Show DEEP DOWN IN liv THE EARTH I THREE MEN AWAIT RELEASE jil II I s jI I II I 1 W OREMAN lilt OF i Al At PhA A illS SHAfT L J Ji I I i A I Miners Imprisoned 1000 Feet Below Surface in Telephone Communication Witt With the Upper World Imperilled Men Feast east I on Deli Delicacies Delicacies Delicacies and Hope for Liber Liberation liberation Liberation Christmas Day Special to The Herald Ely Elv Nev Ne Dec 13 Freedom from captivity in the bowels bow ls of the earth Is la lathe the Christmas present that three miners employed by b the Giroux Con Consolidated Consolidated Consolidated Mines company are looking forward to with eagerness These men have been entombed on the 1000 foot level of the Alpha shaft shafto ol oZ o the Giroux property since December 4 and do not look for release before Christmas day The men are R H A Bailey Pete McDonald 20 years e rs old and Fred Brown 40 years old Bailey is mar married marrIed ried ned and has two children McDonald a mere boy is having a thrilling initia initiation Initiation tion lion into the mining minim business in this country He came from Cornwall only a short time ago and had worked but two weeks when caught by the slide of rock lOck that wrecked the shaft Brown Brownis is an old miner experienced in the hazards of the calling In their dangerous situation the three men are standing together shoulder to shoulder and facing the unknown with the same degree of cool bravery Wife and Children Baileys wife and children are at the mouth of the shaft during the greater part of at every day The children play playon I on the mine dump little realizing the perilous position in which their father waits walts for his release The mother re remains remains remains mains near the telephone in the engine room eagerly waiting for an occa A V FOOD CARRIERS 1 IMPRISONED USED TO SUPPLY MEN MENI Ii I I I opportunity to talk with her husband At no time since recovering from the first shock of the news of her hus husbands husbands husbands bands Deril peril has Mrs Bailey lost her herself herself herself self control and while fully cognizant that any an minute may inay leave her a widow she bravely gives words of cheer and confidence to her husband in inthe inthe inthe the darkness of the shaft a thousand feet below the surface of the earth While friends look forward to the re release release release lease of the three men other friends are mourning the death of their com corn comrades comrades rades who were killed when the first mighty convulsion of earth sent thou thousands thousands thousands sands of tons of rock and debris hurt hurtling hurtling hurtling ling down the shaft The dead men are C W Turner known by his friends as Slim and Mike Constant Constanti Caught in the Shaft Neither Turner nor Constanti was as married Turner was about 40 years ears old a thoroughly competent miner and anda a native of England Constant Constanti is a amere amere amere mere boy being but 21 years ears old He ile is isa isa isa a Turk and has no relatives s in this country count Both were popular and held the esteem of their employers as asgood good miners sober and reliable workmen The Thee e men were caught on the bot bottom bottom tom torn of the shaft by the first fall of earth Turner was instantly crushed to death and Constant Constanti was terribly in injured injured injured and later smothered in the clouds of dust that rose from the de debris debrIs debris bris and sifted down from the point at which it was held in suspension in inthe inthe Inthe the shaft Their bodies are still in the tile bottom of the shaft The cause of the wrecking of tile the Al Alpha pha plia shaft s 9 peculiar and ond the blame can only rest upon the shoulders of Nature Between the foot fo t level and the foot flet level of If f this shaft is a strata of hard quartzite resting on and sur surmounted surmounted mounted hv by b soft stratas of porphyry The great weight of the upper strata caused the quartzite strata to break and settle the lower soft strata giving beneath the weight Great Timbers Snapped The shifting of rock caused one en entire entire entire tire side of the shaft to buckle and the great timbers were snapped like straws in a storm Thousands of tons of earth and rock slid into the shaft without an instants warning and with a roar that could be heard In underground work workings workIngs workings ings a half mile away Bailey the was at his station on the th 1000 foot level He ran back to the fact of the drift until the tho thomass mass of rock has ceased cea ed to shoot past his station Then in total darkness he crawled amid smothering clouds of dust duct to the telephone and rang the bell An answer came from above and Bailey told the surface man that an ac accident accident accident had taken and told him to shut off the th steam at once so that the men would not be parboiled in the