Show AWfUL EXPERIENCE IN BURNING MINE PUMPMANS FIGHT FOR LIFE FAR UNDERGROUND PERILS OF FIRE AND GAS Writes Farewell Message and Will on n Board Falls Unconscious While Seeking Escape and Is Finally Fi-nally Rescued Ouray ColAlono for many hours tar beneath the surface In a strnugo mint that was burning tutu full of smoke und deadly gases groping his way 111 Stygian daiknuss through n labyrinth of workings miles In aggregate ag-gregate length writing what hu thought was his last message and will then falling unconscious In the main tunnel which was deep with water and being rescued Is tho remnrknblo i experience through which Lawrence i Wlthrow a graveyard pumpman at the Revenue mine passed through tho other day Wlthrows escape from death Is considered remarkable by nil mining men who cannot conceive how ho escaped alive after breathing tho noxious nox-ious and deadly gases in the mlno workings for so long n time Tho next day the young pumpman was In a serious condition his lungs bolng Inflamed In-flamed from his exertions and tho smoko and gases but ho will recover unless unexpected developments oc sur Ho Is glad to bo alive but shudders shud-ders when telling of his terrible 12 hours alone in tho bowels of the earth Tho collar of tho shaft No1 at the Revenue was set on fire nt three oclock In the morning by a miners cnndlo stuck carelessly I into the timbers tim-bers Tho cnndlo was left by tho men who went off nt three oclock and no ono was supposed to ho In the workings after that time Tho fire was not discovered for hours Withrow who was working at the 350foot station soon realized tho danger dan-ger from above when ho saw the collar col-lar of the shaft burning the smoke from which was being sucked down into tho shaft and workings In heavy volumes He quickly abandoned the pump where ho was working and ran to tho nearest telephone in tho mlno t 9 s l C d ALL AROUND HIM WAS FLAME AND SMOKE to call up the transformer man a mile and a halt away at the portal of the long tunnel but the wires wero cut and communication with anyone at tho surface was out of the question Believing his death was but a matter mat-ter of a few moments at tho most Withrow sat down and wrote a farewell fare-well note to his mother on a board broken from a candlebox bidding her good by and willing her all his possessions pos-sessions including his life insurance and considerable mining stock Ho placed the board In back of the telephone tele-phone box knowing that when tho fire was out and the mlno free from smoke nnd gas it would be found After making his will Withrow secured se-cured a large bunch of cotton waste soaked It in water and tied it over his mouth and nose with a pleco of suspender sus-pender Then ho began his desperate fight for life Ho was entirely unfamiliar with the workings of the great mine and had to trust to luck as to where he went expecting every moment to fall Into some wlnzo or shaft and bo killed He pushed bravely on in the darkness feeling his way along tho sides of the various drifts through which ho passed until he suddenly tumbled into I the ladderway of shaft No 2 up which ho climbed half choked until he gained the first station 250 feet I above The ladderway reaching no I I further up Wlthrow again and again essayed to climb up the square sets only to fall hack bleeding and wounded wound-ed to the station Despairing of getting further through the shaft ho turned blindly I Into a drift through which he continued con-tinued to drag himself until he I emerge at a point near tho main tunnel tun-nel and top that was running deep with water that was being poured into i I the shaft In an effort to extinguish tho fire Withrow fell into tho water coming in contact with a floating mlno timber which ho grasped He kept hold of the timber and with it was swept to the mouth of tho tunnel where tho later loses Itself over tho side of the mountain Wlthrow tried to reach tho main workings but fell unconscious In which condition he remained re-mained until accidentally found by other employee of tho mine Ho received re-ceived the congratulations of tho whole camp for tho brave fight ho made for bin life |