The Springfield herald., 1897-07-23
STEVENS is RESCUED.
A STORY OF THRILLING INTER.
EST.
After Being Imprisoned In an Arizona
Mine for Over Tn rtcen Days lie Was
Taken Out Alive Through the Heroic
Efforts of His Fellow Miners.


without water, constituting II record
for endurance probably never eQualed
elsewhere, yet he is alive, and If his
physician may be believed, stands an
excellent chance for complete recovery,
though conyalescence will probably be
slow.
His body is drcadfully emaciated.
with every bone outlined under the
wasted skin. His features are cmaciat-
I'd and gaunt nnd from a stockily built
man of 100 pounds he has been shrunk
by famine to surely not more than
ninety pounds weight.
The rescue was made at 7:3O this
morning. All night long the miners had
heard Stevens below them. signaling
with his hammer on the drift timbers.
and at last they could hear his voice
as he implored them to make haste.
81 am burning with thirst" he reit-
Grated. The second morning shift.
composed of miners Danielson and
Megran, had just taken up its work,
when stoutly delivered blow drove a
pick through the tale side of the drift
''Work here" shouted Stevens. aid
ing the miners from inside. and within
five minutes he had grasped their
hands and was lifted into the shaft and
the good news shouted to the expect
ant throng at the mouth of the pit.
DR.. Hart of Tempe. Superintendent
Hall and your correspondent were
quickly lowered with stmulants and
water. and the rescued man was taken
back into the drift and there nourished
and made comfortable till such time as
the physician shall deem him fit to be
removed to the surface. When he is
taken up il will be to he the particular
of ia .,
reading room transformed to his bed
room. and with all the men of the
camp as his attendants. Lying back on
mattress in the bottom of the narrow
drift. in what he declared was wonder
ful comfort Stevens. at intervals
pieced together his story of his awful
trial:
II and another man on the lower
drift were the only men working on
the night shift the Fourth of July.
The rest We're celebrating. I heard the
tlmbcrs crack back of me in the old
stope. but that was nothing unusual
/ had taken my lunch, however. about
10 o'clock. when the noise increased
enough to scare me. | grabbed my
empty lunch box and my canteen and
started for the whm shaft Then
hesitntcd moment That moment
rock. filling up the stope. knocking the
shaft into smithercens and sending n
regular wave of sand towards me. The
stuff seemed to fill this eighty-foot
drift.
Il appreciated that was in for n
long stay. If not forever and all had
to make it on was gallon of water
and short candles and mighty little air.
AS soon as the dust settled | COM
menced working towards an old air
shaft that comes up from the lower
level. | could not reach it. though I
cleared away thirty-five feet of drift
to the whim shaft. There found fresh
er air and there staid most of the time
after that. My candles and my
matches gave out Just as I found the
fresher air and my water few hours
aiterward. Wednesday night. the 18th.
How did know it WAS Wednesday?
Why he laughed with curious.
harsh laugh. ~ didn't have ANYTHING
to do most of the time except to keep
account of time. OF course | could not
see my watch face. 1t was almost too
dark down there to think. but I know
there were just two winds to the hour.
See II l haven't kept correct time. Isn't
this the morning of saturday? How did
l pass the time. Well. | got rather
weak after water gave out and all I
could do was to listen to the men work
ing overhead and answer their signals.
believe | heard every blow they
struck. I heard them when they tried
to reach me through the stope. knew
they couldn't make it that way and
then | heard them commence on the
hanging wall in the solid rock. knew
they would reach me that way. but I
couldn't tell whether | could hold on
till they did. They seemed ungodly the
last few feet. don't think I could
have held out another day | worried
during the last two days and if I had
done MS | liked I would have killed
myself. but | have n family. The pain
in my stomach from thirst was fright
full | didn't seem to mind the lack of
grub so much"
Stevens appears to have retained pos
session of his senses and was passive
in the medical mans hands His pulse
when the drift was entered was 112
and his temperature 1Oi. In an hour
the one had fallen to 81 and the other
to normal, and the man. murmuring
something about Il drink of ice water
ana wish for smashing good din
ner, had composed Himself 10 sleep.
The cave occurred in the southern
of the richest in the West. the property
of Hall Il Sullivan of Denver. The
stope that cavcd had been known to
be dangerous. and a large force had
been Mt work filing 1t up through
WINES. The stope. seventy feet long
and 200 feet deep. lay between the
main south shaft and what is known
as the whim shaft. The large shaft was
unhurt but 1t was impossible to drift
through the loose rock and timbers TO
Stevens on the 125-foot level. An at
tempt was made to sink through the
debris. but abandoned after forty-onc
feet had been accomplished and sixty
hours wasted. Then shift was started
on the ledge matter in solid ground and
prosecuted TO completion.
Stevens is a Colorado miner of thirty
years eNnerience aud tells that his
three brothers We're killed in mining
accidents. He has n wife and five chill
drcn in Central City and was TO have
left July 10 10 have Joined them for the
summer.
The rcscurrs in order TO reach Ste
vens sunk the shaft 100 feet through
solid rock
TRAN NS-MtSSiS CONGRESS,