Show ta d adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 words from the tomb by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY well sir old lady adventure has played some queer tricks on the human race from time to time and heres the story of a strange one that she played on homer X keenan of barracks no 8 veterans administration wisconsin homer got into an adventure in may 1927 an adventure th that at looked as though it was going to end in tragedy for homer because his life had been saved eleven years before down on the mexican border by two birds named bill inman and pancho villa dont try to figure that one out it make much sense until youve read the story in 1916 homer was an enlisted man in the army signal corps on detached service and stationed at columbus N M it was a telegraph station and bill ingram who was in charge always tried to get recruits who came under him to learn the morse code and become telegraphers learn the morse code said bill it seemed to homer that bill was hipped on the subject of telegraphy time and again bill told the boys learn the morse code and some day it may save your life or someone alses but until march 9 homer pay much attention to bill inman on march 9 pancho villas bandits crossed the border and raided columbus the telegraph wires summoned help and by the time villas men got through shooting up the town homer began to see that inman was right and that a knowledge of how to operate that little brass key might well save a life or a hundred lives As homer puts it before it was over I 1 wanted to learn telegraphy and everything else I 1 could cram into my head and now well leave homer while he goes through the world war and one or two other adventures and pick him up again in 1927 at Everetts ville W va where he has a job in a coal mine it was almost quitting time homer was on his way to oil the pumps for the next shift when suddenly a great roar filled the under all a J L 40 L lie he started hammering on the pipe ground passages an explosion the thing that every mine worker dreads men trapped in catacombs cata combs two miles under a mountain with fire raging and marsh gas seeping through the galleries and no air homer was half buried in debris when it hit me homer says the mountain was rocking like a small boat on a rough sea and the roar of the flames sounded like niagara falls I 1 was knocked unconscious and stayed out for or several hours when I 1 came to again I 1 was half buried under a mass of heavy timbers and tons of slate and dirt somehow I 1 managed to free myself and crawled along the floor 1 I dare stand up for deadly carbon monoxide gas filled the upper pirt of the gallery and only near the floor was the air clear I 1 was hunting for a sump hole full of water where pump lines ran to the surface but my lamp was broken and I 1 was in the dark so I 1 had to feel my way groping my hands fell on dead mules and dead men parts of mules and parts of men fire was sweeping through the mine and coal strata were igniting all around me finally I 1 found the sump hole bole and built a stopping between me and the fire I 1 settled down to wait but homer to spend much time in inactive waiting its a tunny funny thing he says how many thoughts can pass through your head in a short time when youre staring old man death in the face I 1 thought of what bill inman had told me years ago on the mexican border the morse code may some day save your life his hammered message went through there I 1 was beside that pump with a two inch pipe line running to the surface and a twenty four inch wrench at hand I 1 started hammering away on that pipe with all the vim of a brass A lot of time had passed down there under ground says homer 1 I know what time it was or even what day it was it might be night time with only a few people waiting at the top but all the time 1 I kept hoping some one would understand what I 1 was trying to do and go for a telegraph operator and then after an hour homer heard beard faint clicks on the pipe he read 1 I 1 am operator for the B 0 railroad at fairmont got your message who are you Is any one else with you Is any one else alive in the mine homer tapped out an answer he was all alone if there was any one else alive in the mine he know it there were seventeen men alive down there but homer find that out until later up above the fairmont operator was tapping a message from the mine superintendent in trying to get main tan fan in operation will have air tor for you soon and in answer homer tapped mine on fire air will cause another explosion for gods sake dont start fan the super asked homer h how ow long he could live homer replied not long its so hot down here my face and hands are blistering but he told him that it if hed connect a blacksmiths bellows to the pipe they could send him a little air in a few minutes air was coming down the pipe and it was the most welcome air I 1 ever breathed in my life homer says ays when it started coming down I 1 just went to sleep and when i woke up I 1 was in the hospital at fairmont and I 1 thought again about what bill inman told me that some day the morse code might save my life but I 1 think pancho villa had something to do with it too copyright service |