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

with his ray oi L. 1t. ! i''dy hung
| I'm the mass Of wrr;N...-r. thrown into
it like putty against II screen. we
| turned and continued our way up the
entry.
Halfway between the shafts there
was temporary canvas stopping, ana
| we knew that II we could tear this
down the air from the fan which had
been speeded up must short circuit and
pass through entry. clearing out
the afterdamp before it. Most OF the
men, II not all. would be In this entry;
| of that we were confident. BY tearing
down the brattice and thus changing
| the direction of the ventilation life
| might he saved.
AS have said. I had entered the
mine on my first trip with Il short
| charge of oxygen and In the urgency
| had failed 10 replenish ii before going
down the second time. AS turned
| from the crosScut sudden tuGg!ng mt
my lungs told me thar my air was run
| ming low. Beside the track in Il pool Of
water lay blackened object that l
knew to he a man. He was the only
one | recognized and | knew that 1t
| must be Daman. one Of the gas In
spectors-the body was SO small. A
| few feet beyond him lay another and
| another all blackened and unrecOgniz-
able. The white wall Of the brattice
| cleaned suddenly before us, and in a
| second we had torn 1t from its fasten-
ings. One side had already disappear
ed from the force Of the explosion.
Why It was not all torn to ribbons l
| do not know.
AS | turned l called to McPherson
that was IN, and rs ! spoke sudden
blackness engulfed me. My air was
gone. The sights Of that awful night
| and the long strain Of the months OF
| dangerous york on high strung nerves
had caught me. came to with my
| eyes closed and clean. sweet taste OF
| fresh air in my mouth. thought |
was above ground; but. opening my
eyes, | saw that was looking through
| the bullseye of my helmet at black
| ened room, dim in the single shaft Of
q lamp. Mcpherson was talking to
me. He had dragged me from where
l lay to where he had felt the air blow
strongest. My weight. increased by
| the forty-five pounds Of the helmet,
made 1t impossible for him to think Of
moving ME unaided. There WIS no
| time to summon assistance. In the
strong current Of air he had opened
my valves and trusted that. revived by
| the fresh air, could reach the hoist
Ing shaft under my own lOcomOtion be-
| fore the nf,erdamp could overcome me.
Faint and ree!lng. | got to my feet. We
started down the entry. our arms about
each others neck. We were both stag
| gering, and halfway to the sump fell.
| Then we crawled and rested and crawl
ed again. | think | remember splash
| Ing In the water ut the foot Of the hoist
ing shaft, but nothing more. Out Of
| the twenty-seven men who had entered
the mine we had found one alive.
In the long night that followed about
| twenty Of the bodies were removed
| from the mine. for the fan soon cleared
the gas from the main entry, where
| most Of the men had been when the
explosion occurred. At dawn faint
tinge Of fresh wood smoke In the air
that poured from the man hoist sug-
| gested that fire had started up some
where In the workings. and as this
might cause another explosion the
work Of removing the bodies was for
the time abandoned and the shafts
were sealed.
Two weeks later a final attempt was
made to recover the bodies which still
remained In the mine, and fourteen
men were engaged in the work when
q sharp explosion occurred. The ma
jority reached the top. bringing with
them two Of their companions. who
died within few hours. but they left
behind them near the foot Of the man
hoist the bodies Of three others.
With this disaster the mine wns
| abandoned. the little town became soon
deserted, and for year and more the
great seals on the shafts remained un'
broken. Today the mine Is once more
| In operation. for u new company OBJ
tained the property and after months
Of almost hopeless struggle succeeded
in restoring It to working condition.
Sometimes / think l would like to go
back and see once more the big black
tipple that guards the shaft mouth and
perhaps 90 down to B entry and watch
the trains come In, and then | think OF
faces I would look for. faces that
would not be there.
| THE END.
| anal N;ew of IL