Eastern Utah advocate. [volume] (Price, Utah) 1895-1915, 1913-04-17
CHAPTER XII.
Tn. Tragedy Of the Mine.

when reached my room. for
had stopped on the way 20 chat
IL with the gateman. ! was sit
ting on the edge OF the bed. loosenlng
the heel Of one Of my rubber boots
with the toe OF the other. when sud
denly. through the stiffness Of the
sleeping town. from the power house
half a mile away came n low and rls-
Ing note. the great siren whistle In the
power house Almost fascinated. ! lis
tened ~ the great note rose higher
and more shrill aud died away again.
One blast meant n dre In the town.
two blasts Dire IN the buildings az the
mine and three blasts. the most ter.
rible Of all. n disaster or trouble In the
mine Once more. after an lntermina
be pause. the sound came again aud
once morc rose aud died away did
not move. but there was sudden
GOODNESS that came over me NJ once
more. FOR a third time. the deep note
broke out ON the quiet air Almost in.
simultaneously the loud Jingle Of my
telephone brought me 20 my feet I
took down the receiver. THE mines
blown up." said woman's voice.
~ was half a mile between my room
aud the gate TO the mine yards. and M
my feet beat noisily on the long.
straiEht road doors opened. yellow
against the blackness OF the night. and
voices called out-women'a voices
mostly.
The gaicman knew little "she'u let
Co." was all that he could say
There were two men nc the fan house.
the fan engineer and his assistant. and
In n second | learned from them that
there had come n sudden pun up the
air shaft that had spun the fan back.
ward dozen revolutions on the belt
before Il picked up again. The explo-
sion doors. built for such On emergency
on the new DONE above the air shaft.
had banged open nolslly and shut again
Of their own weight That was all.
There were half dozen mon az the
top OF the hosting shaft Tho holating
engineer sat. white faced. on his seat
by the shaft mouth. one arm laid limp.
" on the window Hll. his hand clinch.
ed on the lever. Il tried 60 telephone
EN-" be said. "but they didn't answer.
The cage was down. She camc out
with n pun like you blow out OF your
pipe; that's all" lie stopped aud awk'
wardly wiped his face. Then left
the hoist down ave minutes aud
brought her IN" he continued. "but
there was no one In H. Then sent Il
down again. It's down there now"
How long has u been DOWN I
asked.
Ten minutes" he haknrded.
gave him the order 90 hoist. and the
silence was suddenly broken by the
grind OF the drums ~ he pulled the
lever back aud the cable began 90
wind slowly upward. "A minute later
the black top OF the hoist pushed up
from the hole. ana the decks. one by
one. appeared-all empty.
There was no one nc the mine except
tho hoisting engineer aud some OF the
night force who were on duty az the
power house and In the engine room,
In the long months of trouble our
force had gradually diminished. and OF
those who had remained and who were
equal 60 such an emergency part were
now Ia the mine. aud the rest worn
evt aud exhausted by the long days
work. were far away In the town
asleep OF perhaps. n the whistle had
aroused them. on their way 90 the
mine. Instant action was necessary,
FOR following an explosion comes the
after damp aud n any were living this
poisonous gas would destroy them.
As ! turned from the shaft mouth
Mcpherson. the superintendent. a
square built. freckled Scotchman
about nifty years OF age, came running
toward the warehouse, There were
but two helmets ready. for 40 favor
ably had our work progressed that we
had neglected 90 keep more than two
charged with oxygen and had allowed
the rest 10 be taken apart for repairs,
Familiar with the conditions existing
m the mine, We realized that the ex'
pioslon. however slight. must have
blown down many OF the stopplngs
which we had erected aud allowed the
NtnAhD kun " thnh haNA INV Wv ~
400 of the mine which we had recover
ed aud In which the night shift was
now Imprisoned. II the gas had been
ignlted by open IRE immediate action
was necessary for our own safety as
we'll as for the chance OF resculng the
men IA the mine. for IN the month
preceding we had seen the mine re
peat at regular Intervals with two ex-
Dlosions. aud II the are had been ignited
from open dame We must enter Il, ef'
feet the rescue OF our comrades and
escape before We could be caught by a
second explosion. on the other hand,
the chances were equal that the explo-
sion might have been set or by dc
fective gauze In a 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 aud forty minutes was my work