The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-10-30
OLD MARK HAVERLY.


day comrade was passing. and Mark
called him up with: Jack, Go you hear
that noise-a sort OF grinding sound that
comes and goes2 Hark Can't you hear it
now?"
ITS just like any machinery makes"
NO, no, Jack; it don't belong to the ma
chinery; it's a voice, tell you, from the
other world. I've heard that sound for
two days now, and it means death, death
close 1t hand"
''oil The engine, old boy, and it'll be all
right"
The other passed on and went down the
shaft Mark, meanwhile, bent his ear to
the machinery, and out of the indistin-
guishable din OF a dozen sounds caught
this strange noise which had such an influ-
ence upon him. heard il constantly above
the clank Of levers, the roar of wheels and
the hiss of steam. prcsentlya bell sound
ed at his side. Ii was the signal from the
1000 level TO hoist the cage He pressed
the lever and the great reel began to whirl
the cable from the lower depths His eve
followed the long finger of the indicator
as 1t slowly pointed out the stations pass
ed. The cage had almost reached the top
when the horrible grinding noise like "A
moan from the grave, came from the ma
chinery at his side The sound made his
veins melt. He turned bis head toward
the spot, shudderinS, while his hand as it
clasped the lever was like a child's The
cage shot up from the shafts mouth: he
grasped the lever ard threw his weight
upon the break Too late; the cage rushed
into the "sheaves"
The floor of the cage became vertical as
it struck the wheel The cable stretched
under the fearful strain and then snapped
like thread, and the cage fell back to the
shafts mouth. Three Of its occupants had
leaped upon the timbcrs and hung suspend
ed the other two had de the same leap,
but their fingers slipped from the Shiny tim
bers, mHde SO by the long contact with the
vapors from the mine, and they fell one
after the other hegdlong down the shaft.
Meanwhile Mark bad stopped his engine,
resumed his coat, and staggered out of the
works. On such occasions an engineer is
considered discharged without notice. He
actually ceases TO be in the employ of the
company when the cage strikes the
'sheavcs," and such an accident makes his
discharge perpetual with every mine on
the Comstock.
For the next week OF two he wandered
about the town like nan barely in his
senses. He Gnally got work under ground,
bat WIS oftener found somewhere about
the hosting works, near the machinery
He would at times sit for hours watching
the work of those metallic giants, occa-
sionally turning toward the mouth of the
shaft with a shudder, and again bending
his head to catch what he called the death
moan" His comrades said he was "a little
of"
One day the writer entered into a CONVEX
sation with him. His superstition had not
LEFT him. Il tell you" said he, I've
studied everything about a mine, above
ground and below. You brutes who write
for the press take n sneering view OF every
thing. You laugh when i say an engine
gives warning Of death. You call this
piece Of a machinery a thing inanimate
tell You that il has a construction in all
respects Ike a man. IL has lungs and
sinc,vS. and a bic heart that throbs and
pulsates. Ii has irs f0tigues from over
work. At times 10 Whirls merriy ard
work seems nothing: then it groans and
labors as if exhausted. We treat it as we
do the sick When its lungs get clogged
with scale we feed il composition that
makes it well again. IL has a voice, and
roars, sings, grOans. laughs and sobs in
turn. When touch a lever | feel mag
netism such as flows from flesh and blood.
The dark levels below us are full of
mysteries. learn more and more Of its
secrets every year. You remember how
Jack Henly died. He tainted on the Ophir
cage and went down the shaft. A few days
before it l noticed AS | worked beside him
how the fame Of his candle pointed directly
toward him like a mariners needle.
Wherever he moved the flame followed
He didn't notice it. but did, and it had
wRvy, uncertain motion for day or so.
One day it became steady, as steady as il
carved in stone. knew the crisis was not
far of. We came up on the cage; as we
passed the first station the fame burned
low, and at the twelye-fifty station it was
almost gone. Suddenly il went out; Jack
reeled back against the timbers, and was
twisted under the cage at once. twas but
q moment heard hi= dreadful cry ring
out as his bones were crushed between the
stage floor and the timbers. and his body
shot down the shaft.
Hawkins who used 60 work for Joe
Cowan, had the same kind of a warning.
Wherever he worked shadow kept close
TO him on the rock His lantern made one
shadow, but this was n deeper and darker
one and had separate motions, and it
seemed to get blacker every shift he
worked till a blast tore away his chest.
have seen a mans light blow out, and, in
a sort of will-o'-the wisp, keep right over
his head. Such a man had better leave the
mines at once.
"When / worked in the Savage used TO
see a shift of specters working. most gen
orally at the foot of the incline, but some
times in the east drift Of the Seventy-tifty
There was about half dozen Of EN- at
work as rule, but sometimes more. They
would pick away in the face of the drift
and make no sound. and pale lights burned
at their sides. When the 5 o'clock whistle
blew IN the morning they would vanish.
"Cnce i saw man sitting down on the
steps of the incline He WAS in my way,
and touched him on the shoulder. Heav
Ems! how spTEng back; for there was no
flesh and bones there-ouiy a shadow. as Il |
were. He lned round, and his face was
half gone AMI his shoulder torn away
from blast Blood was streaming from |
the wounds. He then walked down the /
incline, and melted into the vapors that |
rise from the waters of the SUNNI. The
next day John Owens slipped at that very
spot, unable 70 hold on 10 the Shiny tim
bers, and fell into the boiling water. He
was cooked like lobss