Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-06-28

their seemingly hopeless task, when,
one night, they were cheered by rap
pings. The news was quickly sent
to the surface, and women's eyes
were dry with hope for the first time
since the dreadful tidings were
heard. The rappings continued at
intervals, and everybody was sure
some of the entombed men were alive
everybody except one boy of eigh-
teen who day and night 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
rnen had reached an open space there
aud were hammerlng on the pipes to
encourage the workers. Work went
on with renewed enthusiasm, and
young Langan, the entombed super
intendent'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 space of 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, 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 rappings contin-
ued, and then one night, in dark
and obscure corner of the slope, one
of the foremen came upon water boy
hamme.ing the pipes with piece of
rock. 1t was au awful discovery, the
hope that they had cheered the men
on for three days was dispelled, and
despair replaced it. The poor boy,
when arraigned before the mine Of
ficials, confessed that he had been
rapping on the pipes during the three
days, and he said, in extenuation of
his act: "I've got father and two
brothers in there, and L was afraid
the men would quit work, so raped
to encourage them, because I 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 attempt of rescue
was at last abandoned.
WHY HOPE ENDUREs so LONG.
The accident at Plymouth, Penn,
was caused in like manner. AS may
well be imagined, the conflict between
hope and rescue and fear of death, in
the hearts of the victims friends, is
terrible. Hope died slowly at Pitts
ton, and it is the same elsewhere.
This is due to the absolute uncertain
ty. Some argue that the victims may
be hemmed in an open chamber with
plentiful supply of air and water,
and quote the well-known cases where,
at Sugar Notch, a number of men lived
two weeks, eating mule entombed
with them. and were finally rescued !;
where at GAINESVILLE, Penn, rescue
was effected after nineteen days, in
which the men had nothing to eat
except the leather of their boots-ow-
ing to their ignorance the life-sustain-
ing fish-oil in their lamps was un-
touched-and again, of the two men
who at Nanticoke were rescued after
sitting astride log in flooded work
ings for nine days with nothing to
eat.
Other accidents affect only the mine
and the miners. Caves affect the sur
face, and many property owners in
this region have cause to regret the
day when they bought land which was
undermined, because it was cheap.
Recently large section of street at
Wyoming, Penn, went down, with
several buildings, and instances are
numerous of houses being swallowed
up by the greedy earth, OF cattle en-
quilted and suffocated. People are
sometimes caught, but not often, for
the earth generally sinks slowly, and
there is usually plenty of time to es-
cape. A peddler was driving slowly
along the road leading to Plains,
Penn, when his horse suddenly sank,
dragging the front wheels of the wagon
after him. When the driver recovered
from his surprise 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
picking up her scattered peas forty
feet below the surface. She was un.
injured and was quickly rescued.-P.
S. Ridsdale, in New York Post.