The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-27
TRAGEDY OF TEE MINE.
Curious Accidents and Strange Hap
penings Described BY an Inspector.

S~@N~A Gil A~4o HC$tSAs
Butt Miner: In this line of work
we come across some curious accidents
and narrow escapes" said Deputy Mine
Inspector Frank Hunter the other
night. "One thing struck me long ago,
and that is how much it takes to kill a
man sometimes, and how easily the
thread of life is often snapped.
Down in Colorado 1 knew fellow
who plunged down 500 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 in day or two. When
! he fell he went down feet first, and a
| big oilskin that ne 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 hall expected to remain suspended
in the shaft like Mohamet's coffin.
Nearly always when man falls any
! distance he turns over if he started
/ feet downward, and finishes mis- plunge
head first. l have seen a number of
cases where the man fell with his boots
on and was found barefooted when he
was picked up. 1 suppose this is be-
cause the blood goes to the head, max
ing the feet smaller, and besides, the
pressure of the air upon the heel and
counter acts as a boot jack.
That was rather singular accident
up at the Diamond the other day." Mr..
Hunter went on, refectively. Il mean
the death of Matt O'Hara in the waste
hole of the 400. 1t is my belief that If
O'Hara had been two feet further in
he would have escaped serious injury,
as the rock only fell a few inches. 1t
just happened to catch him in such
way as to break his neck. 1 know of a
parallel instance where a rock weigh
ing 600 or 700 pounds fell from height
of eight. feet upon a man, and he is
alive today, though badly crippled.
L had to go over to Sand Coulee last
week to investigate an accident in
which one man was killed and another
had three ribs broken. At the funeral
of the dead man. request was re-
ceived from his injured partner, who
was confined TO his bed, that the re-
mains might be brought to his bedside
so he could take one last look at them.
WE'LL after the services the procession
stopped at the house of the injured
man and waited while the coffin was
taken inside where the lid was I'M
screwed in order TO give the invalid
view of the dead mans face. Then the
march to the cemetery was resumed.
Speaking of Sand Coulee, it struck
me while 1 was there that if 1 wanted
to commit suicide 1 would go there to
do 1t. l don't mean that life becomes
such burden in the coal country that
the ties that bind are more easily sew
cred than elsewhere, but that 1t
affords unsurpassed facilities for
cheap and happy dispatch. It's Won
der to me that some of the many peo-
pie who annually launch themselvs in
to eternity from Butte do not take the
Sand Coulee route.
Down in tn 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 clinPs 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 /
chambers where it is found is poison |
Gus. In a few minutes feeling OF
drowsiness steals over the man who
breathes it, and before long he is asleep
and dreaming deliciously-so those say /
who have been recusitated. But the |
sleep is akin to that of the lost trav-
eler over whose numbed limbs the |
arctic snow eddies and drifts, for unless
help comes soon there is no awakening. 1
If. however. the ventursome explorer
OF these underground death traps real |
ICES his danger in time and manages TO
stagger out into the fresh air. he has |
an experience to undergo which may /
cause him TO regret that he did not I
inside Every bone and muscle |
aches with the intolerable poignacy |
that is known to convalescents from
yellow fever. The treatment is simple |
but effective. Being nearly dead the |
sufferer is nearly buried. A hole is dug |
in soft earth and the victim is made
to stand up in it, while the dirt is
thrown in around him until only his |
head is seen above ground. This seems I
10 draw out the soreness and in short
time the patient has fully recovered"