The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-07

<N>N~N~~N~N<>~s>>~~~t~~NNtN
not safe to use powder. and the progress
was distressngly slow. AS soon as one
shift became tired another took it's place
and the work went on. Inspectors and
foremen stood about directing the work
and keeping a careful eye on the danger
Gus roof AS the writer watched there was
a cry of warning, the men came tumbling
lack from the face and a rush was
made up the slope. There was crash,
a roar. we were blown off our feet and
dashed against the sides of the slope by
a conclusion which extinguished the
lights. An Investigation reve aled the fact
that twenty fest, gained by hard work
during the last twenty-four hours, had
been filed up again
I'VE must keep at it, boys" said one
Of the foremen cheerlly, and at 1t they
went.
TOfIing Against Odds.
But in the days that followed falls came
FRI quently and the men despaired They
were ready TO give up their seemingly
hopeless task, when one right they were
chs cred v rappiugs. The news was quick
ly slnt to the surface and women's eyes
were dry with hope for the first time
since the dreadful tidings we're heard.
The rappings continued at intervals and
everybody was sure some of the entomb-
ed men were alive-everybody except one
poor boy of 49,, who day and night was in
the slope with the workers. The rappngs
were heard on the iron pipes through
which water bad been pumped from the
bottom of the slope. II was evident that
some of the entombed men had reached
an oren space there and were hammering
on the pipes to encourage the workers.
Work went ON with renewed enthusiasm,
and young Langan. the entombed super
intendents son, performed as heroic a
act as is recorded in the history of min
ing. Between the top of the fall and the
Roof was space of a few inches and
with wonderful daring he dragged HIM
self 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 neatly 300 feet
and back. HIS clothes were torn to sherds
and his body was covered with blood from
scores of cuts and bruises
He had found no opening and
learned nothing of the entombed. For
three days the rapping continued, and
then, one night in dark and obscure
came upon a water boy hammering the
pipes with piece Of rock.
Abandoned to Their Fate.
IL was an awful discovery the hope
that had cheered the men on for the past
three days was dispelled, and, dispair
replaced 1t. The poor boy, when arraign-
ed before The mine officials, confessed
that he had been rapping on the pipes
during the three days, and he said, in
extenuation of his act: i've got a father
ana two brothers In there, so l raped to
encourage them, because 1 want them to
find my father and brothers," The work
was kept up for months, but no trace of
the entombed men was found and the at
tempt was abandoned.
The accident at Plymouth. Pa, was
caused in a like manner. As may be well
imagined the conflict between hope of
rescue and fear of death in the hearts
of the victims friends is terrible. Hope
died slowly at Pittston, and it is the
ga me elsewhere. This is due to the abb
solute uncertainty. Some argue that the
victims may be hemmed In an open cham
Der with a plentiful supply of air and
water, and quote the well known cases.
where at Sugar neck number of
men lived two weeks. eating a mule en-
tombed with them. and was finally res
cued; where, at GAINESVILLE, Pa, a rescue
was affected after nineteen days, in which
the men had nothing to eat except the
leather of their boots-owing to their igno-
rance the DEMONSTRATING fish oil in their
lamps was untouched-and again of the
two men at Nanticole were rescued after
sitting astride a log In flooded workings
for nine days with nothing to eat With
these Instances of recovery from the hand
OF death. after persistent attempt at res
cue 1t is hard for friends of entombed
men TO believe that all hope is gone. and
weeks after the accident, they implore
the mine officials 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
-. III, ,Ietf, al
was cheap. Recently a large section OF
street at Wyoming. Pa, went down. with
several buildings and instances are nu-
merous of houses being swallowed up by
the greedy earth, of cattle engulfel 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 in
stances of 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
shelling peas. Her husband coming over
the hill, saw her suddenly drop out OF
sight. ran up and found her busy pick
ing IN her scattered peas forty feet be-
low the surface. She was uninjured ana
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 ceve-in. In the early
morning q freight train speeding toward
this city dashed into the hole, wrecking
the engine and several cars
------s-<>--s--------
The United States OF America has now