The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-07

Gus roof As the writer watched there wal
n cry of warning, the men came tumbliEf
back from the face and a rush was made
up the slope. There was a crash, roar
We were blown off our feet and dash d
against the sides of the slope by a cont US
sion which extinguished the lights. An
investigation revealed the fact that twenty
feet, gained by hard work during the last
twenty-four hours, had been filed up aga n.
I'VE must keep at it, boys" said one Of
the foremen cheerily. and AT ii they went.
But in the days that followed falls cane
frequently and the men despaired. They
were ready to give up their seemingly
hopeless task, when one night they we're
cheered by rappings. The news was quick
ly sent to the surface, and women's eyes
were dry with hope for the first time since
the dreadful hdings were heard. The rap
pings continued at intervals and every
body was sure some of the entombed men
were alive-everybody except one poor
boy Of eighteen. who day ard hight was
in the slope with the workers. The rap
pings were heard on the iron pipes through
which water had been pumped from
the bottom of the slope. 1t was evident
that some of the entombed men had
reached an open space there and were
hammering on the pipes to encourage the
workers.
HooTI;n went on with renewed enthusiasm,
and young Langan, the entombsd superin-
tendent's son. performed as heroic an act
as is recorded in the history of mining.
Between the top of the fall and the ROOF
was a space of a few inches. and with
wonderful daring he dragged himself along
over the fall At any moment he might have
been crushed by the roof, but he returned
He was gone three hours, and in that time
crawled nearly three hundred feet and
back. His clothes were torn to shreds ard
his body was covered with blood from
scores Of cuts and bruises He had found
no opening and learned nothing of the en-
tombed For three days the Iappiags con-
tinued, and then, one night. in a dark
and obscure corner of the slope, one OF
the foremen came upon water boy ham,
mering the pipes with a piece of ro-k.
Hoped to Save His Father.
1t was an awful discovery, the hope that
had eheered the men on for the past three
days was dispelled, and despair replaced
it. The poor boy, when arraigned before
the mine officials, confessed that ne had
been rapping on the pipes during the three
days, and he said, in extenuation Of his
act: I've got a father and two brothers in
there, and l was afraid the men would quit
work, so l raped to encourage them, be-
cause want them TO find my father and
brothers." The work was kept up for
months but no trace of the eltombed men
was found, and the attempt at rescue was
at last abandoned.
The accident at Plymouth, Pa, was
caused in a like manner. As may well be
imssgined, the conflict between hope of res
cue and fear of death, in the hearts Of tins
victims friends is terrible. Hope died
slowly at Pittston, and il Is the same else
where. This is due to the absolute uncer-
tanty. Some argue that the victims may
be hemmed in an open chamber with
plentiful supply of air and water, and
quote the welI-known cases, where, al
Sugar Neck. number of men lived Two
weeks. eating mule entombed with them,
and were finally rescued; where at
GAINESVILLE, Pa, a rescue was effected
after nineteen days, in which the men had
nothing 10 eat except the leather OF their
boots-owipg to their ignorance the life
sustaining fish oil In their lamps was I'M
touched-and again, of the two men who
at Nanticoke were rescued after sitting
astride log in flooded workings for nine
days with nothing to eat. With these in
stances of recovery from the hand of death.
after persistent attempt at rescue, it Is
hard for friends of entombed men to be-
lieve that all hope is gone, and frequently
as at Pittston-as late as six weeks after
the accident, they implore the mine Of
fcials to keep up the effort.
Other accidents affect only the mine
and the owners. Caves affect the surface.
and many property owners in this region
have cause to regret the day when they
bought land which was undermined be-
cause IL was cheap. Recently a large sec
ton Of street at Wyoming, Pa, went down,
with several buildings, and instances are
numerous of houses being swallowed up by
the greedy earth, of cattle eugulfed and
suffocated. People are sometimes caught,
but not often, for the earth generally sinks
slowly. and there is usually plenty of time
to escape. There have been instances of a
quick settlement; two close TO this city
were especially interesting.
A peddler was driving slowly along the
road leading from this city to Plains. Pa,
when his horse suddenly sank dragging
the front wheels of the wagon after him.
When the driver recovered from his sur
prise and terror the wagon body was on
the edge Of hole thirty feet deep. Some
time later. near the same place, an old
woman was sitting near her doorstep
Smelling peas. Her husband coming over
the hill saw her suddenly drop out Of
sight, ran up, and found her busy picking
up her scattered peas forty feet below the
surface She was uninjured and was
quickly rescued.
In February a portion OF the tracks
along the line of the Central Railroad of
New Jersey, two miles from here. was
sucked down by a cave-in. In the early
morning a freight train speeding toward
this city dashed into the hole, wrecking
the engine and several cars.