of the first shaft, my guide, who had not spoken since enter | ing the pit, silently motioned me to follow him, and led the way through broad, l winding tunnel, from which many others branched off in different directions. These | were old veins, that had been first worked and were now deserted, and presented noth- ing worthy of my attention. At length we came to another shaft, more perpendicular even than the tirst and the descent of which was by means of ladders, but with | rounds so old, worn and rotten that was fearful every step would give way under me-
 In this manner, by easy stages, for we | found a resting level at every fifty or | Seventy-fve feet, we descended to a depth | of perhaps five hundred feet below the sur | face of the earth, and came upon the miners actively engaged in getting out the ore. | The scene thus presented, when witnessed for the first time, has strange effect upon | the beholder, and if he IS not reminded of | certain regions that shall be nameless, then may we truly pronounce him deficient in that species of imagination which is the | most fed by superstition. Strange, hollow, | creaking, grooming, rumbling noises come 1 rolling in upon his ear from every quarter, | while his vision is limited to walls and | gulfs of blackness, with here and there small, mysterious light, like ig,ats fGtu,ls, moving slowly about, and perhaps faintly | revealing what seems a ghost, or human | shadow, with pale, ghastly face, played | upon by the changing rays of the swinging lamp before it, so as to make it appear dis | torted and hideous.
 | Having spent some three hours in explor- | ing and examining the mine, and thus com | pleted the business which took me down, | set out with my guide to return to the | world above. During all the tune he had | been showing me about from point to point the fellow had been very quiet and polite, speaking only when addressed, and then | answering in brief, civil, pointed and in- | telligent manner. On our way up the lad ders he cautioned me more than once to be careful of my hold and pointed out two or 1 three places where the rounds were more 1 than usually weak and rotten. I mention | these things to show how little I could | have been prepared for what followed. On reaching the great tunnel, which wound around to the base of the first shaft, l Pedro said, with polite bow: elf your worship will spare me a few minutes of your time, have something | would like to show you''
 | "What is it9''
 "Come and see"
 1 "Is 1t far?"
 'Nothing of vast importance should b, l thought far!'' was the equivocal reply. Ut IS thlS Way-pray follow mel" My curiosity being little excited, re- joined as I went after him: "Make haste then, Pedro; for am anx. ious to get to the fresh, pure air above''
 Pedro quickened his pace, and kept close behind him. Turning here and turning there, out of one passage into another, the fellow continued walking rapidly for at least five minutes, by which time had got completely bewildered, and feared he had or would get so. At length, as I was about to remonstrate, he suddenly came to halt upon the brink of what appeared to be dry well, the mouth of which was about four feet in diameter, and the sides in- clining outward from the perpendicular, so that the bottom was broader than the top, and the entire excavation slightly conical | in form.
 "Do you see thiss" exclaimed Pedro, turning his black eyes full upon me, with peculiar, glittering sort of a look of triumph
 "Of silver, Senor-of silver! Ha! hal And then speak of the diamonds in a whisper, my friend, lest the walls should have ears.'
 "Ido not understand you, Pedro," said I, wondering what the fellow could mean.
 "Why, do you not seea am a monarch
 "a King"
 Yous''
 "Ay. me--just as you see me here-al- though at present wear no royal robe."
 70 De noa..nned.
 TIT TG H0HTT