The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-11-06
MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD.
Last Words Of Imprisoned Miners,
Showing How Bravcly They Can Die.


How do men feel when about to die
not after being wasted and weakened By
disease, nor when tho blood Is heated by
the strife OF battle. but when they SEQ
inevitable death approaching them and
know that In certain number OF min
utes II viii seize them2 There was a col
merry disaster at one or the Scranton
mines recently, and one OF Its ten victims
seems to have demonstrated how a miner
can face the certain approach Of death.
Tor with iort!tudo he wrote with "A steady
hand In his grimy notebook words of
consolation. advice. and cheer 10 his wife
and children up 10 the moment the hand
or death was upon him, and his message
from living tomb was ended with a
quavering scrawl. The question f. an
swered also by a most remarkable record
native OF SaXOny. BY the disaster,
which was at colilery in Saxony many
miners lost their lives. OF those who
were not killed outright by the explosion
but were preserved for the more terrible
death OF suffOcation. one wrote messages
TO their friends. None OF the messages
reveals bitterness against the fate that
the men could not avert The Old Lack
awanna miner IS a survivor Of that cas-
uelty, and has copies OF those messages
which were found in notebooks 8nc on
scraps of paper on the bodies Of the
doomed men when they were at last re-
covered. There Is a strange pathos in
some of the linea scrawled 10y these
death-besieged men in the gloom Of their
narrow prison A youth, JanctZ, udd pm
ned 10 his coat a leaf from his notebook
ON which were written these last words
10 his sweetheart:
Darling Rika: My last thought was
OF thee. Thy name shall be the last word
my lips shall speak. Farewell
Lying next 10 young Janets miner
named Moretz was found. On paper In
his cap was written: "Janetz has just
died. Reiche Is dying ana says: TEL my
family l leave them with Cod Fare
well, dear wife. Farewell, dear children.
May God keep you'll"
The miner Reiche. when his body was
found clutched in his hand was a scrap
of paper. on IL was written:
Dear Sister: Meyer in the village owes
me ten thalers. 1t is yours. l hope my
face viii not be distorted when they find
us. l might have been better to you.
Goodbye"
The absence Of all selhshness is appar,
ent IN all the messages. My dear rela-
tives." wrote the Miner Schmidt, while
seeing death before me ! remember You.
Farewell until we meet again IN happ-
ness"
The miners who died BY suffocation had
evidently been driven from one place OF
refuge TO another. according 10 the entry
In the notebook Of one named Bahr.
ms - the last ltttt MlNA" " t.ef
taken refuge" IL read. Il have given up
all hope. because the ventilation has been
DESTROYED in three separate places. May
God take me and relatives and dear
friends who must die with me as wei as
our families, under his direction
Dear VIE" wrote Moller take good
care OF Mary. In book IN the bedroom
Won wifi md a thaler Farewell, dear
mother. till we meet again.
Mary was the miners only child, who
was blind a miner named Jaehn wrote
10 his brother, who was miner, but had
been unable TO work that day:
Thank God for His goodness brother
Thou art safe"
mo more toll in darkness wrote
Freitch. Kind wife. rear our unborn
babe 10 fear God. Bless thee' Farewell
There are other messages breathing the
same spirit. The uniform strain OF plety
running through them all IS explained by
the custodian of the RECORDS. Inc miners
Of SaNony are reared in strict religious
school On entering a mine tney peu,lon
heaven for pre- tectiOn through me cay
ana on leaving Il al night they return
thanks 20 God for guarding them ana
bringing them safely through the dangers
Of their toll.
"I never read the simple messages OF
those doomed miners without wet eyes,
said the old I.ackawanna miner. ! can
picture to myself the scene OF the rouEh-
handed but soft-hearted men spending
their last moments, not IN raging against
toto nor IN wild cries FOR mercy and
screams of remorse, but IN writing these
farewell messages TO their loNel ones,
who were even then bewailing them as
dead"-New York Sun.