The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-05
SOUNDS THAT MINERS FEAR.
oTOlfWl hNOCKERS," THE DRElD-
TNDERGROt GHOSTS.
mysterious Hammer ard Drili That Lead
workers on strange quests Through
Wine, -Carcle>sue,s In Making Hcnairs
.uncrStltlons az Cornish Miners

Wine, -Carele>suess In Making Hcilalrs
.upcrstiions az cornish Miners
y l. during the graveyard shift in
nine that the Euperstitions Of the miners
dect.or: and Il is then that tho tommy
l-ac.or-- are heard. but not always. The
graveyard shift is in the dead of night
usually between II O'Clock p NJ. and
or r o'clock In the morning. Nearly all Of
ne big minc- Of the West are in operation
constantly during the twenty-fDur hours
Of every day end the seven days Of every
week. sunday and holidays having no CON
alteration great mining plant does
r., smut down on the Fourth. OF July or
even az Christmas The men are driving
tho drll-. the shots are being fred the
lns.u e-e shovol,ed into cars and carried
out through shaft or tunnel, and the big
mills 4re grinding, pounding and roaring
for ari day in the year. SO the miner who
works -tradily has no variation in his life.
Hr almost as much alone and away from
Tie world as the sailor at sea. says the An
ecenaa Stanford. and the conditions are
Far more propitous for the birth and
growth Of -uperstitions.
The miner works always in total dark
ne. NO matter whether he be of the day
shit or the night shift. 1t IS always night
in the mine And much of the time the
miner he who drills in the breast Of the
tunnel or drift is entirely alone-he and
his h!ckering little cande-in the dark.
perhap. he is working in a wet mine. Then
r. the tune of his hammer as he strikes
tho dru he hears the accompaniment OF
dripping wa>er-drip. drip drip necessarily
The miner stops to rest and mop his face
and hight his pipe. Then he sits for a
low minutes putting. he looks into the
black tunnel back Of him. The dripping
never ceases and the miner begins I'M
consciously to wonder and to dream Surely
thi, fertile soil for the Imagination
BOT long. before perhaps man was
killed IN this mine He vas driller ana
alone in the breast Of the tunnel, when
throughout the mine an explosion was
board The driller was found In darkness
for the explosion had blown out his candle;
The air was thick with powder smoke and
the dust Of rock. and his body was torn
and bruised so that it no longer had human
form It was as though an old suit Of clothes
had been filed with a mass Of bloody flesh.
4 missed hole said the foreman
And so II undoubtedly was. for the missed
hole has killed many drillers IN mines
In working in breast OF rock, in driving
q tunnel or drift the dnller usua
II the rock is hard puts in five or six holes.
fills each with powder. sets the fuses.
touches a light to them, and then steps
back into the tunnel sale distance unth
the powder has exploded.
Sometimes one or more Of the shots is not
DISCHARGED. the fuse for some reason burns
up close 10 the cap that Is TO explode the
powder and then goes out mat one oil the
FIVE or six shots in breast Of rock has not
exploded may not be observed by those who
are listening
The crew Of men. the shift, changes
md another drier, unconscious of the
a. .sa.1b ,.la frfaG to Il
IN the tunnel Perhaps, as he hammers
merrily away. driving the hard steel into
the rock the end Of his drill strikes the cap
~ the load that did not go of Then there
is an explosion, cloud OF smoke and dust
IN the darkness n poor, mutlated dead
body And another fatality from missed
hole is recorded,
The miners, Of course all know Of these
things and likely as not the solitary
driiler in the graveyard shift, sitting to rest
minute and smoking, turns over in his
mind some Of these fearful tragedies that
odd danger and mystery 10 mining. In the
dead If night, with the knowledge that his
turn may come next. such thoughts are not
comforting or celebrating to the soil
t.y man.
Then. suddenly. in the never ceasng
drip drip. drip OF the water he hears some
one drilling He hears the regular ring Of
the hammer somewhere not Tar from him
in the mine He is al first puzzled and
IN hat part Of the mine, The graveyard
shift contains usually the smallest number
n men Never doubling the accuracy
a his understanding, the miner takes
his auic from the rock and trampS through
The tunnel toward the sound Of the drilling
He stops 20 listen Now IL seems above
him and he climbs up into a raise, where
ore has been taken down from above the
tunnel tie holds his candle over hlm and
Fer hes the darkness with stralning eyes.
IInro IL no LIGHT Of another IrIllpT hlf
the sound Of the hammer contnues-only
u seems 10 be little further away. The
miner descends from the raise and
trmps again through the tunnel. his feet
snl1shing through the mud and water
For soma reason the mysterious sound
de. elves md eudes him The drilling
ceases The miner stops in surprise. He
I- alone 800 feet below ground, except for
'hI unknown companion. There Is
moment II silence intensified, II seems.
ly the drip. drip, drip Of the water and the
utter darkness
Not far ahead the miner suddenly hears
now sound Some one is walking rapidly
through the tunnel with a regular tread
spia~hing In tho mud and water. The
miner his candle al his side. quickly fol-
lows he almost runs in his haste TO find
iis companion. But the tramp and splash
NJ the unknown feet are always just ahead
Of him The miner tops and shouts:
hey Who are you, there
No answer comes. and he calls again
md again. Still he hears in the darkness
the tread and splash Of the phantom feet,
Al al once although he is a strong man,
he miner ia filed with fear. He begins
10 'remble and grow cold, and then in a
panic Of dread he turns and flies, stumbling
and pmnging through the tunnel to the
shaft
Here is the empty cage for lifting ore.
j il az the foot Of a shaft which il fits
exactly and when the miner pulls the
wire, which rings a signal bell at the top,
and springs into the cage, he is raised
IN a few seconds through the darkness to
me free air 500 feet above. The engineer
a. The hosting machinery wonders what
hs- happened. The miner tells him his
experience, and both men sit silent in
vague fear. They realize then that the
tommy knocker,- the ghost Of the mine.
has been heard again
Miners don't laugh about the tommy
knockers ] have known men OF intel1-
gence who have long since ceased 10 work
Underground solemnly aver that the
iHnny knockers invariably visit the
name where = man has been killed. The
tWrt comes back. il seems. 10 the old
halnis Of the body. Sometimes 1t drills,
tem@iimes i runs phantom car, some