Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-08-16
GHOSTS IN
DEEP MINES

/
more firmly established than those
which develop among the men VINO
oil in the dampness of the mine, lie
.lares the Butte (Mont) corresponds
mt of the Philadelphia Record. AnG
If all superstitions there are none
more weird than those of the grave
rard" shift The graveyard" shift Is
he dead of night usually between
II D. m. and 3 a. m.-and 1t is then
that the tommy knockers" are most
often heard. Nearly all OF the big
mines of the west are in operation
constantly during the "a hours OF
every day and the seven days OF
every week. A great mining plant
does not shut down on the Fourth
Of July or even Christmas. The men
ire driving the drills, the shots are
icing fired, the broken ore shoveled
nto cars and carried out through
he shaft or tunnel, and the big
Mills are grinding, pounding and roar.
ng for 365 days in the year The
miner who works steadily has no
variation in his life. He is as far
h"o y iioili lllC Wol III lo NhS oo'iS' -
sea, and the conditions are far more
)ropitious for the birth and growth
If superstitions.
Suddenly, in the never-ceasing drip,
Trip of the water, he hears some
ound-the regular ring of hammer
lot far from him. He is puzzled, for
lie knows that he Is alone in that
! 40 ~ - hA InnhtinU the
tccuracy of his understanding, he
axes his candle from the rock and
ramps through the tunnel toward the
sound of the drilling. He stops to
listen. 1t seems above and he climbs
Up into raise" where ore has been
aiken down from above the tunnel.
Holding his candle up, he searches the
darkness with straining eyes.
But there is no light of another
iriller. The sound of the hammer
seems to be a little farther away.
The miner descends from the raise"
Ind tramps again through the tunnel,
lis feet splashing through the mud
Ind water. The mysterious sound de-
,eives and eludes him.
stops in surprise. He is alone, 500
.eet below ground. except for this I'M
known companion. There is a mo,
nent of silence, intensified, it seems,
by the drip drip, drip of the water and
he utter darkness.
Not far ahead the miner suddenly
hears a new sound. Some one is walk.
ng rapidly through the tunnel with
regular tread, splashing in the mud
and water The miner, his candle at
MS side, quickly follows. He almost
.uns in his haste to find his compan'
on. But the tramp and splash of the
unknown feet are always just ahead
If him. He stops and shouts:
Hey! Who are you, there"
No answer comes, and he calls
again and again. Still he hears in
the darkness the tread and splash OF
The phantom feet. All at once a
strong man is filled with fear He
begins to tremble and grow cold and
then, in a panic of dread, he turns and
fees, stumbling and plunging through
the tunnel to the shaft.
And the mine has mysterious voices.
too. A veteran miner tells OF
strange warning which came to him
once and narrow escape from death.
He was working in mine in Montana
IN charge of the pumps, which were
kept constantly going to keep the
mine from filling with water. When
each crew or shift" of men finished
work he would regularly make an in.
spection of the five pumps which were
IN operation. -
The ore was lifted from this mine
On an inclined shaft. The cars, which
run on wheels up such shaft, are
called "skips," and it was the break.
Ing of skip" which came near be.
ing fatal that night. The pump in.
spector had visited four of the pumps
and was about to start down the shaft
10 the fifth, which was 500 feet below
ground, when, as he tells me, he felt
peculiar feeling of fear and a voice
directly over his shoulder said to him:
Don't you go down that shaft to
uigft!"
The miner stopped. He seemed al.
most to feel the breath of the voice
against his cheek. Then he told him.
self he was foolish to heed any imag.
lnings, and he went down to the
pump. When he reached the 500-foot
level he began at once his inspection
Of the machinery. Back in the tunnel,
which extended away in the darkness,
the water stood nearly filling the pas.
sage, over mans head in depth.
hundred feet above an ore car
filed with tons of rock was emptied
Into a skip" which was started up
the inclined shaft toward the surface
A moment later the man working al
the pump heard a crashing, a terrific
rafting sound. He realized at once
that the skip" had broken, and that
the tons of rock were tumblins
toward him down the shaft. Instinc
lively he fattened himself against the
wall, and the rock came like an ava
ianche. Most of 1t he escaped, but
heavy pieces struck his shoulders,
causing painful bruises. But that was
not the worst.
Soon the air was filled with hiss
ing steam. The load of ore in it's fall
had broken a steam pipe above, and
the inspector knew that in few min.
utes more he would be smothered
The steam was binding. 1t was hot
4 and sitting in his nostrils and his
lungs. But he had little time to