Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1897-06-03

OndS the earth seemed to be heaving
and threatening universal chaos; then
all became still as tomb.
"A tomb! We had our lamps. old
! Jim and l looked. and saw that we
We're cut off from the rest of the world.
What happened next, | hardly
| know; | was stupetied with the shock.
| sick with mortal fear of death. He
and | stood staring mutely at each
other The one thing recOllect is tina
! his face was gray as marble, and that
Il line OF rrOth stood on his lips.
He was the first to come back to
sense He gave one choking cry of
Jim" and staggered back to that black
pile. The boys hand was sticking out
from the bottom of it. clutching con-
vulsively at nothing. sat down and
| watched, in a sort of dreary fascina-
! tiOn. as old Jim, uttering strange cries.
| tore at the mass in a mad frenzy. God
help him! Jim was the only thing he
had in the world to love. In less than
five minutes he had dragged him out,
and sat down to hug him in his arms.
Dead: No; he could just open his
poor dust filled eyes in answer to his
fathers whispers: but we knew at
once that he would never again make
the galleries echo his piercing whistle.
For whole hours, | suppose. neither
of us attempted to realize our situation.
We sat on in the dead silence, waiting
for something to happen
"Once or twice we saw young Jim's
blackened lips move feebly. and each
time his father would mutter brokenly.
'Ay, my precious boy, we'll look after
her.
Once the old man broke out. CULVER
ingly, into the hymn. Abide with Me.
but he got no further than the third
line. That, perhaps. was about 8
O'Clock. but we could keep no count of
the time, as my watch had stopped.
Hour after hour must have gone by,
and still old Jim sat, with rigid face
and staring eyes, clasping his burden.
In all probability it was morning above
ground before at last he spoke.
How long can we hold out. Mr.. Car
son! I'm feared to go. I've been a
goddess man all my time.
That aroused me. | examined our
position carefully. The passage was
about eight yards wide at this point.
and measured about twenty PAGES from
the end to where that solid wall of coal
1
blocked our path to the outer world.
AS the bore ran level with the foot of
the north shaft. we were about forty
feet below the clear surface. We had
no food, and our lamps would burn,
say. another five or six hours: while
the breathing air, hot and gaseous al
ready, would probably become unen-
durable before the evening came. That
was our situation. and let any man con-
ceiye Il worse, if he can. One slender
chance of escape ut the best left: per
maps the entire passage was not block
ed and we might force our way to the
main gallery. | was not afraid of
death in the way that it comes to most
people. but | was afraid to meet and
struggle with it there. We sprang to
the task. wild at the thought that those
few hours of stupor might have made
all the difference.
You can guess what happened. and
why, after II long spell of fighting to
break through that horrible wall, old
jim threw himself down with groau
and refused to 20 on.
As fast as we looSened one mass
another crashed down in its place: at
the end of our desperate attempt we
were half choked and blinded with
dust our hands We're raw and we had
made scarce any headway.
Barely, too, had we given up the
work as hopeless when my lamp flick.
cred out; half an hour later old Jim's
followed suit.
Total oblivion! As l sat and con.
templated our fate. faintness of min.
gled hunger and despair crept over me.
Young Jim, quite still, was propped up
against the wall close by.
within a few feet OF me sat his
father; at times he would start up and
shrek out In nameless terror-at others
he would catch up his pick and hack
at the walls with the fury of a maniac
And worse was to come.
81 think l must have tainted. dc
not seem to recollect any more until the
moment when l became conscious OF
my mates hard breathing over me. and
of the fact that his hand was feeling
or, so II seemed-for my throat.
dashed away, painting under the shock
of this new horror.
"'Jim,' l gasped. for heavens sake
keep sane! II were to go, let us di,
like men"
mo answer; heard him crawllns
away. and that was all. The deaf
silence was only broken by a fain