Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-03-11

/ square Dulit, AiSSnieu
about fifty years Of age. came running
| toward the warehouse. There were
but two helmets ready. for so favor
ably had our work progressed that we
had neglected to keep more than two
charged with oxygen and had allowed
the rest to he taken apart for repairs
| Familiar with the conditions existing
| in the mine. we realized that the ex
pIosion, however slight. must have
blown down many Of the stoppinss
which we had erected and allowed the
| pentup gas to rush back into the por
| tion of the mine which we had recover
| ed and In which the night shift was
now imprisoned. II the gas had been
| ignited by open fire immediate action
was necessary for our own safety us
well as for the chance Of rescuing the
men III the lnine. for IN the month
| preceding We had seen the mine re
peat" ut regular intervals with two ex
blossoms. and II the fire had been ignited
| from open flame we must enter 1t. ef
| feet the rescue Of our comrades and
escape before we could be caught by q
second explosion. On the other hand
the chances were equal that the explo
sion might have been set off by de
| fective gauZe In safety lamp or some
other cause and that there would be
no immediate explosion following the
| first one.
In the hurry Of adjusting our he'll
NETS no one noticed that the charge OF
oxygen in mine was short and that an
hour and forty minutes was my work
Ing limit. And all unconscious Of this
| frightened the valve. and, with the
oxygen kissing In the check valves, we
left the bright light Of the room and
felt our way down the steps into the
darkness of the yard, where q great
arc light above the hosting shaft
made objects visible IN Its lavender
light. A crowd had already gathered
n dark. silent. crowd, that stood like a
flock Of frightened sheep around the
mouth Of the man hoist. With a man
on either side Of us to direct us. we
walked to the hoist. our electric hand
lanterns throwing long white beams
of light before us. There was no
sound-no shrieking Of women. no
struggling of frenzied mothers or sis
ters to fight their way into the mine.
But there was a more awful silence,
and as we passed a pile Of ties I heard
I whimpering noise, like puppy, ana
N the light Of my lamp saw the dou'
bled form Of woman, who crouched
alone on the ground, a shawl drawn
over her head, sobbing.
We stepped on the hoist, and for an
instant there came the picture OF a
solid line Of people who hung on the
edge Of the light, Of white faces. OF
the lavender glare Of the arc lamp
contrasting with the orange light from
the little square window in the house
Of the hoisting engineer Are you
ready?" he called to US. LET her go!'
we said, and the picture was gone as
the hoist sank into the blackness OF
the shaft. We said nothing Us we were
lowered, for we knew where the men
would be II we could reach them, and
there was nothing else to talk about
The grind of the shoes Of the hoist as
they scraped the rails made a sound
that drowned out my feeble whistling
of the Merry Widow" waltz inside OF
my helmet.
We felt the motion Of our descent
slacken, and then came a sudden roar
ing splash as the lower deck of the
hoist hit the water which filed the
sump. Slowly we sank down until the
water which flooded that part of the
mine rose, cold and dead. to our knees,
and the hoist came to stop. Splash
ing clumsily over the uneven floor. we
climbed the two steps which led to the
higher level of B entry and for min
ute turned the white beams OF our
lights in every direction. There was
nothing to be seen and no trace OF any
explosion except thin white layer of
dead mist or smoke which hung life
less, like cigar smoke in quiet room
about four feet from the ground, but
there was u silence that was terrible
for I'm It We listened In vain for the
voices of men. At first we assured
ourselves that there was no one around
the bottom Of the shaft, for we had
expected that some one. injured by the
explosion, might have been able t.
crawl toward the man hoist. but there
was no trace OF any human being.
Walking slowly and peering before
us through the bullseyes Of our he'll
NETS to right and left, we advanced
down the entry. our lights cutting the
blackness like the white fingers OF
twin searchlIghts Suddenly. faroff In
the darkness. there came a sound. Ii
was laughter. We stopped and listen
ed. High. shrill and mad the notes
caught our ears. Again We advanced
and the laughter broke into high
shrill song. To right and left we
swung the bars of our searchllghts,
feeling for the voice. Suddenly the
white light brought out Of the dark
ness a tangled mass Of blackened tim
bers which seemed to fill the entry,
and into the light from the pile OF
wreckage staggered the figure of q
man, his clothes hanging In sooty RIB.
bons and his face and body blackened
beyond recognition. Only the whites
of his eyes seemed to mark him from
| the wreckage which surrounded him.
In high pitched voice he called to
us, and we knew that he was mad.
"Come. Gomez! he cried. Lets get
out of here. Come on. boys! Let's 70
somewherer' And then. as his arms
instlnctively caught our necks and we
| felt for his waist. ne began talking to
Jesus. With our swaying burden we
turned and retraced our steps down
The entry. and fifteen minutes after oul
descent into the mine we handed oul
II the hoist the first man rescued tc
lis friends
Once more came the vision OF the
:reat black wall Of people in the lights
It the mine IinIIih. and again we
| plunged down into the b.uckneSs nnd
| Hence of t.ir i;,inp. tenching bottom
sc walked ~ rapidly rs we were able