The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 28, 1901, Page 1

His onc ked ; f Jue is worec w; s ¢ unnaturolly s merves are 1 im- with tion hat was the at was the ques- utes I kept my my candle and ce of the tun- n ten feet e ceiling hal mass of dam), unknown tons, be- g overcame me for erate condition in through my No one way to Range had doomed to the om which there of rescue. I ten feet long, 1 must remain serably of thirst and on. how a human being sooner did this occur egan to look around to see way of water and pro- I had been twenty- ness and had never my canteen under- it was there, in a h was there, too, take e. Yes with little miche, My rrom the tun- Then I chamber, bered t ad put them ir the rof t nt wful shock knew the fir: pair took into t face with sounc irit in that Jivi tomi, and [ stopped After a w my brs hich had became clearer, and I be- e and two little street—here in San - her moving about roor putting the humble sehold in order. d wondering whether 1 uld make a strike and we shot be reunited. Ah, when? It be weeks before anybody ever into the canyon some gold, should. clear find Ds, searclt of v the debris m; I as 1 thought of effort con- efore pocket prospector, in nel and rema ov this, but by a desperate trol led my nerves and set myself for the first time to see what could be done to extricate myself from my horrible posi- tion Almost the first thing that struck me was that the air remained pretty fresh in the chamber. I could tell this by the candle burning with a steady, white light. Had it become badly vitiated, the candle would have been sure indication. T knew then that some fresh air must be filtering its way through the failen debris. I made my way toward the entrance and stumbled over a short shovel at the side of the drift. I picked up the shovel and resolutely attacked the huge mass of fallen earth that intervened between me and liberty. I had not worked ten min- utes, however, before the hopefulness of such an attempt became apparent. It was evidently a heavy top-slide. As fast as I removed the earth from bepeath, it was replaced by fresh talc falling from above. I was afraid that the talc might pack so as to utterly exclude all the incom- ing air from the small chamber. In that case I should undoubtedly soon be suf- focated. In the most frightful condition of mind you can possibly conceive, I threw myself upon the ground and re- mained for some time almost insensible to my surroundings. The sufferings of a Kfetime secmed compressed .into mo- to aamit my body and work in—four or five feet a day. If I could last out for five or six days I could surely effect my lib- erty. . Then I remembered I had no tools- nothing but the shevel. I would ve glven worlds for a pick and I looked evervwhere for one, but the search was quite unavailing. It was at this time, when about to yield again to despair, that 1 thought of tha candlestick. T took it up and examined it closely. I had made it myself of the best Jessop stéel. It was all in one piece, and 1 was very proud of it. It was a very ments. My entire lite passed berore me in s endless panorama, in which the were outlined with the istinctnes: I recalled, with most minute particularity, every inci- I found mvself ac- at details long since for- 1 knew that it was the hysterical merriment of the insane which precedes the final overthrow of reason. Was I going mad? As reason reasserted herself and I began to grow a little calmer I reviewed all the actions of my life, prayed fervently for forgiveness a endeavored to prepare myself for the awful and lingering death which I now knew must be inevitable. I moistened my parched throat and tongue with = tiny sip of water. I could have emptied the canteen at a draught, but forebore. Hours passed. I judged'it must be getting toward night. ~Finding I had plenty of matches with me, I extinguished my candle,” swallowed a morsel of bread, lay down and, utterly exhausted, fell into a deep sleep. From this I awoke feeling, strange to say, much calmer. Having fully prepared myself to die, it did not seem so difficult. I sat thus in the total darkness for what seemed hours, ruminating on the past again, but I could not stand the terrible loneliness of it, and I struck one of my matches with extreme care and lit a can- dle. 1 fell to counting the candles in the box mechanically, agd turning them over. and over in my hands. There were eight of them. I wondered if I should eat them when my small stock of food was gone! It seemed a dreadful waste to burn them, but I concluded I could better go hungry than be in the dark. Suddenly I sprang to my . feet, for an idea, - like -an- .inspiration,- had flashed an the dent of my boyhood. tually laughin gotten, “WITH A CRY across my brain. “The shaft! The shaft!" 1 shouted, just like a crazy man and as if some oue could hear me. ~ Right.above me, in a direct line,” was the old shaft. I was in seventy-six feet, and it was_tunning on an angle of 35 de- grees to ninety feet. I had intended cutting it further on and using it as an air shaft to my mine.- Why not gopher up and strike it} 1 FELL TO THE GROUND™ { The bare idea, as its feasibility became more and more evident, nearly sent me wild. fear—fear that the shaft migh't be too dis- tant for me to reach while my strength lasted. I forced myself to be calm, how- ever, and calculated that &t.the most the floor of the incline could be but twenty feet above the ceiling of the tunnel. I could gopher—or make a hole big enough Wild, first with hope, second with. different lcoking article then from the battered relic you see before you. The more T examined it the more I was confi- dent it would stand the strain. T took the candle out of it and felt its point. It was sharp as a needle. Striking it in the soft talc walls of the tunnel had not blunted it in the least. I took the candles out of the box, set the box on end and, with the queerest mining implement ever heard of. started to dig my way to liberty I selected the middle of the <eiling of the tunnel, close to the face. The sharp steel