The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-05-14
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q TIe Mine Aims Rats Warming. 81 =
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tNaF- 49, I|at.
Save rst But there are some lazy
people 81 this world!n
Col. James Fogatcy uttered this re-
maIk, and then paused by the cigar
stand OF TIM Central hotel, 10 obtain a
light for hif pipe. II was long after
sn!dnlRht and In The open dir thermom-
setets registered far below zero. Snow
lay too deep Tor comfort In the streets
OF the little Penns yivanla mining town.
and over thh mountains beyond great
drifts spread themselves. as II trying
desperately , crush out OF view fences,
bridges. builfinss, even the roads. Col.
Fogarty had Just come from the last
strS.ley car Which, would run Until day
light
Come, sill down here and have n
cigar while YOU tell all about It," I
Well, IadSn,t mind" replied the
colonel. "Fdct Is, I'm not particularly
hurried Tonight. this being Saturday,
and I being Without an engagement un-
gtal Chuseday afternoon"
So we satldown and leaned back in
easy chairs. and ne commenced:
THE lazlet5t ma I ever knew" be-
Gun Col F9garty, els dead now. He
was too q 10 keep on living, I sup
pose. Butt tknewshlm ever since I was
a Eyoungster. and was working as driver
: boy In the mines. miles away from the
Lehigh region, long before I was elect
led to the Legislature at Harrisburg.
Jimmy Hoolahah or some such name,
he was caileh. but as long US I can re-
member he went by the name OF Lazy
Tlnt--and he was that, for sure. Let
me tell you. when we went to school the
teacher would always give him out a
Wednesday lesson on Monday, because
by no earthly chance could he ever get
around 70 studying q ChusedayS lesson
Monday: and he'd always eat his, lunch
before sshooicouimenced In the norm
son that he never got around TO eating
his dinnersthe day before. Lazy Tim
was q sort OF inexpensive creature,
some ways. because he wouldn't out
grow hisclothes, or wear 'emt out either,
so he saved money for his father, and
when he got to be a man he spent less
than any of Ids friends for the same
reason. Why. many and many a time
I've known him to so into Lanky Pete's
place, down the road apiece, and order
a glass Of beer at O'clock insthe even
ing. and when 10 came he'd have q full
half Of X LEFT, and he'd get the bar
keeper toputit away till the next night.
That's the kind of o man LazytTim
was, and never In the whole course OF
ms lie did he hurry, excepting the time
the mine rats gave him warning, and
that's what I'm about to tell you OF.
In the first place. here at the very
beginning of the story, let me impress
you with the fact that the queer doings
I'm about to relate didn't happen in
this town. o~rsany1wheres near 1t. I may
want to go back to Harrisburg one OF
these days, young man, and I don't pro-
pose to have the railroad people down
on me when the time comes to look for
votes. IT was years and years ago, too,
and may be8Lazy Tim never told any
one else about it-butit is a true story,
II 1t Is strange and mysterious, and 1t
may heNpSexplain n of those queer
things college professors and such like
have been puzzhng over ever since rats
first commemorate leave sinking ships.
1t happened years ago. on q hot sum.
mer day In July. 1 went to work at 2
that morning, but the sun came down
70 oksCNtLlshAlCh aS1l 64hSV Hull llULle 10
the. Slope. But as soon as ! got into. the
a there with half a dozen, other boys,
and we Commenced to slide down, OF
course the air got cooler. There isn't
2 any summer or winter under ground;
the air Is the same all, the year round,
cooEsh and moist, but neither hot nor
cold, and thermometer would mark
about the same In July and January.
That's the main reason a man who has
once labored under ground hates to
come to the surface and work. The
miners and their butties can keep com
Portable yeartn and year out so long as
they stay below the surface, and thSt
IS why'so few OF them ever get sick
barring miners asthma, and I suppose
that comes from the dampness, as much
as anything else.
However, ave got aboard the car,
arn went unde- ground. EOti course 1t
was darkSsrk as a stack.of black cats
but all Of MS had lamps IN our caps.
and we,dlearned to see in the ,dark:that
way pretty much as animals can.
Some OF the men had TO travel along the
gangways under ground for q mile or
q more before reaching the breasts where
they were at work, and Lazy Tim was
n Of these.
AT the time I'm telliD, you OIL was
doing Inspection work-golng through
n part Of the mine and another to see
that the timber supporting the roof was
safe. and the tracks along the gang
ways were all right. BY the way,
though, II you haven't been under
ground much,,Td better tell You some
thing OF It. You know, two or three
hundred feet below the surface there Is
one set Of workings called a lift laid
out something on level, though
mighty irregular. FIRST, when you get
TO the foot OF the slope In the car, you
find the main gangwuy. a sort OF main
road, and ottentimes there are many
branches or small sangways leading
from Il. Now the, coal Is blasted out OF
chambers called breasts. which are To-
Gated az regular intervals like, with
& great pillars Of coal and rock left stand
ing between them to support the roof:
engineers and miners have 10 be mighty
careful not to biast away any, of the pill
lars. for the roofsreaches way 5upgto the
surface, and besides the millions OF tors
OF soil and gravel and stone between the
miners and the open air, there may be
q forest on top ofthe surface. and often