USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 50
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The new cemetery, Woodlawn, is on the side and summit of one of these hills on the west or Putnam side of the river. On Mon- day morning, May 19th, I walked thither to pay it a visit. Passing through the main part of Putnam I came to six girls, from twelve to fourteen years of age, seated to-
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gether on some blocks of stone at the entrance to a lane.
As I looked at those girls I thought of two mighty continents, Africa and America ; the first as apart and then the two as united. Three of the six were full black ; the other three were neither black nor white ; an artist would have called them half tints.
The entire six were chatting and laughing, and I said : "Girls, you seem to be having a good time. This is a very pleasant country around here," at the same time casting my eyes down the green lane to its entering spot in a forest and beyond its tops to the sweetly- wooded hills that rose from the farther side of the river.
" Yes," the girls replied, "it is pretty here ; and over there," pointing, "is the cemetery." That graveyard had evidently touched their esthetic sensibilities, and so they commended it to my attention and admiration. I left them still seated on the stones in their child- ish innocence and glee, feeling gratified that they had arrived in these dominions of our common Uncle Sam in this his now smiling period for their future.
A few minutes later I had passed under a noble arch of elms and was at the entrance of the cemetery, where stood the vine-covered cottage of the sexton, a green house and around a wealth of flowers. The site is a huge rounding hill, its slope and summit covered with trees, many of them immense in size and very aged patriarchs of the woods. The cemetery has miles of winding walks and drives and everywhere the leaves flit their lights and shadows over the sward, flowers and monuments. A marked feature is the tall, slender forms of the junipers standing over the graves like so many sentinels. On the summit, where they had been exposed to continuous wintry winds from the north, the heads of many of them had assumed a lean- ing position as though they had life and were mourning over the dead.
One of the most imposing monuments is that of Solomon Sturges who was born in Fairfield, Conn., in 1796. It is of Scotch granite and twenty-five feet in height. From a monument by it I copied inscriptions,
memorializing three Revolutionary patriots whose graves are by the sea-shore of Con- necticut. This tribute of filial piety to them here on the banks of the Muskingum is the most interesting thing in the entire ceme- tery.
'SOLOMON STURGES. killed by the British at the burning of Fairfield, Conn., July 7, 1779, aged 86. He was an ardent patriot."
" HEZEKIAH STURGES, son of Solomon Sturges, a son of the Revolution, died at Fairfield, Conn., April. 1794, aged 67 years."
"DIMON, son of Ilezekiah Sturges, a soldier of the Revolution, died at Fairfield, Conn., January 16, 1829, aged 74 years."
Wherever I went there appeared over my head a great chattering of birds. They seemed somehow to have taken me in charge seeing I was a stranger and alone, accompanying me wherever I went. I passed two hours copy- ing inscriptions and taking notes. Seated on the grass near the summit I was finishing my observations when as a last thing a big bumble- bee came along and whizzed by me with a heavy boom, as much as to say, " Mr. Howe, aren't I worth noticing ? Please count me in." And I did.
A moment later, casting my eye down at my side there I saw for my gratification, spread out on the grass, a butterfly black as ebony, his wings fringed in gold.
If any living thing has a supreme right to dwell in a graveyard it is the butterfly, the living emblem of immortality.
Ever silent as the tomb, the little innocent could not speak his desire to be noticed. He could only hint it, which some good angel prompted him to do by causing him to alight and rest with outstretched wings right under my eyes by the side of a forget-me-not. I took the hint and noted hin, too, as among the tombs. I could not help it, he was so modestly clad in his sable garment of sorrow with its golden fringe of brightness.
And the green sward largely over this rest- ing-place for the dead was brightened by the presence of this little flower, as a sort of con- tinnous appeal to the living to remember those who had gone before.
THE BLUE ROCK MINE DISASTER.
Chal Formation in Harrison Township .- In April, 1856, there occurred in this county one of the most remarkable mine disasters in the history of coal-min- ing. The Blue Rock mines are in Harrison township in the angle formed by the stream known as Blue Rock run and the Muskingum river. The stratum of coal at this point is about fonr feet in thickness, the quality excellent and the formation that which miners denominate "curly." The stratum of rock which overlays this vein of coal is a slaty soap-stone, light blue in color and subject to rapid disintegration when exposed to atmospheric influences, but forming a safe roof for the miner when properly protected.
