Year: 1873

sleeve of coat into one of the little run
nels which were trlckling down the walls
of the mine, and to moisten his lips with
it. He pushed it from him. asking
them mo to max fule o. him." A
little water refreshed him, and then. in
the same sepulchral whisper, he said,
"Eh, boys, but ye've been lang O. COM
ing"


Word was now sent to the outer world
that John Brown had been found, and
was yet living. The lessee came down,
the doctor was sent for, and preparations
were made to have the sufferer taken up
to daylight again. And here one of the
strangest parts of the story must be told.
If by chance the reader has ever been in
a coal pit he may have remarked that
upon the decayed timber props and old
wooden boardings an unseemly growth
Of a white and yellow fungus often takes
root, hanging in loathsome tufts or
punches from the sides or roof whenever
the wood is decaying. After being eau
tiously pushed through the newly cut
passage, John Brown was placed on the
lessee's knees on the cage in which they
were to be pulled up by the engine AS
they rose into daylight, sight which
had only been family visible in the fee
bic lamplight below presented itself,
never seen before and never to be for
gotten. The same loathsome fungus had
spread over the poor collier's body as it
would have done over rotting log. His
beard had grown bristly during his con-
finement, and all through the hairs this
white fungus had taken root. His mas
ter, as the approaching daylight made
the growth more visible, began to pull
off the fungus threads, but (as be told
me himself his hand was pushed aside
by John, who asked him, ma, moo, wad
ye kittle (tickle) me?'


By nine o'clock on that Friday morn
ing, three and twenty days after he had
walked out of his cottage for the last
time, John Brown was once more resting
on his own bed. A more CHASTITY figure
could hardly be pictured. His face had


not the color of a faintlng fit or of death


but wore a strange sallow hue like that
of a mummy. His flesh seemed entire.
ly gone. nothing left but the bones un.
der thin covering of leather like skin


This was specially marked about the


face, where, in spite of the growth Of


hair every bone looked as if it were


coming through the skin, and his eyes


frightened into unnatural lustre, were


sunk far into his skull. The late DR.


Sloan, of Ayr, whe visited him, told me


that to such degree was the bod,


wasted, that in putting the hant


over the stomach, one could distinct,


feel the inner surface of the back


bone. Every atom of fatty matter in tn,


body seems to have been consumed.


Light food was spariEgly administer


ed, and he appeared to revive, and woulc


insist on being allowed to speak and tel


of his experiences in the pit. He hac


no food with him all the time of his con


fnement. Once before, when locked u,


underground by a similar accident. h


had drunk the oil from his lamp. ant


had thereby sickened himself, so tba


this time, though he had both oil ant


tobacco with him, he had tasted neither


For some days he was able to walk abou


in the open uncrushed part of the mine
where, too, he succeeded in supplyin,


himself with water to drink. But il


the end, as he grew weaker, he ha,


stumbled across the roadway and fallel


into the position in which he was found
The trickle of water ran down the min
close to him, and was for time the onl
sound he could hear, but he could no
reach it, When asked if he had not dc
SPARED of ever being restored to the up
per air, he assured his questioners tina
he had never for moment lost the be
lief that he would be rescued. He ha
heard them working towards him, an
from the intervals of silence and SCUM
he was able. after a fashion, to measur
: the passing of time it would seem, toe
that he had been subject either to vivi
dreams or to a wandering of the min
when awake, for he thanked again an
again the sister of his master for he
: great kindness in visiting him in th
pit and cheering him up as she did.
On the Sunday afternoon when som
of his old comrades were sitting roun
the bedside, he turned to them with a
anxious, puzzled look and said: "a
boys, wheD | win through this, I've
I queer story to tell ye.' But this wa
I not to be. His constitution had recei,
ed such a shake as even its uncommo
strength could not overcome. That ev,
ming it became too plain that the appa
ent recovery of appetite and spirits ha
been but the last flicker of the lamp


life. Later in the night he died.


; Lafayette Cady, who has been repor
n ed by several of the State papers as ha
Y ing been.murdered and robbed in N
it braska, is still alive. and is keeping b