The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-09-11
SINKING A MINE SHAFT.
AN ADVENTURE IN WHICH A MINER
NEARLY LOST HIS LIFE.

|
| Gazing Up at Topping Bucket.
| have heard good many stories from
time to time of narrow escapes and painful
experiences, but think the most painful
predicament TO find yourself in is when,
absolutely alone, you find yourself per-
| fsctly defenseless against an impending
danger, and you literally see death, perhaps
In a most terrible form, menacing with
instant extinction, yet continually tanta,
| LIKING you with hope of escape which
you know and feel to be impossible. These
are the times when your mental agony is
most keen.
| Ny name is John Deyonshire, an Eng
\ ishman by birth, a mining engineer by
1 profession. But | went through a good
| deal of practical experience before was
able to settle down to consulting busi-
ness Wherever the precious mineral,
| gold, is found upon or beneath the face of
| the earth l have worked and lived the life
| of a miner. With pickax and shovel
| have dug deep shafts into the bowels of
| the earth, and it is of an adventure which
/ befell me while so doing once in Australia
| that am about to tell.
| There were three of us in partnership,
| all strong, hearty Englishmen from one of
| the southwestern counties, all bound to-
gether by ties of deep friendship and by
that still stronger bond of future fortune
which we were seeking in common. Joe
| Mason, Bill Treadwell and had taken up
a claim at Woohatta, a mountain about
800 miles from Brisbane, where big veins
of auriferous metal had been found.
Our paraphernalia consisted of two big
and very heavy iron buckets, reel and
windlass, picks and shovels and carpen-
ter's tools for making the boards with
which we lined the shaft as we dug,
HOW IT HAPPENED.
| We took turns at the digging, hour
shifts, because the air in the shaft became
SO confined as we got lower down that we
were played out by that time. We worked
in big boots and jumpers, and as we filed
one bucket with debris we sent it up, the
bucket on the other end of the rope coming
down to be filled. These iron buckets were
tremendously heavy, weighing little short
of a hundred pounds, and were large
enough to carry at pinch two men in
each
We had dug about ninety feet and it was
my shift My hour was nearly up, and I
| proposed to fill one more bucket, send it to
the pits mouth and go up myself in the
next when it came down empty. Bill
Treadwell had the next shift, he would
come down in the bucket passing me on
the way.
Well, / had filled my last bucket and
had sent it up the shaft; it was swinging
up aloft forty feet above me and was still
at work hacking and digging away at the
damp soil, making little heap for Tread
well to send up as soon as he should come
down. 1t seemed long time coming, that
bucket which was to take me to light and
air again. l was getting tired, for my
work was unceasing and | longed to
breathe once more the pure atmosphere.
But would that bucket never come DOWN.
glanced up over my shoulder to see where
it was, how far it was from me, and what
saw nearly froze the blood in my veins.
That is literally the only phrase can find
to express my feelings for that moment.
AN AWFUL MOMENT.
The big bucket full of gravel and rocks
and debris was within ten feet of the
shafts mouth. But on its way it had
caught the descending bucket and was
carrying it up along with it. The rope
hung in long loop below them. There
they hung seventy feet above me, swaying
from side to side with gentle, undulating
motion, the empty bucket topping little
at every swing.
If it toppled over it would fall with ire
mendous speed to the bottom of the shaft,
the force of the fall would surely break the
rope, and the heavy iron bucket would
come with all it's weight full upon me. In
that small space there was no way of es-
cape for me- should be horribly manned,
If not killed outright.
| took all this in at glance, though it
has taken me much longer to tell. could
not take my eyes off my terrible danger,
and / could not, dared not, call out, for /
did not know but the stopping of the wind
lass would cause the empty bucket to re-
ceive the last required jerk which would
send 1T spinning down on top Of me-
Self preservation, however, is the first
law of nature, so we used to write in our
copy books at the old village school, and
presently-it seemed ages, but it could only
have been a few minutes-I began to lay
the best plans in my power to avert the
terrible death dreaded.
FACING DEATH ALONE.
took my shovel and leaned it against
upon the iron of my pickax, the handle of
which | stuck in the soft, damp debris.
Then | crawled under the shovel and
awaited results. Even then could not re-
frain from peeping from under my frail
protection to see how near death was. Oh,
those were awful moments, can tell you.
| never expected to breathe again the pure,
fresh air had so longed for few moments
previously.
The buckets were swinging above me,
going slowly TO the top, when suddenly
yell of relief burst from my lips. A face
was peering over the edge of the pit; it was
Bill Tresdwell's, and he had discovered the
danger.
Hold on a minute" he shouted, land
we'll make it all rightp'
Then tainted, and didn't come to my
self until found myself lying on the tres
tie bed in our little shanty, with Joe and
Bill beside rae showing brandy between my
lips and chatting my hands. When they saw
the danger they Immediately set 10 work
TO avert it. They hauled up the slack rope
until they had released the empty bucket,
then they slowly let it down Then Tread
well came down in the other bucket and
carried me up in his arms in dead faint
That's all
1t was a couple of weeks before recov-
cred from the shock, and the first piece of
news heard when came TO my senses
was that Bill Treadwell had found the vein
during his very next shift after my adYen-
ture.-New York Recorder.
Similarity of the Hands and Feet.
Il