The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-06-27

DAVID DAVIS.
THOMAS DAVIS.
PATRICK CAHILL.
WIN CAHILL.
PATRICK COURTNEY.
JACK MITCHELL.
DAN SMITH.
DANIEL sHEARN.
WIN HAYES.
JAMES McCLEARY.
THoS. N CLEARY.
ELMER DENNY.
PETER McGOUGH.
OF these twentY-one were married and
have families. The mine, IL SEEMS, has
been somewhat troubled with water, aud
cir shafts had been drilled from the surface
to the juncture OF the right and left shafts,
where the water seemed most abundant.
AZ the mines branched OF from this point
they knew that an air hole had been drilled
there that had not yet been broken into.
But they did not know it was to be
broken z to-day. This shaft, by the
way, was q six-incn hole. A miner named
Kirwin had been left in the right drift near
that branch adjoining the mines >slxit, and
in the course Of his lsbors broke into tie
perpendicular shaft, The moment this
was broken into, q food Of water gushed
out and Kirwin and . man named Sandy,
standing by. yelled out for some one to
save the men in the right shaft, az the
water poured down the hill in Q stream
and he feared they would drown.
A young man named Hayss, who had
seen the affair, leaped forward at the call
and turned down the left drift toward his
endangered comrades below. Just a. he
passed the air shaft that had been broken
into tho rush of water changedto On ugly
roar. which blanched the cheeks Of the
men. The dow Of water had changed to .
deadly volume Of fire. damp, and as young
Hayes swung by the shaft blazing light
slid through the shaft from end to end It
seemed. The daring young man carried
an open burning miners lamp in his hat,
and he had hardly taken Q step beyond the
roaring shaft whom . spark ignited the
reservoir Of deadly nre-damp and he sank
. corpse ten feet from those whom he had.
hoped to save and the men whom he had.
certainly doomed.
In an instant an unquenchable fire
sprang up in q nine-foot vein, just between
the man entrance and the right drift, for.
ever shutting OF the thirtv-two men inn
prisoned there. Poor old David Hayes,
father Of the mistaken hero, driven mad by
the fate of his ION, dashed into the sui.
phurous smoke and straugling Are.dsmp
only to fall BY the side of his SON and 70
be drawn out On hour later with James
Shearn, both Recognized only BY their
wives.
The fire, famed by cir from the main
diff and feonn a. %~A>0 .A.RA Sa..ea -
sprung into an awful confagration.
The miners from the left drift escsped.
blackened and bruised. but safe, and they
tell q fearful story of the sight beyond the
blazing coal on the right. Willing hands
and hearts were not wanting on tina out.
side, and Clerk Cook; with Mine Inspector
Keoghy, headed q party OF 100 who en-
tered the main shaft and, after Cropping for
a quarter Of . mile at least, were driven
back again by the deadly gas, only to re-
cover breath for Q moment and plunge in
to find that the right drift was impenetrable
and that no man living could pass.
They finally came upon two bodies and
they were brought to the opening OF the
mine. When the two blackened
corpses, those Of shearn and Hayes, the
elders. wore drawn into the Daylight .
moan went up from the few hundred about
the pit. but the anguish was % nothing
to the silent watch kept BY wives, children
and s~weethearts Of the men whose doom
was all the mora awful because unknown.
At midnight the smoke aud gas from the
right shaft poured up the main exit in an
unbroken volume, and after trials almost
beyond human endurance the rescuinR
party gave up al hopes OF even recovering
their comrades' dead bodies from that
entrance, and turned their attention to the
Ferguson mine, . mile and Q half away.
At this hour "a y. mr. they ass striving
to penetrate from that mine, but the
flames and smoke balk their sv.sy effort.
The universal verdict from the old minors
about the shaft 10 that the entombsd men
either have been killed outright By the ex.
plosion or later by su6ocation. The lat.
ter seems probable, at least in part.
~ soundings were heard from the en-.
tombed men ~ late ~ I O'Clock in The sft.
ernoon. These grew weaker, howsver.
and halt An hour later even the most hope.
full Of the willing rsscusrs could hear moth.
log.
The men ssy he'd they known the shaft
vss 70 be broken into they would never
have entered the mine, - either water or
gas would surely follow q opening. In
this region sss always comss from IL
upper scale. The owner, hovevse, and IN
eact soms Of the msn thsmselvss, say that
Il was "a accident purs and sinple thas
could not have bsen evoided.
NM A3nnaknp 0aa AhA eA~k ANAn $780,