The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-08
MYSTERY OF A MONTANA MINE.
People Who Enter 1t Fall Asleep and
Their Bodies Become Rigid.
(From the Butte, Mon, Miner. J

Sin this line of work we come across
some curious accidents and narrow es-
| capes," said Deputy Mine Inspector
Frank Hunter the other nigh Zone
thing struck me long ago, and that is
! how much it takes to kill man some
times and how easily the thread of life is
often snapped.
"Down in Colorado knew fellow who
plunged down 800 feet in single COM
partmont 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 a big oilskin
that he wore opened out at the bottom
last part of his descent was SO much
slower than the first that he hardly
tn ought he was dropping at all and half
expected to remain suspended in the
shaft like Mohalnmed's coffin.
NEARLY always when man fails any
distance he turns over, if he starts feet
downward, and finishes his plunge head
first. = have seen u number OF cases
where the man fell with his boots on and
was found barefooteds when he was picked
up. I suppose this is because the blood
goes to the head, making thefeet Smaller,
and besides the pressure of the air upon
the heel and counter acts as a bootjack.
81 had to go over to Sand Coulee to in
vestigate an accident in which one man
was killed fand another had three ribs
broken. Speaking of Sand Coulee, it
struck me while l was there that if l
wanted to commit suicide / would go
there to do it. l don't mean that life
becomes such burden in the coal coun-
try that the ties that bind are more easily
severed than elsewhere, but that it affords
unsurpassed facilities for a cheap and
| happy despatch. It's wonder to me
that some of the many people who annu-
ally 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 gath
ering of moisture, and if you puff cigar
in one of these chambers 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 1t is found is
poisonous. In few minutes feeling
| of drowsiness steals over man who
breathes it, and before long he is. asleep
and dreaming deliciously, 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. IT, how
ever, the ventursome explorer of these
underground deathtraps realize his dan
ger in time and manages to stagger out
into the fresh air, he has an experience
to undergo which may cause him to re-
greet that he did not remain inside
Every bone and muscle aches with the
intolerable poignancy 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 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 a short
| time the patient has reco~e-ed~"