The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-16
TESTED HIS NERVE
A Blind Struggle For Life In the
Depths of the Earth.
LOST IN THE DARK IN A. MINE.

Thrilling Experiences of a Workman
Who Found Himself After an ExpIo-
sion Alone and Without a Light In
the suffocatins Coal Hole.
To be lost in the woods or on the
plains is fearful experience, but there
the victim has the heavens above him
and can at least see his way about,
The terrors Of similar adventure In
the utter blackness of gas filed coal
mine are thus described by CORE
spondent OF the Youths Companion:
/ was working alone In room" on
the second south entry Of the. mine.
1t was O'Clock, the time for firing the
afternoon blasts. The man who was
driving" the entry lighted his fuse
and came back through the entry call.
ing out Fire. One after another the
other miners set off their blasts and
came along the entry until they reach
ed my room. lighted my fuse, watch
ed It sputter for moment and went
out into the entry to wait for the blast.
Several seconds passed, and there
was no explosion. My fellow miners
passed out of the entry and left me
alone. | went back into the room and
found that the blast opening was clog
ged so that the fire could not reach the
powder. | had to remove the tamping
and recharge the drill hole. BY this
time the mine was filed with dense.
gas laden powder smoke from the other
blasts.
In the sitting smoke recharged the
hole, tamped it, inserted the fuse.
lighted 1t from my head lamp and hur-
red TO the mouth Of the room. The
work was hastily done. When the
powder exploded the rush OF air extin-
guished my lamp.
The darkness was absolute. and there
is no darkness so dense as that OF n
mine. To my CONSERVATION | found
the matches In my Jockey box" so
damp that they would not ignite.
Then became really alarmed. was
two miles under ground without light
In an atmosphere so heavy with gas
that it would not sustain life for any
length OF time.
/ dashed into the entry, ran against
pillar and was knocked nearly sense
less.
staggered TO my feet and CROPPED
down the tunnel In n coal mine great
oaken valves or doors close the en-
frances to the various tunnels. The
air enters through the main entry and
is sucked out OF the mine by great
fans at the opposite end of the mine
after 1t has been distributed through
the workings by means OF these valves
and crosscuts situated near them.
! reached a door. pulled IL open and
passed through. Beyond 1t two tun-
nels came together at right angle
One led toward the open air. the other
into the depths OF the mine. My
sense of direction was entirely gone,
and could not tell which TO take. II
was all chance. ! went ahead and aft
err a time reached another valve.
II only had a light, One glimpse
OF the number painted on the door
would tell me where was. l tried 10
feel the number with my fingers. but
In vain. pushed through the door
and entered another tunnel. down
which I walked for hours, as It seem
ed. My head was bursting with pain
from the gas.
Then | heard the sound OF running
water. knelt down, dipped In my
hand and found that / was going up
stream and consequently deeper and
deeper into the mine. SO l turned
back. reached the valve and felt along
the pillar until found the other tun-
mel opening. The gas had by this time
begun to affect my brain. and ! reeled
and staggered as I walked. left the
track and walked in the ''sump" water
up TO my knees. keeping one hand on
the wall to steady myself.
/ passed through valve after valve
and tried to keep count, but my brain
refused to perform that simple task.
At last pushed through a valve and
felt blast OF fresh. cold air. With
that breath Of oxygen my reason re-
turned. With renewed courage push
ed forward. Many times in following
that life giving current OF air plunged
through narrow cross cuts, stumbled
over masses of slate. fell into water
holes and bruised myself by striking
against the sharp corners OF the coal
vein. but was steadily creeping near
er to the surface.
Suddenly stumbled against loaded
coal car That meant that / was in the
main entry. but how far from the en-
trance cov'd not tell. l worked my
way along the string OF loaded cars
and began To- ascend an incline. The
fresh air swept down the tunnel In a
gale. kept peering ahead. in the hope
Of seeing daylight. hut none appeared.
l wondered why | broke into a run.
ard I'm another minute l had emerged
from the mine and stood gazing at the
stars. IL was almost midnight. and I
had left my room shortly after 5
O'Clock.