The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-10-17
A Rat Saved His Life.

black chamber, toward the shaft, the col
lier, toiling alone |, 900 feet below the sur
face, instantly quits work and Joins in
their Hight for he knows that something
has given away overhead. Many u miner )
life has been saved by these generally dc
spiscd animals
Squire Tim Morrissey is an old time
miner in Wilkesbarro, Pa, whose head
quarters on the main thoroughfare that
divides that part Of the town known as
Whisky Hill is favorito rendezvous OF
the veteran colliers. The other night Jim
told remarkable story of how his life
was saved by one of these mine rats. a
squeeze had occurred in the second level
of the mine, 600 feet below the surface,
and the top rock had killed two mcn-Biu
Thomas and Miko Phelan. Morrsscy was
sent down by the superintendent TO inves
tigatc. He went down the shaft in the
carriage and signalod to be let off ut the
second level
| was alone, and nobody knew ] was
goin in There sad Morrsscy. "Wcll,
went along the gLngway, chirpn to tho
rats, who followed me as if glad to see
somebody, Tor no one had been in iucc
the crash t.at killed the men Wien
got to the rock ! crawled around and
finally found n place big enough to creep
through, and in | went comm out in the
cham Der on the Other side. When ! came
to the breast, 40 fooo away, | hold M
lamp ana began to examine the surround
ms
Il was looliin at the top wall noc
more'n ten foot from the breast, when
suddenly down comes q mass OF rock with
thunderin crash that nearly stunned me
realized the horror Of the situation ia 20
minute. l knew | was shut in tbjt ohulu
Der quarter of II milo from thJ shat,
There WASH ~ soul khyU even j.a,t .
was in there The posslbilfy Of SUI.
in rose in my mind, and | made ga ,.
animation. There was quite u stII via. g.. ..
min across the bottom from tlC ldcUol ....
breast, and this cbccrcd me Wl,A ,..'
thought that some air WuuiU gen IL -,
sides | soon discovered Nl2t ,.} ln,.aS b, .
80 tangled up that it was lI..eIt tnit con
siderable air could get through it, ana
these things satisfied me that wouldn E
be- smothercd. After lool;in about found
l was hemmed into II space not more'n 20
foot square. l looked at my watch ana
found it was O'Clock, the hour the day
shift went i'll above me and below.
1t must have been three hours that
was in there thinkin, and then l heard u
little noise close by. minute later l felt
somethin rubbin agin one OF my legs. L
put my hand down, and, true as you Live,
ii was IA rat. picked him up and held
him till Lit my lamp. He seemed about
as glad to see NE as l was, to see him. L
tell you, lads, the partnership 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.
Il smoothed his back and fondled him
as if he was one of my own babies.
Suddenly an idea struck me. Maybc
the rat had come from somewhere low
Maybe he had runway to the lower lie eel.
That thought cheered me. | opened my
lunch can and gave him. somethin to eu14
Thcn | took out passboOk L had in my
pocket and wrote this. on one OF the leaves
I'm hcmmed in in Brennans, chamber
second level. Come quick. Morrissey. L
rolled the message up in little ball, and
with bit of thread L managed to fasucn
it around the rat neck. Then L petted
him, and goiD close to the breast found "a
little hole which l thought he might have
come out Of
Then. L set him free. Boys, l never
shall forget. the wise look he turned on mo
that instant. He seemed to know what
was wanted. L 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 !
grew hungry. lit my lamp. agin and ate
very sparinlY. | glanced at my watch
and found it was nearly clock L had
been in. the horrible place nine hours
That startled me. | began to lose hope
as to the result of the rat S mission. Then
suddenly | beard Il noise, and quickly |
fired the lamp, and down at my feet was
my cid friend the rat, who had taken my
! message out. As he came close up | no
| ticed thread runnin from his neck back
to the hole he came out OF [ broke it off
and, Joy of Joys, | began pullin it up
Yard after yard there WAS until the thread
grew thicker, and upon cxamipin it ciost
| found it MAS Il lamp WIKI soaked with Oil
Il hauled away at the wick until it
made quite u pile in front of Inc. AT last
tho end was reached, and on it was a lit
tie ball of tin foil. Lopencd it carefully
and found this note scrawlcd on bit ot
! paper:
&" 'Jim--Bo 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 mo and safety; how finally tho
boys reached me, aud l was taken out
alive and well.
But | stuck 20 my littlo friend, and he
stuck to ne Wife fairly loved him, while
strangers passin the door wondered why
the babies played SO long and joytully with
Iuch horrible thing as II rat But the
babies knew, and SO did the neighbors.
They named him Dick, after Dick Bren-
nan. st. Louis Post Dispatch.
Armless Wonders.
/ INSTANCES nlN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. NL NArsnns who