The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1897-07-26
TRAGEDIES OF THE MINES.
Curious Accidents That Have Happened to
Delivers After Hidden Treasure.

Delivers After Hidden Treasure.
sin this line of work we come across
Eme curious accidents and narrow
escapes said Deputy Mine Inspector
Frank Hunter the other night. Zone
thing struck me long AGO., and that is
how much it takes to kill a man some-
times and how easily the thread Of life
is often snapped.
"Down in Colorado I knew a fellow
who plunged down 800 feet in a single
compartment shaft. He went to the
bottom, but did not break a bone. OF
course he was pretty badly Jared up
and a good deal frightened, but he was
all right again i'll q day or two. When
he fell, he went down feet first, and a
big oilskin that he wore opened out at
the bottom and acted as a parachute.
He said the last part of his descent was
SO much slower than the first that he
hardly thought he was dropping at all
and half expected to remain suspended
in the shaft, like Mohammed's coffin.
"Nearly always when a man falls
any distance he turns over, if he starts
feet downward, and finishes his plunge
head first. I have seen a number of
cases where the man fell with his boots
on and was found barefooted when he
was picked up. I suppose this is because
the blood goes to the head, making the
feet smaller, and besides the pressure Of
the air upon the heel and counter acts
as q %bootjack.
~ had to so over to Sand Coulee to
investigate an accident in which n
man was killed and another had three
ribs broken. Speaking of Sand Coulee,
it struck me while I was there that if I
wanted to commit suicide I would go
there to do it. I don't mean that life
becomes such a burden in the coal coun-
try that the ties hat bind are more
easily severed than elsewhere, but that
it affords unsurpassed facilities for a
cheap and happy dispatch. It's a won
der to me that some of the many peo-
pie who annually launch themselves
into eternity from Butte do not take
the Sand Coulee route.
"Down in the coal mines there is
one passage that is three miles long, and
in some Of the chambers air does not
seem to circulate. Upon the walls
there is a gathering Of moisture, and If
you puff a cigar in one Of these cham
bers the smoke will seek the walls,
where it clings with an undulating
movement like a spray Of weeds under
running water. That dew on the walls
is white damp, and the dead air Of the
chamber where it is found is poisonous.
In a few minutes a feeling of lrOWSi-
ness steals over a man who breathes it,
and before long he is asleep and dream
ing d~eliciously, SO those say who have
been resuscitated. But the sleep is akin
to that Of the lost traveller over whose
numbed limbs the arctic snow eddies
and drifts, for unless help comes 10
there is nO awakening. If, however, the
venturesome explorer Of these under
ground deathtraps realizes his danger
in time and manages to stagger out in
to the fresh air, he has an experience
to undergo which may cause him to re-
gret that he did not remain inside. Ev-
cry bone and muscle aches with the in
tolerable poignancy that is known to
c~onvalescents from yellow fever. The
treatment is simple, but effective. Be-
ing nearly dead, the sufferer is nearly
buried. A hole is dug in the soft earth,
and the victim is made to stand up in it
while the dirt is thrown in around him
until olly his head is seen above ground.
This seems to draw out the soreness,
and in a short time the patient has full
ly recovered. Butte (Mon.) Miner.