Six days in an inundated coal pit.
On the 16th, a coal bit at Kelvineide, near
Glasgow, was inundated.
Several persons were drowned; but on the 21st, three of the soldiers —
John Johnson,
Thomas Cairney, and
Michael Daley — were rescued alive.
The
Glasgow Herald gives the following account of the marvellous circumstances under which these men escaped death:
The three men had, not been more than five minutes in the pit when the accident occurred, but they did not discover it for several hours.
They then proceeded down the sloping side to the edge of the water, which was now, however, forcing its way into the upper working.
They retreated, and proceeded along the passage till they had again reached the level part of its course, and went down the opposite slope.
The water was forcing its way up that side, also — not pure water, but a putrid, stinking flood, that made them almost recoil.
The poor fellows found themselves thus walled in between the two floods, forty fathoms below the surface of the earth.
When they had recovered from their first shock of consternation, they be an to watch the water, which they were able to do for about two days by the aid of their two lamps.
They had about two days oil with them, and thus managed in some measure to compute the time.
At first they thought that they could not exist beyond a few hours, but still believed they might calculate on a few hours.--They kneeled down, and in the anticipation of certain death, commended themselves to their Maker.
For the two days during which their oil lasted they watched the water closely and eagerly; on ward came the putrid mass with awful certainty and rapidity.
The three allies of bread which
Daly had taken down with him had been divided among them, and a little well of pure water.
which was fortunately in the workings, furnished the means of quenching their thirst.
The progress of the water, which seemed for two days to have been marching steadily on to engulf them, became gradually slower.
At last the flood paused.
With a new excitement they watched the water again.
It seemed to be retiring, and they knew from that time that exertions were being made to save them.
They did not hear the operations until what they understood to be Saturday morning. When their light failed them the men placed a stone at the edge of the water, and, after watching the rate at which the water was diminishing, for, as they thought, several hours, calculated that they would be relieved on Sunday morning. The water seemed to them to fall at the rate of a foot per hour.
The air was for some time close and suffocating, but as the operations progressed the movement of the water, caused by the immense pumping apparatus, produced a continuous undulation, which made the air much more agreeable.
The men had never felt the pang of hunger, but they became very weak and were oppressed, all the time, with an unquenchable thirst, which had not yet left them.
They were in the habit of sitting side by side to keep themselves warm, and when the one in the middle had reached a higher temperature than the others he gave way for his right or left hand neighbor, who in due time would make way for the third.
They slept also close together upon logs of wood, and covered themselves with a piece of oilcloth which had been found in the working.
It appears that the water had been reduced below the door heads some time before the descent was made; for
Johnston called up the shaft three hours, as he calculated, before they were found, but could not make himself heard.
They went back into the working to wait until relief came; but the three, overcome with their anxiety and watching, fell asleep, and were found so by the men who had been sent down to search for them.
The men, though still weak, are doing well; but some of them are now beginning to suffer a little pain from their long abstinence from food.
There is no doubt that a few days careful treatment will restore them to their wonted strength.
