LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2292, 6 August 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

FORTUNATE RESCUE. A COLLIERY MANAGER’S STORY, [“Chambers’ Journal.”] 1 If yon please, sir, t* pit-hill’s o’ fire !’ Such was the news I received one wild November night some years ago; and as I looked across the park which lay between my house and the colliery, I could see by the glare, which grew intenaer every moment, that the fire had already gained considerable hold upon the wooden platform about the pit’s mouth, which in Yorkshire is called the pit-hill or bank. It was then twelve o’clock, and I knew that two hours before nearly a hundred men and boys must have gone into the pit, on the ‘ night shift.’ In a few minutes I was on my way to the scene of the disaster. As I approached, I saw that the sides and floor and roof were already burned away, and nothing remained but the thick timbers which formed the framework of the ‘bank.’ Borne of these beams were of gigantic thickness and height; but the tire quickly swept arcund them and leaped up to the very top, until the whole vast ‘skeleton’ of the structure could be distinctly seen. The great pulley-wheels, high over the pit-head, were of course motionless ; and the strong wire-ropes which passed over them down the pit made two dark lines in the midst of the glare, which seemed to point perpetually to the men imprisoned below. It was a stormy night, and as the wind swept through the burning timbers, it carried off great masses of blazing wood—not mere sparks—and sent them flying over the yard and into the adjoining fields. When I reached the burning bank 1 found there was little hope of saving any part of the pit-hill. Fire engines were at work; but the water did nothing but hiss and spit against the red-hot beams, and the fire oontinued to rage more fiercely than ever. The engine-house, containing the powerful engines that worked the great winding-drum, was close at hand, and a little beyond was the * upoast ’ or ventilating shaft. It was quickly perceived that our only chance of rescuing the men lay in cutting off the fire from this building and the platform which led to the second pit. To do this, it was necessary to saw through two beams of timber nearly two feet square. This was a bard and perilous task ; but there were men there brave enough and strong enough to do it; and it was done, and the engine house saved. As soon as these beams were liberated, a great portion of the burning pile came crashing down; and as the falling timbers fell upon the waggons that had been partly filled with coal the day before, fresh fuel was added to the flames, which now rose up in columns that towered even above the head-gear. Every eye now was fixed upon the ropes and the pulleywheels at the top. The thick iron band began to swell, and the strands to break ; snap, snap, went the wires; the hempen core within the wire took fire, and then at last the rope g ive way, and down went the iron cage to the bottom of the shaft. Shortly afterwards the pulley-wheels dropped from their lofty perch, and were buried in the blazing heap far below. There was nothing left now but to let the pit-hill burn itself away. But what about the men in the pit? Experienced underground stewards, and a mining engineer who had been summoned to give his advice, were busy all through the night devising plans of rescue. Some of them indeed gravely doubted whether the work would not prove to be the recovery of dead bodies rather than the rescue of living men ; but they did not tell their donbts to the weeping women who gathered eagerly about them whenever they came out of the office. The first thing to be ascertained was whether the men in the pit were still alive. The ventilating shaft had formerly been used as a “ daawing-shaft”— that is, a shaft by which men could be sent into the pit and coal drawn from it—and fortunately the pulley-wheel still stood in its place over the shaft, A rope was quickly fixed to the old drum, and the long disused “tub” swung at the pit’s mouth ready to go down. A lamp was placed inside the tub, and with it a note, written by the manager, asking for information as to the condition of the men and the state of the workings, but warning the poor fellows agaiost getting into the tub, as we were not as yet certain that it would bo safe for them to ascend in it. While these preparations were being made, the crowd about the old shaft increased both in numbers and in noise ; old colliers eagerly discussing various methods of “getting ’em outand the wives, mothers, and friends of the imprisoned men impatiently urging the workers to “ luke sharp and fetch ’em up,” As the tub began to descend, however, a sudden silence fell upon the throng, and every eye followed the rope as it disappeared in the smoky shaft. It was decided to leave the tub at the bottom half an hoar before drawing it up again ; and for those thirty minutes no sounds were heard except the crackling of the still burning timber a d the low moaning cries of sorrowing women, Now and then one of the banksmen leaned over the mouth of the pit, in the hope of catching some sound of a movement In the dark depts below j but nothing was heard ; and at length the signal was given to bring the tub up again. Eagerly did the watchers peer down the shaft; and when the solitary lamp was seen glimmering amid the ascending smoke, stronger whispers of hope were breathed than had been heard before. But, alas ! the letter came back unopened, by the side of the lamp. It was clear that no men wore at that shaft, and that the light had not been seen by those below After a short interval, the lamp was again placed within the tub, and again the tub was lowered into the pit, and left standing at the bottom for half an hour. Occasionally, the rope seemed to quiver and shake, as if some hands were clutching it below; but this could not have been the case, as, when the tub came up again, the light was extinguished and the letter was still untouched. Even the moat hopeful were now inclined to despair ; for it was argued that if the lamp could not ‘ live ’ at the bottom of the pit, no human being could live there ; but still we decided to repeat the experiment Again the tub, with the lighted lamp and the letter, was carefully lowered; and after a short interval it was brought up ones more. This time, the lamp still burning, raised our hopes that the men might, after all, be living; but the untouched letter told us that they had seen nothing of our silent messenger When the fit e. which had now been burning nearly seven hours, had almost spent itself, and the smoke coming up the ventilating shaft grew less dense, several miners heroically volunteered to descend the old shaft in search of their mates.

* Lot ’em go,’ said ono of tho women ; Mf my man were down t’ pit, sudn’t I want

somebody to try to get him up? Let’m go; but God save ’em, and them as is at t’ bottom too!’ Thus encouraged, three men took: their ‘Davy’ lamps in their hands and stepped into the tub. The signal was given ; and slowly, very slowly, the tub went down into the darkness ; but the lights had scarcely disappeared when shouts from the men bade us reverse tho engine and bring them up again. The shaft was so ‘ foul ’ with smoke and bad air that they bad been almost choked. The failure of this attempt to reach tho poor prisoners in the mine sorely tried the spirits of the strongest and moat hopeful among us ; and big stalwart men, who had faced many a danger without flinching, turned aside to hide the tears that would steal down their grimy cheeks ; while women and children ran down the hill despairing, and sat down to weep and moan in little groups, amid tho weird light of the slowly expiring fire. It was a heart-rending sight, one never to be forgotten. Again we tried the lamp-and-lettcr plan of reaching the men. This time wo let tho tub remain at the bottom of the shaft only fifteen minutes ; and ae it came up again. Jack Lucas, our chief banksman, stretched himself so far over the month of tho pit in bis anxiety to see what was in the returning tub, that he was in danger of losing his balance and falling to the bottom. I knelt by his side, and presently he whispered to me—‘There’s summat lo’t tub as didn’t go down in it.’ ( To he continued.)