Year: 1879

a NHamDeF Oh UeAIus


/ fOroville Mercury, August IL


Word was brought to this city week


ago this morning that the water had oil


been pumped ont of the Banner mine,


and the skeletons of the men buried by
the cave of twenty years ago recovered.
l.. II. Ayers, foreman of the mine, Of
fered to transport us to the lower
regions. We shed our good clothes, put
on gum boots and coat, an old hat, and
clambered into the big iron bucket.
Down, down, down we wentl Two hum
dred feet isn't but short distance on
the earth's surface, but it seems terri
bic long way when descending mining
shaft. The bottom was reached in safe
| ty, and We scrambled out into pool of
water and mud about two feet deep.
Candles were lighted, and following the
tunnel distance of fifteen Yards, we
came to ladder leading mp to the old
level broken into by the blast set off a
week or ten days previous. The top of
this ladder rested in hssure hardly
wide enough for a man to squeeze
through, beyond which was one OF the
prospecting cross-cnts run by the min
ers twenty years ago. Ten feet further
on drift was run off from the cross-cut
distance of about twenty feet which we
have seen fit to style, ''The Chamber of
Death" On pile of dirt thrown back
from the face of the drift lay two skele-
tons. From appearance, the animated
forms once surrounding and occupying
these ghastlv evidences of mans mortal
ity had laid down side by side in obedi-
ence to the mandatory summons of the
monarch Death. Here lay the empty
skull of one by his side, while that of
the other had rolled down the dirt pile
and found a resting place at its owners
feet. -Four boots, from each of whom
projected leg bone, were partially i'm
bedded in the mud at our feet. Picks,
drills, and shovels were all neatly piled
up together, just as though the brave
men, realizing that escape was impossi-
BILE, had put their house in order prior
to closing up their earthly accounts
There was the piece of candle that flick
cred out in all probability, even as the
spark of life departed them-slowly,
peacefully, yet surely. The walls were
coated with slime, the air was tainted
with odors impure, our candles shed fee
BILE rays upon ledge of quartz over
head, nothing marred the deathly ST.
lence save the monotonous drip, drip of
little spring as it oozed out of the roof
and splashed in a puddle on the floor.
verify, if ever there was place deserv-
ing such title, this is ''The Chamber of
Death" Taking pick, the piece of can
die and a small lump of the plumbago
strata in which the unfortunate men
were working at the time of the disaster,
as relics, we wended our way back to the
shaft and took passage for the surface
Under the heading of 1.-TWO Men Bur-
led Alive" the Butte Democrat of Sat
urday morning, December 8, 1859, said:
cat 8 o'clock on the morning of the
26th ult., a portion of the tunnel in the
quartz claim of Messrs. Smith & Sparks,
at Table Mountain, caved in, entom bing
alive, probably, within the tunnel, two
| of the workmen, David Shine and F. G..
Mathews


"On the claim there is shaft 165 feet
| in depth, at the bottom of which was the
engine which raised the dirt and rocks,
| and drained another tunnel 100 feet be-
! low the engine. The unfortunate men
were at work in the lower tunnel, when
the earth Immediately under the engine
caved in, filling the outlet of the tunnel,
rendering the engine useless, and all
| efforts to rescue them unavailing. It is
supposed that the tunnel must have filled
with water within twenty -four hours after
| the accident.


"One cannot readily imagine more
horrible death than to be shut up, hope
less of escape. in the very bowels of the
earth, 265 feet beneath the surface, in
utter darkness, with the water gradually


rising, and lingering death about to
ensue, and ensuing.


| "We understand that it was against
the wishes of the proprietors of the claim
that the two men entered the tunnel on
the morning of the catastrophe, as the
heavy rains had so saturated the ground
| fears were entertained of such an event
as happened. But one of the men was
extremely anxious to give one more


blast, confidently expressing the belief
that he would thereby reach lost vein


of quartz"


| In our opinion the writer erred as to


the cause of death. We think the men


died from suffocation. The mine had


been settling for several days, and guages


had been placed in position in various
portions of the works SO that the work


men could keep themselves informed re.


garding their safety Shine and Mathews


were running prospecting drift on con-


tract; they were to draw half their pay


while the work was in progress, and the


remainder when the lost ledge was


struck. Both men were confident thai


they would finish the job that day, and


announced when going to work in the


morning that it was their last day in the


mine. About half-past 8 one of the car


men discovered on looking at one Of tn.


guages that the roof of the tunnel wal


settling very rapidly The alarm wa.


promptly given. Everybody hastenet


to escape, except Shine and partner


Dan Hopkins, who died short tim,


since at Cherokee, was the last man t.


leave the mine. He stopped at the moutl
, of the chamber where the victims wer,
working and told them to come out
; that the mine was caving in. Shine wa
drilling a hole and replied that the,
would be out just as soon as they &C
the blast ready to fire. Hopkins had no


yet reached the surface when the tunne


was closed by the cave. From the fac
: that the tools were all together on top o
the dirt thrown back by the men as the
+ worked, and that the skeletons laid righ
beside them, our hypothesis is that tn
1 two men were overcome by the foul ali
$ after having returned from trip in tn
S tunnel for their tools with which TO di
$ out.


Y ACTRESSES IN LoNDoN.-The Spanis
4 King, when Cervantes' great work wa
v yet novelty, saw man stretched ON
s bank of the Manzanares reading a boo
: and laughing over it. He declared hin
| n. II l. Il L A :