Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-09-25
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MYSTERY OF A MINE.
People Who Enter 1t Fall Asleep ana
Their Bodies Become Rigid.

Their Bodies Become Rigid
"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 man sometimes and how easily
the thread of life is often snapped.
down in Colorado / knew fellow
who plunged down 800 feet in q single
compartment shaft. He went to the
bottom, but did not break bone. Of
course, he was pretty badly Jared up
and good deal frightened, but he
was all right again in day or two.
When he fell he went down feet first,
and big oilskin that he wore opened
out at the bottom and acted as
parachute. He said that the last part
of his descent was so much slower
than the first that he hardly thought
he was dropping at all and half ex-
pected to remain suspended i'll the
shaft like Mohammed's coffin.
NEARLY always when man falls
any distance he turns over,if he starts
feet downward, and finishes his plunge
head first. have seen number OF
cases where the man fell with his
boots on and was found barefooted
when he was picked up. / suppose
this is because the blood goes to the
head, making the feet smaller, and be-
sides the pressure of the air upon the
heel and counter acts as a bootjack.
81 had to go over to Sand Conl6e
to investigate an accident in which
one man was killed and another had
three ribs broken. Speaking of Sand
Coulee, it struck me while l was there
that if | wanted to commit suicide |
would go there to do it, don't mean
that life becomes such burden in
the coal country that the ties that
bind are more easily severed than
elsewhere, but that it affords unsur-
passed facilities for cheap and happy
despatch. It's Il wonder to me that
some of the many people 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 gathering of moisture, and
if you puff a cigar in one of these
chambers the smoke will seek the
walls, where it clings with an I'M
dulating movement like 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 min
utes feeling of drowsiness steals
over man who breathes it, and be-
fore long he is asleep and dreaming
leliciously, 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 soon there is no awakening.
If, however, the venturesome ex-
plorer of these underground death
traps realizes 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 remain inside. Every bone
and muscle aches with the intolerable
poignancy that is known to GONZALES
cents from yellow fever. The treat
ment is simple, but effective. Being
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 only his head is seen
above ground. This draws out the
soreness and in short time the patient
has recovered.-Butte Mont Miner.