The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-10-21
CURIOUS MYSTERIES IN MINES.

Air of One in Montana Causes Men
to Stinen Out and Die.
I'm this line of work we come across
some curious accidents and narrow es-
capes," said Deputy. Mine Inspector
Frank Hunter the other might. 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 I
knew a fellow who plunged down 800
feet in single compartment shaft. He
went to the bottom, but did not break a
bone. OF course, he was pretty badly
Jared up and good deal frightened,
but he was all right 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 para
chute. He said the last part Of his de-
scent was SO much slower than the first
he hardly thought he was dropping at
all, and half expected to remain sus-
pended in 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. I have seen a number of
cases where the man. fell with his boots
on and was found :barefooted when he
was picked up. I suppose this is be-
cause the blood goes to the head, maxi
ing the feet smaller, and besides the
pressure of the air upon the heel and
counter acts as a boot-jack.
II had to go over to Sand Coulee to
investigate an accident in which one
man was killed and another had three
ribs broken. Speaking of Sand Coulee
it struck me while ! was there that if 1
wanted to commit suicide would 20
there to do it. I 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 dispatch. It's a
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 moist
ure, and if you puff cigar in one of
these chambers the smoke will seek the
walls, where it cings with an undulat-
ing 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 poison
Gus. In few minutes a feeling of
drowsiness steals over a man who
breathes it, and before long he is asleep
and dreaming deliciously, so those say
who have been sresuscitated. But the
sleep is akin to that of the lost traveller
over whose:numbed limbs the actic snow
eddies and drifts, for unless help comes
soon there is no awakening. If, however,
the venturesome explorer of these I'M
foreground death traps realizes his
danger in time and manages to stagger
out into the fresh air, he has an expert
ence 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
conva1escents from yellow fever. The
treatment is simple, but effective. Be-
ing 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 recovered"
Butte MONTY Miner.