The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-18
AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE.
Trapped In IA Mine With IA Blast Fuse
IfEhtcd.

Lighted.
Inan with All empty sleeve told
curious story in one of the hotel lob
bies. I'm 1850 l WAS prospecting in tho
Joplin lead district" he said. and with
two partners had sunk Il shaft about
&c feet deep Oh Il promising claim. At
the bottom of the excavation we start
ell to 'drift-in other words to drive -
tunnel Mt right angles. One afternoon.
when the tunnel had progressed some
II feet, it became necessary to put in
d blast. WAS below at the time and
my two companions were at the top,
working the windlass drilled a hole
in the formation. which was very hard,
put in dynamite cartridge, tamped It
we'll with broken rock. lit the fuse and
stepped into the bucket. At the first
turn Of the windlass the rope broke NJ
the top and dropped down into til.
shaft. The bucket fell only yard or
80, but plunged head first against the
side and 1t was perhaps n couple OF
minutes before l could collect my
Benses.
Then in a flash 1 realized my situa-
ton and jumped back into the tunnel
ready burned down to the tamping and
all i could see was little smoke ooz-
ing out through the rocks. could hear
my partners yelling to me from above,
nut knew there was no other rope IN
our camp and the only thing 1 could
think OF was to pick out the tnmping
and get at the fuse before 1t reached
the dynamite. For, nll l knew the ex-
plosion might take place at any instant,
but l grabbed a drill and began to claw
at the tight packed rock. In Il few
seconds l realized that it was hope
less task. SO dropped the drill AMI
as last resort ran back to the shaft
and crouched against the far wall.
IF 1 live to be thousand" contin-
ued the story teller, Il will never for
get my agony while \ waited for the
blast to go Off, knowing full we'll that
my chances for escape We're almost too
small for computation. 1t seemed as if
the explosion would never occur, and
all the while horrible panorama Of
death and mutilation was rushing
through my brain. Now" 'Nowv
Now! 1 Kept saying out loud. think
ing each time I uttered the word that
the roar would follow, but it didn't.
could have sworn that - minutes
elapsed and I was beginning to feel n
wild hope that the fuse had gone out
when an awful thunderclap came and
everything disappeared.
"My partners had secured new rope
and were pulling me out when recov
cred consciousness. My left arm had
been crushed and was peppercd NIL
over by flying rock, but suffered most
from the poisonous gases Of the nitro
glycerin In the dynamite. Next day
they took Off my arm Mt the elbow and
1t was six months before got out Of
bed. Strange to say my hearing wasn't
affected and, rs you see. l have no
scars on my face. So l may consider
myself very lucky on more counts
than one.
"By the way, there wns one very
strange incident connected with the af-
fair. AS I said BEFORE it seemed to me
that lay there an interminable time,
waiting for the blast to 60 OF. After
ward. when I was convalescent, mem
toned the matter to one of my part
ners and he looked surprised. He told
me that he was ut the shaft mouth
when crouched down and that the
explosion occurred Immediately after
ward. He was intending to drop his
coat over Inc. but didn't have time to
take 1t off."-New Orleans Timcs-De,n-
OCrQt