“John Hosie was in the mine when the fall came. He was one of the foremen, and he and my father were friends. Two days had passed in unavailing search for him, and it was thought that he must have been crushed under the rock with the rest. But on the morning of the third day my father met him face to face in one of the desolate fallen portions of the mine. He was in darkness, he was almost exhausted, his clothing was in rags, and his fingers were torn and bleeding. When he saw my father he could give utterance to only two words: ‘Oh, Bryden!’ he said, and then his heart failed him and he cried like a child. He had been caught in the fall and had lost his light, and though he was familiar with the passages of the mine he could not find his way along them on account of the débris with which they were filled, and the utter confusion into which everything had been thrown. He had wandered about for two days and nights in the fallen mine, clambering over jagged hills of rock, digging his way, with torn fingers, through masses of wreckage, in constant peril from falling roof and yawning pit, hungry, thirsty, and alone in the terrible darkness. What wonder that his heart gave way in the moment of rescue! “The bodies of some of those who were shut in by the fall, or buried under it, were found when the drift was again opened, but for others the mine has been an undisturbed grave for more than forty years.” NOTE ADDED IN 1898.――The latest disaster resulting from a squeeze or fall in the mines occurred June 28, 1896, at the Twin Shaft of The Newton Coal Mining Company at Pittston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. This mine had been working for some days, and when the fall came the Superintendent, together with his foremen and workmen, were engaged in timbering or propping the affected region, in order, if possible, to prevent a fall. The effort was useless, however, and these officials and workmen were caught while at their work, and perished in the disaster. There were fifty-eight of them. Superhuman efforts were put forth to rescue them, but the attempt was useless, and later on it was found utterly impossible even to recover their bodies, owing to the extent and magnitude of the fall. CHAPTER XI. AIR AND WATER IN THE MINES.