Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1892-09-09

1ound us ana mad been made &C
quainted with our situation, h
had to climb back to the surfaC
and report, when finally cage wa
sent down another compartment
to our relief, which cage we reach
ed at great risk by climbing alonI
wet and slippery wall-plates all
squeezing through narrow open
Ings in compartment par titions.
But we were kept suspended o.
our crippled cage for over an hou
before we were rescued. Ever
after the cage had been stopped
we did not feel safe until we had
been found by the man from the
surface. We feared every momen
that it might again be started =
that some of the men down on the
lower levels might ring the bel
and start US either up or down the
shaft. In order to prevent this
Mr. Chase got hold of the bell
cord and winding it two or three
times around his hand, thus held
it until the relief cage reached us.
When we at last reached the
surface the crowd that welcomed
us to the light of day declared that
we looked like the last run of
shad." We were more like drown
ed rats. We had been halted at
a point where there was a down
pour of water sufficient for dozen
shower baths, and were completely
and covered with mud /
having accumulated the latter
while climbing wall-plates when
crossing the shaft to the rescue
cage The damage to the "duds"
we wore did not distress us, as
they were the property of the min
ing company, but the damage our
had sustained was another
Mr.. Chase had two-Inch
cut in his head, Sam Jones had one
Of his shoulders badly bruised
from his being jammed against the
,ross-bar of the cage; the station
tender had two ribs broken and
his right ear nearly torn of, while
escaped with the loss of strip
IF skin less than a yard in length,
which a wall-plate raked off my
spine, and a small cut in the back
If my head. A single unexpected
ar in a cage sufficiently startles
llmost any man even the oldest
miner but to be dragged and
banged to and fro in a shaft for
everal hundred feet is simply
erri6c. A cage out of the guides
8 like locomotive that has Jump
d its track, but no matter what
happens the man on the locomotive
las not far to fall, whereas in case
f the breaking of the cable the
,orst trouble of the man on the
age begins-he being obliged to
ravel down a shaft probably a
istance of 500 or 1000 feet very
apidly before he finds a landing
lace.
ANOTHER PERILOUs SHAFT AD-
VENTURE.
A Comstock miner tells me of an
xperience of his some years ago
/ the old Empire shaft, at the
old Hill end of the lode. His
ory is as follows Myself and
ard were sent down into the
laft to tim it up, as the swelling |
round was squeezing in the sides !
such an extent that there was !
uch trouble because of the cages l
licking in the guides. a
"We were not on cage; we had D
,thing more substantial than a
ank platform, with ropes reach
G up from the corners to the b
,lsting cable, which was a big t
mp rope. We were slowly n
were1, and when we reached a n
ueeze in the shaft we stopped C
d trimed out the guides, then a
mt on till another such place was d
ached. IL
"At one point, we went down a v
distance when we r,
me to a point where the shaft b
rs 80 much compressed that our n