event the pipes broke Just as this message was delivered there was an another another another other dull grinding roar and the tele tale telephone phone Jhone wires wire were snapped mapped Hundreds of Volunteers Bailey did not know the fate of the themen themen themen men below but supposed them all killed A short time later the sur survivors survivors survivors McDonald and Brown crawled limply limpl up the ladder from the 1100 1 station and told their story I Constanti Constant and Turner were dead be below below below I low The survivors had escaped as by bya a miracle The instant they heard the roar of the breaking timbers they had run to the back of the drift away from the face of the shaft shouting to their companions to follow men were dazed arid and unable enable to heed beed this advice and their lives were paid as forfeit As soon as word was spread concern concerning concernIng concerning ing the accident there were hundreds of volunteers from all the surrounding properties to aid al ai in the work of rescue Of the many miners n who volunteered for this dangerous work was J A Gallagher foreman of the th Veteran mine of the Cumberland Ely Because of his wide experience in mines and his thorough reliability he was laB chosen choen by Superintendent E W Walters as the foreman of the rescue crews Mass Held Suspended Examination of the shaft showed that between the f X J and level a agnat great gnat hole had be torn in the tho earth thousands s of rock having been displaced and fallen In the shaft By some p ullar freak the mine timbers had caught and interlaced somewhere below the level and above alove the 1000 1001 level holding almost the entire mats mal s in suspension in the shaft The ground was constantly slipping from the hole In the side of the shaft and there was wag imminent danger of an another another another other and even more disastrous slip This hole was filled with cordwood cord wood cords of wood being required for this purpose The blocks are arc fastened together with cables and are packed into the hole as tightly as possible to prevent a further shifting of the rock Shaft Is The shaft is being as the work is proceeding and the work of actually removing the debris from the shaft was not begun for more than a week after the accident In the meantime the men on the 1000 level are being advised as to the exact state of affairs No effort has been made to deceive them or to lead them to hold false hopes By a seeming miracle the air pipe which was on the side of the shaft op opposite opposite opposite that broken In was left intact This Is a pipe and the men below owe their salvation to the fact that this pipe did not break After telephone communication was broken the first time the men shouted up the air pipe that they were all right rightA A little later they attached the broken telephone wires below belOv to the steam pipe and shouted Instructions to the themen themen themen men on the surface to do the same Thus was communication reestablished reestablIshed reestablished How Food Is Sent Down While this was being done preparations preparations preparations were made to feed the men Sections of pipe were were cut eight inches In length Caps were made for these threaded to fit the threads cut on either end of these pipe sections These were fastened together with chain links and the food tood carriers were complete The carriers were filled with food and quantities were lowered to the men below by means of a windlass The carriers were lowered through the six inch air all pipe when the latter was un uncoupled uncoupled uncoupled coupled from the compressor from time timeto to time Food the best that the market af affords affords affords fords cigars tobacco cigarette mate material material material rial and various delicacies have been supplied to the men in this manner since they have been imprisoned Fearing that there might be another slip of earth which would break this pipe and cut the men off completely c from the surface they have been given givena a sufficient quantity of food toad to last them ten days at least One man is kept at the windlass ing food and drink to the th men who are storing it as ag best they may Receive Daily Dally Papers The men receive the dally daily papers and discuss the news of the day with their friends on the surface by tele tale telephone telephone phone The men have fashioned rude bunks on the pump level from short pieces of timber and have padded them with engine packing and waste They say they are as comfortable as though they were at home Virtually the tho entire camp has offered Itself to aid the imprisoned men Among those who were first in their offers of aid were Tex Rickard the millionaire mining man fight promoter and business man and Mrs Rickard They went to the Alpha shaft on the day dav of the accident and tendered their services |