Show toyd adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE buried alive H ELLO EVERYBODY I 1 l 1 adventure sure laid an icy hand on the shoulder of joseph kuritz who sent me one of the best written yarns ive had to date joes at brooklyn now and at last writing could have used a job he gave up his youthful ambition to be amiling a mining engineer as a result of events related in story fiory and switched to mechanical engineering but if you ask me the magazines are looking for people who can write luse lle joe accordingly im following his script pretty close in april 1920 joe was a surveyor with the glen alden coal coa co scranton pa it was his first job and he was assigned to investigating pillar robbing in the cayuga mines ill F explain miners must leave enough coal to support the roof of the mine which consists of shale a scaly rock that caves in easily pillar robbing means stealing coal from these re remaining mainini supports up and is illegal since it may cause cave ins in which workers are killed gas and water mates mains burst even explode and brick buildings stand ingon the I 1 land a nd collapse its earthquake fire and flood old timbers prove useless as support the cayuga had been deserted lor for 50 years inside joe and three companions found pillars cracked and crumbled by the weight of millions of tons of rock they had held up for five decades As supports they were useless and might just as well have been mined out old timber erected by miners to protect themselves in those tar far bygone years were rotted useless A touch and they collapsed to fungi infested mil dewed dust not much between joe and the millions of tons of rock over his head worse the workings were of the pitch type each chamber like a long sloping tunnel some very steep the roof was dan ger genously gerou sly cracked slabs of shale hung so BO loose a breath would sen send d them crashing to the floor fallen rock covered the steeply sla slanting n t ng floor in sizes from a fist to dining room table this gob can start an avalanche OB an the slanting tunnel floor joes duties lovely lob I 1 were to climb over this loose rocks rock covered with slime if he made it it it was safe for the others to come up if he and started a fatal avalanche joe forgot to tell about that joes lamp ignites a pocket of White damp well sir joe climbed gingerly upward clinging to the glistening coal pillar at the side peering ahead by the taint faint light of the lamp fastened a above ove his bis cap he stepped light as a falling feather testing every al 71 alt joe clung to the pillar on his stomach footfall loot fall at the top our human fly as joe calls himself was to establish a point tor for the transit a surveyors instrument to shoot at joe never made it twenty feet from the top boom an explosion like a giant bass drum shook the earth in a bolt of livid flame GASI GAS joes light had ignited a pocket of Splint erl clackl crash the shock jerked rock toppling from the root roof dropped it on the loose gob on the steeply slanting floora the slide was on at first with thumps scarcely audible above the rolling rumble of the waves of flame over his head then in a roaring crescendo jagged rock raced leaping and thundering downward past joe hurtling into the hell of df darkness far below joes lamp had bad gone out with the explosion but above him was blinding glare a marching surf of blue and red streaked fire lighting up the chamber overhead blistering white heat beat above thundering flood of angry rock below joe clung to the pillar on an his bis stomach ducking hurtling rocks shrinking from the blazing heat above with clawing fingers and toes that vainly sought foothold in the hard bard floor he lay there it seemed ages aching muscles a torture the slide diminished the carbonic oxide above burned fitfully fl threatening any second to seek out with its rainbow flames another pocket spreading to in chain explosions through the underground terrain burying joe and his companions he began to figure his chance for escape joe thought of the others had they been crushed to a jelly smear under those tons of rock trapped in some or crosscut cross cut in a pill ar the rolling flames died went out in the inky black joe groped for a match tit lit his lamp the floor was clear he stepped out instantly he be tobogganed toboggan ed down on a slab of rock he had overlooked four hundred feet below he brought up short on the heap of loose rock it had blocked the entrance eitran ce completely joe was caught like a rat he sat on a rock wondered that he w was a s not frightened began to figure figur his chances of seeing sunlight again it seemed suddenly very precious sun and open air airl air the rock had sucked sacked much out the explosion had driven more mere out and the fire had burned he be know how much of the life giving oxygen in that black pit would the he rest last till they got to him blaut then joe says pan panic le did grip him he shouted himself hoarse he smash smashed e d a rock repeatedly against a pillar listened not a sound lound just silence terrible silence lence tl joe saw slow death ahead suffocation 4 thirst star starvation atlon unwounded he wished tor for death swift death rather than tills this drawn out agony now he could coul d only wait helplessly joe says he prefers to forget the next nine hours imagination can be the most horrible form of torture but his companions had bad escaped with all hope gone for or joe they had bad notified the surface A relay of rescue crews working at as only mini mine rescue crews can dug through the pillar from an adjoining chamber and pulled joe out nine hours hour later from that day on the only coal joe can stand looking at Is if in a stove he quit the mining engineer career cold but I 1 still say may he can write like a professional what do you think copyright service |