of the candlestick cut rapidly into the soft talc, and lump after lump of it became detached and fell to the floor of the tunnel. After a bit I could not reach any higher and, getting off the box I piled all I had brought down into a heap, put the box on it, climbed up and continued. I kebt this up for hours before stopping to rest. When I took my first “blow,’ as miners call it, the lower part of my body was already disappearing through the ceil- ing. I felt much encouraged and, climb- ing on to the box again, redoubled my efforts, The next move I made was to cut steps in the face of the tunnel for my feet, bracing my back against the ho'e T was boring. I continued ‘ris until the whole of my body hal disappeared: I worked upward and upward in this way until I was so exhausted that I could not raise my arms above my head. The candlestick _bent like a willow wand under the fearful strain I imposed upon it, but its temper was marvelous. It always straightened out again. I could tell, however, that it was becoming - perceptibly blunted. I 8™ climbed down from my gopher hole and, while resting, sharpened it on the shovel. It was while th engaged that I dis- covered I was threatened by a new dan- ger. Loose dirt uples about three times as much as dirt in place. tz, for instance, will maké a t £ ore i place In a mine. On the dump take t . My small chamber was already a quarter filled with the fallen othing remained to be done but pack it as closcly as possible, so I shoveled it up against the intervening barrier and tramped it as closely as I could. When I had done this, being completely worn out, I took a small drink of water and a mouthful of food, lay down, blew out my candle and sank into dreamless sleep, the sleep which Iy follows exhaustion. low many hours went by I do not know. I had left my watch in the tent and had no means of telling day from night. At last I was awakened by a trade-rat T ing across my face. I lit my candle and saw it scuttle away through a crev'ce toward the entrance of the tunnel. Some- how this little visitor from the outer world greatly cheered me. I ate a littla, for I was already almost starving. and drank moderately of the precious water, which was rapidly diminishing in the can- teen. Then I climbed up into my hole and resolutely set to work again. When I again efforts from sheer weariness, I had made in all eleven feet from the ceiling of the tunnel. Cal- culating that upraise of twenty feet was necessary in order to reach the shaft, But space t of Thirteen cubic fe may tale a long. ge: ceased my an 1 was a little more than half way. by this so, my ons w practically ted water near all gone, and my workiig powers greatly impoverished by the le strain I had been under. Light also absolutely Decessary to me, bt three of my precious candles remained. I resumed work, putting out the candle whenever resting, and relighting it For- tunately I had plenty of m time, exhau provi ma was and Hours of patier the candlestick fallowed, with at in- tervals. I was at this time sixteen feet from the ceiling of the tunnel. The fallen dirt liad reduced the heiglit of the cham- ber in wkich I was confined from six feet to a narrow coffin-like space in which [ was barely able to sit upright. I did not dare to expend much of my strength in tamping the dirt so as *o get more room. 1 required it all for work in the uprise. I was so weak I could hardly climb to the top of the hole. My water was entirely My fingers were worn to the bone gone. with the friction of the steel candle- stick. I felt the time of mv last effort for I was fast approaching. Once more I attacked the too solid ceil- ing of my escape shaft. / The fear began to grip my heart strings with deathlike chill that I had missed the shaft above. True, my gopher hole ran up as straight as a die, but possibly the tun- nel T had run, although at the beginning it had been started directly under the mouth of the old shaft—posaibly the end where I now was had diverged to the right or left and I might not be directly below the ending of the old shaft. I felt with sinking heart that surely by this time I must be on a level with the old shatt. My God! My God! I might be only two feet to the right or left and yet as devilishly buried alive as though 1 was two thoufand feet below ground! I felt I was going mad. I began to curse, and in my agony beat the narrow walls of this death hole with my doubled fists. The talc fesponded with its usual soft, dead thud. I might be within a foot of liberty and such stuff as that would give no indication of a hollow beyond I threw myself against with both hands jabbed blunted candlestick. C ceiling and it with the 1 sang as at azily the sallors do at work. The blood streamed down my arms. I ranted, I cursed, I prayed! My arms seemed like great, helpless, dead weights as 1 swung them from shoulders trantically against that hellish piled earth reme effort! Unconscious- ness all upon me! There was a crumbling, a ¢rushing, a downpouring of tale. The sha The shaft! Thank God! Thank God! I thrust my nothing but s talc from the edge ing up lay bre shaft. I was saved! Up the ineline I could see the open out into God's own green earth beyond. Paintully I crawled toward the daylight. Now I felt e revi ving breath of fresh air. I was once more on the world and one of its people. It was high noon. ~blinded m I closed my eyes and stagggred to my feet. I stretched my arms out and forward to- ward those giad, warm rays of the sun. Giddiness sezed me and blackness over- whelmed me. With a cry I fell to the ground and lay still and quiet. Finally conscious: returned to me sufticlently that I was able to drag my- seif to the water hole. It was ten days before I could walk the eighteen milcs to Ballarat. P French women always come to the front when there is a riot or revolution in pre gress. In the recent disturbances at Mar- seilles, when dockmen were stoning t soldiers, 200 women, some. with babies and found I tore away the and slope of the The light dazzled me in their arms, took part in the demonstra- uon.