DEATH OF A HERO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 208, 1 September 1881, Page 1

DEATH OF A HERO.

The New York Times reports the : death of John Hosie, who was born in; Stirlingshire, Scotland, in 1812, and was a splendid type of the hard industrious Scottish race which has done so, much t) develop tlie coalfields of Pennsylvania. John Hosie, a veteran coal operator, the hero of the Carbondale mine disaster of 1846, died at Scranton on 7th May. He wa3 well known throughout the anthracite region as a superintendent of colleries, but his principal prominence was gained by: the thrilling adventure in the mines of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, at the head of the Lackawanna^ Valley, 36 years ! ago, when he w'asj imprisoned for a week in the bowels of the earth, and was given up for dead. The : disaster occurred on the morning of! January 12 1846,, about an hour after the men had gone to work. 3?irst there 1 was a rumbling sound like that of dis-: tan. thunder, and this was followed by: a. collapse bf about 50 acres of mine along the mountain-side, filling thd underground galleries with death and' terror. Fifty miners were instantly^ "killed where they stood. Others were imprisoned in their narrow chambers, where their skeletons were found weeks afterwards, the rats having stripped the flesh from tlieir bones. As soon as; Hosie recovered from the shock of the! collaspe, he found himself face' down ward, tightly wedged into a narrow' crevice, with scarcely room enough to breathe. Being a man of iron will, and having great experience in mining mat-J ters, his firsfc resolve was thafc he should nofc die without a struggle. He set to work with his fingers to pick his way among the debris, and when he had irade an aperture wide enough to drag his t ody through, he was dismayed by a violent commotion amoung the rocks around him, which resulted in barring his way. For the first time he was {.isheßFtened, He, must have *b§ei^ti

work 24 hours to earn that slendei' means of hope, and he realised a feeling of despair in finding it cutoff. The' grinding of the restless rocks caused hira fresh fear lest they should finally crusli him in his narrow resting-place. It was with great suffering that he managed to inhale some air from the crevices through which it was pumped by the action 6f the jagged mass overhead. A terrible thirst came over him! and the only thing he had to allay it with was the oil of his lamp, which he drank eagerly. After lying in his cramped position for some time, working \Vit_i kis fingers to force a way through', he was horrified to find that •he had worn the flesh to the bone, .and the intense pain prevented further operations of that kind« Then there was another movement. The rocks and the narrow fissure widened, making a way .through which he could creep comfortably on hands, and knees. Every minute in that .terrible darkness seemed an eternity of time, but it Was sothe relief when he discovered at length a place in which he : could stand erect. He knew he, was inside the fall, that is, next the mountain,^ and : that between himself and the outside world, lay all the shattered mass of rock and coal. A fruitiest effort was made to reach an air-shaft) Then Mr. Hosie thought that by feeling his way into the rocks and learning thereby the direction of the break, he might make his way to the main entrance. For several hours he groped about to ascertain the desired in-f formation. Swarms of rats rushed squealing by him, and on Various occa-j sions he feared they would fall upon and devour him, but he managed to fight his way successfully, and at lengtli emerged into the main entrance he had so eagerly sought. Here his thir.t was overpowering, and, meeting a little pool of water, he lay down and put his 1 lips to it, after which he was so completely overcome that he could not ris4 again. He was discovered in that posi-j tion soon afterwards by a party of miners, and carried to his home, where 1 his wife had been mourning him for dead. The clothing was torn from his body, his finger-tips were worn to the bones, and he presented a sorry specta-J cle, but after careful nursing rallied again, and ebon afterwards engaged in 1 mining. He has filled several large| railroad contracts at various times, and in 1858 builta portion of the Covingtori and Ohio Railroad in Virginia, fpt] which that state still owes him 30,000 dols. He was also interested as d mine-owner in this country and in Sch-j uylkill,* knd was known as a man of great force of character.