THE RISKS OF A MINER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 228, 24 September 1872, Page 4

THE RISKS OF A MINER.

What is jitoiaditf 9 Pttttfe^thi^Mtibn to the puzzled Cormß|rmiijerl who had come upon us, wHtte^e^wilfi ohippipg. off ; into^the^^l^j^jp^P^ toip west; lerel we cao.get^VSeeiag^re still' odri^^ he further explamedihimaelf^'VSappos" away, and tunnel through till we pierce the shaft, tnd thns make a or out- : let ta carry ott the water, whicn other^is^^ l^nli^ia'ke^l^lllop^iiho :pit^ Is there any danger m^^wqri??^^^^

ia there any work we miners do that isn't chock full of it, o- ono Bort and other ? In my time :l ; h^*^ ,&ss ty'lSf fou *~s r » fire damp, f Julian's,! fo\lsJt!wrthjMj Blips and stumbles that have brought me very nigh death; but I wer never fast in an 'adit,' though I once helped to dig out a mate o' mine that was; and I'll tell you, if you like to listen, how it came about. This adit were about a mile long, and as there were some sort of obstruction in it, the captain of the mine ordered one of us to see; what it|Waß^a ; nd i|renio^ejit.< \ y l) fejl s to tlie ' lot " of ' v Will Thomas" to this, and several of ub satf him enter; but expecting he would go right through to the shaft and out by the ladders, we thought no more about him till, leaving the mine myself, some hours afterwards, I saw bis.'youDg wife standing at the door' with her baby" in her arms. ••**>* Some two hours after this, when I'd almost forgotten all about it, and was having my pipe while the youngsters learned their Bible verses, Will Thomas's wif^cameHotfie. door; pale and frightened. He had not returned. Where could he be? could no one, no one tell her? In a moment the thought came across me, 'He's fast in the edit/ and blaming myself for not thinking thifl sooner £ I staged; pIA wpraatf&rke care): of thej poor iVemblingjcreatiire, and went as fast as my legs would carry me to hunt up all those who had worked in the same cour (corps) or gang as Will. He must be found, we were all agreed upon that ; and as he wer a neighbor and mate %f { mine, I offers to be the cine tojj searelf for him. We miners ate used to groping In the depths of the earth, and this wer no worse than I had done before, yet my heart beat fast, and the big drops of sweat stood on my face, aa I crawled along*; .expecting every mom^erit'to 'come upon 'the dead body of Will Thomas. Nay, once, though I'm no coward, I was almost ready to go back ; I didn't though, and every 1 odd while I called out to the missing, man. But the shout awoke no answer except the trickling of the little stream that ran , along the bottom of the adit, and the echo of my own voice that sounded; strangely : hollo w<ti dmy ear. T<f crawled 1 about'the third of a mile, when far away I heard a muffled shriek, which could only come from my poor mate. Though I bad been listening for some sound to tell me he was still living, a cold shiver ran through me when that dismal screech pealed along the adit ; but I shouted back lustily thai help wer near, and crawled on faster than before. ; By and by I could hear a deep groan, then the low mutter of some one praying, and I knew I was nearing the place where Will must be. At last, squeezing myself through^ the narrowest part of the passage, I came to- where hie lay, as I expected, wedged in by a slip of the eafthVJPirinied down face— obliged to throw back' his Ke'adf which Was', all b e cmild move; to keep the wa ters of the stream from entering 'his mouth and drowning him — may be, sir, you can guess what he wer suffering better than I, in my rough way/ can tell ye. Seeing :tbe*gqny he must be in — keeping his head in that poaitipnr~s took off > rby coat, an d, rolling' it u p, placed \it under > his f chin . Then getting somer brandy down his throat to make him cheer up and be a man, while! went btick; for more help. He ,g&vei W.fc i i galpV ( au'd- f piiiru'fly begged me not to leave him. Those hours of pain and- darkness in -which he had cried out so bftWfor spmeona fo eavß him, then fancied he heard a step and grown full off tope, onjytb' lose S>' 'again -and give himself tip for lbst, v had pretty JDigh made a child of him. How he must ha' thought o' the poor wife fretting for him — of the babe^tjtey w|»b~ so prtiud qn~ of : the angry 'words they'd said/ito each" other now and igaiig, aadi ho wVh<J . coufii never make friends with a kiss as, be used Ho do, docU/ bear talkiDg aboat, iic¥ fJ tti«f ( prayer^ tfeil jbeard)iiiimdpot up'ito^liis if ft wer more than be could bear to see, me land my lantern go away from him anil leave him once more alone. v But there was no help for it, and when Itold'him it were the only of,-^av.ing s hiri;yie: said <»Gb4ftea,* mety and. God bless cc! Make the best ' : m^S^SS3^SSO^!N^ And so I went, but ft were with a sinking! heart, for I|knowed^i»e^wer so wer I ; ffpr ye* see sir^it were no 'easy .task ' to -yrofi^^^mimmSß^m^ oarrow tunnel, and remove it . before the poor fefew'undeVneath 1 wer exhausted, Butithere wer a white-faced woman praying for our euccees at the mouth of the pit and iwe went to work steadily, every; ,'joiie.} 5 eager to take their turn. It wer lateitfexif ?day before we brought W^t^Koniß^ ft&jft ■ftjjfg) he^^a^S^t'^^er D g^ }laiie^thlß;^ llfim ; ■; j ■;inp.it;wer|a'?l^^ ■; Bp^ll j of work withr jtis J^%ii;»J'hp|/-fi6^lßi' ; -"itG!fc " -: ; fOT^ihe,f, : ;t^ hou« or more fast in an^