The Anaconda standard., 1898-01-15

from the last and greater explosion.
My first thought was Of the safety
of the men. The smoke was dense
could almost feel it. / spoke up, say
ing:
:. Is anyone hurt?'
Every man responded, saying that
he was not / said: Brace up, boys.
we viii be all right pretty SOON
Then | could hear them moving
about in the tunnel. The smoke now
was sitting and beginning to tell on
me. | advised the men to keep their
faces near the ground.
About il minutes later | heard a voice
coming from the bench Of the face of
the tunnel saying:
My, God, boys. this is awful. We
are all done for oh, God my lungs /
can't breathe. Boys, this will kill u.s..
1T was poor Jack Mcleod who was
talking. He had gone up on the bench.
probably thinking that. by holding his
face against the roof of the drift. he
could find relief in fresher air for his
lungs.
Jack, Jack said /. Brace up and
We'll soon have fresh air. / was al
most overcome and could barely move
my muscles. Yet ] held my face to the
ground and breathed but I'll tell you
it was tough old breathing.
Soon. / don't know how soon, / was
unconscious The next thing that /
knew, Mike O'Haro was by me pouring
cold water over my face. How long /
had been asleep ! don't know. but when
OHaro awakened me i put my hand to
my mouth and then I discovered that
/ had turned over on my back and had
vomited copiously
Andy said /, are the other boys
all right?'
- All but Jack. He's dead. | have
bathed all the boys faces with this
water, and they say they feel better
We've all been asleep or unconscious
and | think the smoke is getting out of
here.
I'VE think that this must have been
about or 6 o'clock yesterday morning
But then. we did not look at Watches
because we didn't have any, and be-
sides we had very few matches.
Here we We're in a most dismal
place. A feeling that ] can't describe
possessed me. l was faint, yet not hum
CRY; exhausted, yet felt strong enough
to move the sides of the tunnel or break
through the impenetrable roof and gain
freedom and fresh air: thirsty, yet had
no desire to drink. All was silent: the
other boys no doubt We're wrestling
with the same spirit that had me SO
firmly within its grasp. 1t was an in
describable moment. The silence was
not oppressive. nor was the suspense
burdensome. |, like the others, enter
tanned hopes of being rescued alive, but
there was something that / can't ex-
plain
Here Mr. Usher struck him breast
with his right hand and shook his head
as If attempting to shake off an unde-
sirable impression of a horrible dream
Nearly all day long did those four men
grope about in the dark, their bits of
candles having been consumed soon
after recovering from the effects of the
terrible shock.
The conversation among them was
carried on III tones expressive of respect
for the dead. This fact is gathered
from the tones of Mr. Ulsher's remarks
in relating minor incidents that oc-
Cured during the night or early morn
ing.
How welcome We're the sounds that
penetrated the huge pile of earth, tell
ing of the work of rescue going ON on
the other side Work was begun early
Thursday morning, but the imprisoned
men did not hear the clash of the shoy-
els and the tumbling rocks as they were
being removed until as they think,
about O'Clock in the morning. Then i
one OF them raped the miners signal /
on the side timbers of the tunnel but I
the wall OF loose earth was too much I
for the sound to penetrate and the men |
inside could send no message to contra I
diet the general theory on the outside T
that they were certainly all dead. Re- I
peatedly during the day the raps were I
sounded. but the work of rescue pro-
ceeded and no tidings from the black /
interior reached the workmen At one
time during the afternoon the rescuers
thought that they heard sounds coming
from within, but nearly everybody had 1
his theory so well formed as To admit
no suggestion that the men were alive
so the mysterious sound was attributed
TO falling rock above the timbers of the
tunnel, There ftlrt her M
ton OF life within until 8 o'clock Thurs
day night, at which time the work of
rescue had proceeded sufficiently for to
admit sound to penetrate the remain
ing cave oil earth. Then was heard the
raps that plainly spoke in favor of the
few theories expressed that life was still
n the chamber
Hope Renewed.
when we heard the answer To our
signal" said Mr.. Usher, Our hopes
we're away up. We knew then that
daylight and good old Anaconda air
vas not so very far away. The men
outside heard us and we were satisfied
o Know that message from us had
1een received. Now we We're all, except
Door Jack, lying down on the pile Of
oose earth with our noses stuck into
'reNlces in the loose rock and timbers
i'll all the air that our lungs
'ould draw through that great pile of
oose dirt and timbers Ne We're All
ceiling pretty good now, SO we huddled
ip close together for 1t was cold, ! tell
rou, and slept"
This explains why there was no sound
rom them after the rescuors had an
wered their signal. Many on the out
ide feared that the men had sue
,umbed to the effects Of foul air and
hat the signal heard was their final
Message. But let Mr. Usher tell how ii
that they answered so
the greeting sent through the
,ipe al 1850 o'clock Thursday night. /
learly three hours after the raps had
,een sounded from within /
As | say we all slept soundly. All ,
t once = sina jumped up and yelled:
Clear out of here, boys. they're .
oming down from above; a boulder {
ust tumbled alongside Of my ear. ,
But before we could get out of the
say we heard, very distinctly, loud
apping on iron near our ears and then / |
occurred To me. The spike on the end !
4 the that 10 haJ