Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-10-12
DR.. Miles Heart Cure

It was Alone ana NOBODY knew l was
goin in there, said Morrissey. "Well, 1
went along the gangway, chirpin to the
rats, who followed me as If glad to see
somebody, for no one had been in since
the crash that killed the men. When 1
got to the rock, l crawled around and
finally found q place big enough to creep
through, and in went, comm out in the
chamber on the other side. When 1 came
to the breast, 40 foot away, held my
lamp and began to examine the surround
ms.
II was lookin at the top wall, not
more'n ten foot from the breast, when
suddenly down comes a mass of rock with
O thunderin crash that nearly stunned me.
l realized the horror Of the situation in q
minute. 1 knew Twas shut in that cham
Der quarter of mile from the shaft.
There wasn't q soul knew even that 1
was in there. The possibility of suffocat-
in rose in my mind, and made an ex
animation. There was quite q stream run
min across the bottom from the face of the
breast, and this cheered me with the
thought that some air would get In. Be-
sides l soon discovered that the mass was
so tangled up that it was likely that con-
siderable air could get through it, and
these things satisfied me that wouldn't
be smothered. After lookin about found
l was hemmed into space not more'n 20
foot square. 1 looked at my watch and
found it was o'clock, the hour the day
shift went in above me and below.
1T must have been three hours that 1
was in there thinkin, and then 1 heard
little noise close by. A minute later felt
somethin rubin agin one of my legs. 1
put my hand down, and, true as you live,
it was a rat. picked him up and held
him till lit my lamp. He seemed about
as glad to see me as l was to see him. 1
tell you, lads, tho companionship of that
big rat at that time down in that lonely
place, was as sweet to me as the comm of
an angel would have been.
81 smoothed his back and fondled him
as if he was one of my own babies.
Suddenly an idea struck me. Maybe
the rat had come from somewhere low.
Maybe he had runway to the lower level.
That thought cheered me. l opened my
lunch can and gave him somethin to eat.
Then took out passbook l had in my
pocket and wrote this on one of the leaves:
I'm hemmed in in Brennan's chamber,
second level Come quick. Morrissey' 1
TOllCu llb luCSStlSSb up III u llbUlO Jail anu
with bit of thread 1 managed to fasten
it around the rats neck. Then l petted
him, and goin close to the breast found
little hole which thought he might have
come out of.
Then 1 set him free Boys, never
shall forget the wise look he turned on me
that instant. He seemed to know what
was wanted. 1 sat down again, blew out
the lamp and waited.
Say, lads, somehow my heart was
lighter after the rat had gone. Somethin
told me he would save me. What with
thinkin of home and the babies and hop
ing that somebody would find the note the
rat took out, the hours passed by until l
grew hungry. lit my lamp agin and ate
very sparin'ly. I glanced at my watch
and found it was nearly 3 O'Clock. 1 had
been in the horrible place nine hours.
That startled me. 1 began to lose hope
as to the result of the rats mission. Then
suddenly l heard q noise, and quickly 1
fired the lamp, and down at my feet was
my old friend, the rat, who had taken my
message out AS no came close up no
ticed a thread runnin from his neck back
to the hole he came out Of l broke it off,
and, joy of joys, began pullin it up.
Yard after yard there was until the thread
grew thicker, and upon examinin it close
found twas n lamp wick soaked with oil.
II hauled away at the wick until it
made quite pile in front of me. AT last
the end was reached, and on it was lit
tie ball of tin foil. opened it carefully
and found this note scrawled on bit Of
paper:
'Jim-Be easy. Big party Of rescuers
are at work. Hard job, but will reach
you. Keep your courage Use oil on wick.
Brennan
."There's one or two of the old men here
who remember what followed-how it
took two long days and nights to dig
through the mass of rock and coal that lay
between me and safety; how finally the
boys reached me, and I was taken out
alive and well.
But stuck to my little friend, and he
stuck to me. Wife fairly loved him, while
strangers passin the door wondered why
the babies played SO long and joyfully with
such horrible thing as a rat. But tho
babies knew, and so did the neighbors.
They named him Dick, after Dick Bren-
nan. "-St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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