The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21


when it happened. At9 o'clock that I'm morn m
irg Arthur, three of US stepped INTO the
cage-old Jim Halliday, the foreman. ms
son Jim, and myself. The men had gone
down an hour before. l shaH never IV VI
get that young Jim's sweetheart had walk
ed over to the pit with him, as she oc-
casionally did They Were to be married
in a week or two, and she-and she hai
on her finger the ring that he had bought
in Derby the day before--just for safety
sake. or perhaps out of womaniy pride;
I recollect that just as the chaln cIatkeu
ana the winter sunshine was disappearing
ottorbead ne shouted out a third good
bvP TO her-little dreaming that ~ was 70
he sgoOd-by' Little enough old Halliday
and thought that days would eiapse Pc
fore we emerged into Gods sunlight again.
"a new vein had been bored the year
before and then abandoned because It ran
i'm the direction of the river. w thIee
had had instruction to widen 1t Tor space
nj 400 vards-a piece of work that had oc-
cupied us nearly month. Ola jim plch-
ed and young Jim wheeled the coal away
to the nearest gallery, from WheIe ~ was
carried over rails to the bottom OF inc
:WeHi by 4 O'Clock that afternoon we
calculated roughly that we hdo redcueu
the limit laid down. -,t,. Ar.
Carson old Halliday SAID. jim, give an
other count; we don't want the water
co "Tim Vent back. We could hear him
singing out the PAGES in his light-hearted
fashion as he returned ms voice ecHo,ns
eight-poohl you're miles on It. dad! re
was only score of yards on; thong iv
fonr i'm allow full twenty yet, 1
reckon.
"He has lust finished his count when
but there, no man could properly Describe
it, 1t was something one had 10 rea,lze
for himself before he could understand a
bare half of the sudden terror that whiten-
ed our lips and seemed to bring our hearts
10 a standstin. There was rumbllng In
one of the distant galleries and a slcken-
ING tremble of the ground underneath US;
then-then the most paralyzlnS sounu, 90
believe, that is TO be heard in this, world.
How or why it happened IS sonlethins 70
be placed among the host OF unSolVed mys-
teries; but there was one grinding, splint-
ering roar as though the earth had split
into pieces.
Before we could stir hand or foot to
save ourselves-before we could even take
in that an explosion had occurred while
we were guarding against another sort OF
danger-down Numbered a mass of coal,
tons upon tons of it, that blocked up the
only passage leading to the shaft II just
reached young jim; standing where he dld,
he was struck down-we heard his screech
stifed beneath the debris. For about five
more seconds the earth seemed TO be heaV-
ing and threatening universal chaos; then
all became as still as tomb
"a tomb? We had our lamps; old Jim
and looked and saw that we were cut off
What happened next | hardly know; |
was stupefied with the shock sick with
a mortal fear of death. He and ] stood
staring mutely at each other. The one
thing recollect is that his face was gray
as marble and that line of froth stood
on his lips.
HE was the first to come back TO sense.
He gave one choking cry OF "Jfmp and
staggered forward to that black pile. The
boys hand was sticking out from the bot
tom Of it, clutching convulsively at moth
ing. ] sank down and watched, in a sort
of dreary fascination. as old Jim, utter
ing strange cries, tore at the mass in a
mad frenzy. God help him! Jim was the
only thing he had in the world 10 love. In
less than five minutes he had dragged him
in his arms. Dead2 No; he could just open
his poor dust-hlled eyes In answer to his
fathers whispers, but we knew AZ once
that he would never again make the gal
eries echo In piercing whistle.
For whole hours. ! suppose, neither OF
MS attempted TO realize our situation. We
sat on In dead silence, waiting Tor some
thing to happen. once or twice we saw
young Jim's backened lips move feebly
and each time his father would mutter
brokenly .''Ay, my precious boy wen look
Quaveringly into a hymn. Abide with
Me- but he got no further than the third
line. That, perhaps was about y O'Clock,
but we could keep no count OF the time, AS
my watch had stopped. Hour after hour
must have gone by. and sill old Jim sat.
with rigid face and staring eyes. claeplng
!
ing above ground before AZ last he spoke.
How long can we hold out, Mr.. Car
son? I'm feared 10 go I've been goddess
man all my time.
THAT reused me ] examined our posi-
ton carefully The passage was about
eight yards wide az this point, and meas
ured about twenty PAGES from the end 10
where that solid wall of coal blocked our
path to the outer world. A. the bore ran
level with the foot OF the north shaft we
were about forty feet below the clear sur
face We had no food. and our lamps
would burn say, another five or six hours:
while the breathing air. hot and gaseous
already would probably become unen-
durable before the evening came. That
was our situation. and let any man con-
ccfve "A worse II he can. one slender
chance Of escape at the best was left;
perhaps the entire passage was not block
cd. and we might force our way TO the
main gallery. / was not afraid Of death
In the way that IL comes % most people.
but 1 was afraid TO meet and struggle with
Il there. We sprang 10 the task, wild at
the thought that hose few hours Of stupor
a. =