The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-14
MANUs DUCGAN, N|PPER,
HERO OF SPECTATOR
GOODNESS AND HEADWORk OF A
YOUNG AUSTRIAN SAVES
LIVES OF &c MEN.

In giving details of the terrible dis
in which 100 men lost their lives, the
Anaconda Standard of Monday gives
the story of the heroism of Manus
Duggan, an Austrian scarcely 20 years
cid who was employed as nipper, and
who lost his own life after saving the
lives of ,26 men:
John Wirta, the second man
brought alive from the Spectator
shaft yesterday afternoon, told a story
last night in Murray hospital that
sounded more like fiction than truth.
He told of the rawlings of men going
mad, of the inconsequential things
they mentioned in the face of seeming
death, of the virile manhood of some
men that kept the others lighting
against the gas, and of the superhA
man vitality of Manus Duggan, whom
he only knew as the nipper' Wirta
who played no small part in the saw
ing of the first 26 men, played true to
form when he refused to take any
credit for his own work.
I'VE were working in 26l5 when
some Austrian ran into our crosscut
and began yelling, Come on; come on;
pretty danger
"At first we thought the man was
crazy, but we feared there might
have been cavein or fall of ground
above so we went up to the twenty
fourth level. There we smelled smoke
and gas for the first time and heard
that there was a big fire in the shaft.
"One of the men mentioned the
High Ore workings, and thought we
could get out that way, We started,
but We're stopped by the dividing bulk
head We had no hammers or axes, 50
turned back to the main tunnel We
first tried to go up to the twenty sec
Iond level. but the gas was so bad that
we were forced to stop. Some men
joined us in the main tunnel. | got 25
sticks of powder and two fuses and
went back toward the bulkhead, in
tending to blast it, and thus break
/
men had already broken through the
bulkhead with hammers and the gaJ
was going through SO fast that we
couldn't get near it.
Told of Blind Drift.
This was the first | heard of the
nipper, who had joined us in the main
tunnel He told us of a blind drift a
short distance away and suggested
that we get in it, bulkhead it up and
stay there as long as we could. We all
thought that we were facing death, so
we readily agreed to any plan.
while the men got the blanks for
the bulkhead | and another man car
ried in keg that still had two gal
Ions Of drinking water in it. We set
up the planks, piled dirt against them,
and then stuffed all holes and open
ings with our shirts and blouses that
we took from our bodies. Then we
the first AS soon as we built the Sec
ond the nipper advised us to extin-
guish our lights, as the carbide lamps
would use up too much oxygen in the
drift. There were 20 of us On there.
i This work was finished about 1870
Saturday morning The men felt
their way in turns to the key for a
drink and the water was gone before
we had been there a half hour. The
men had finished dinner just before we
heard of the fire. SO hunger did not
bother us.
Il can't describe the time we spent
in that blind drift. | had my watch
: the only one in the crowd, and flash
light Hours never crept around SO
slowly. We were in that bulkheaded
drift for a total of 33 hours.
Gaugine the Gas.
!. about an hour after we got behind
our bulkhead the men began to com
plain of the gas that had leaked
4 Through. The nipper stood beside the
bulkhead, opening a hole now and then
! to gauge the intensity of the gas in
the drift outside. He stood there fol
the entire 80 hours. never speaking a
word except to encourage the other
men and to guess on the time that il
would take them to clear the drift OF
gas and smoke.
Nov and then man would men
ton that he would certainly love to
? have a glass of beer or a cigarette
5 One man said he wished there was
5 light and a pack of cards TO pass away
= the time, but soon they all quit talk
: ing. The gas was beginning to work.
: Saturday night about 5 o'clock thu
\ men began to realize that they were
: diving a slow death. One man began
\ jumping about in the drift yellnt
|. like mad and stumbling over the res
: of us, who were lying flat against tn
tracks to get every possible draft
I fresh air. Before midnight Saturda
d night every man was gasping in lon
S groans. Even the nipper at the bulk
r head was gasping for breath, The on
: man who started yelling dropped sud
S. denly and was quiet except for his la
S bored breathing.
r. Farewell Said.
! "As lay there with my head agains
e a. rail of the track l felt another ma