Reckless Coal-Mining .- The particular vein in which this disaster occurred was owned by Stephen H. Guthrie and James Owens, Jr. Former owners had taken large quantities of coal from the northern portion of the mine and the work was said to have been done in an unusually reckless manner; many of the rooms
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were nearly forty feet square, while the pillars were small and comparatively few in number. The hill above the mine has an altitude of about two hundred and twenty feet and the pressure from such an immense weight of earth should have dictated more than ordinary caution.
Falling in of the Mine .- The falling in of the mine occurred about 11 A. M., on Friday, April 25, 1856. At the time there were some twenty persons, many of them boys, employed in the mine. Several were standing on the platform at the mouth of the entrance, others on the inside saved themselves by precipitate flight. Upon investigation it was found that sixteen were safe, but that four persons were either imprisoned in the mine or crushed to death by the falling mountain. Hope pre- ponderated strongly in favor of the former conjecture, inasmuch as it was known that these persons were at work in a part of the mine from which no large amount of coal had been taken and which in consequence was supposed to be comparatively safe. The per- sons who escaped were : James (Duck) Menear, John Hopper, James Larrison, George Ross, George Robinson, William Edgell, Sr., Uriah McGee, William Gheen, Timothy Lyons, G. W. Simmons, and the following boys : Patrick Savage, Hiram Lar- rison, Franklin Ross, William Miller, James Savage, Thomas Edgell.
An Attempt at Rescue .- It was immediately determined that an attempt should be made for the rescue of the imprisoned men. The labor and danger involved in this made it necessary to combine the greatest possible speed with the utmost caution. A single false step would have brought a terrible destruction upon the excavators ; for during their labors the crumbling hill hung with tens of thousands of tons of pressure imminent and threatening above their heads.
Three men only could work at a time. In- deed, it may be said that every foot gained was the work of a single individual, for there was room for but one workman in the front ; others behind received the fragments as he passed them back. The material encountered was principally rock.
Gathered Multitudes in Suspense .- The work was carried forward night and day with varying success for fourteen days. An im- mense concourse of people from the surround- ing country and towns gathered at the moutlı of the mine. Miners from all the mines within a radius of many miles hastened to offer their services. Merchants and farmers clad in miner's costume joined in the common labor. Women worked tireless providing food and refreshments for the excavators and in minis- tering hope, comfort and courage to the despairing relatives of the unfortunates. The suspense was terrible, alternating hope and despair, as the workmen progressed rapidly or met with obstructions, spread through the assembled multitude and subdued all demon- strations by the very intensity of their emo- tions. One, who as a boy was present, said to us : " It seemed like Sunday; every- thing was hushed and solemn, and when one
person spoke to another it was in suppressed tones as when face to face with death. Religious services and prayers for the salva- tion of the bodies and souls of the imprisoned men were frequently held."
As day after day passed with no evidence that the men were still alive many gave up all hope, but there was no cessation of work and no scarcity of workers.
The Miners Rescued .- At 11 P. M. on Friday, May 9, after having been entombed for fourteen days and thirteen hours the men were reached and were soon breathing the air of freedom. They were placed under good medical care and soon recovered their accus- tomed health and strength. The point at which they were rescued was about 700 feet from the entrance of the mine, and it liad been necessary to burrow through about 400 feet of earth and rock before they were reached.
Within six hours after the men were rescued more than fifty feet of the mine fell in. If the operations had been delayed that length of time the workmen would have been inevitably killed and the imprisoned miners have perished by a lingering death in their terrible prison.
This account of this remarkable entomb- ment and rescue has been extracted from a pamphlet written by Robert H. Gillmore at the time the incidents occurred ; he also pub- lished the personal narratives of the impris- oned miners and the escape of Wm. Edgell, Sr., from which the following is abridged :
Escape of William Edgell, Sr .- I noticed nothing wrong about the bank that morning. At half-past ten o'clock went in with my car as quickly as I could and loaded up with coal. The miners were racing and I was not dis- posed to be behind. Returning with a load of coal, pushing my car before me, I encoun- tered another resting on the track. A lad was standing beside it, whom we all regard as rather weak in the upper story. He was cry- ing, and when I asked him what was the matter, replied that the bank was falling in. Pausing to listen I heard a roaring off to the left in the old diggings, which are situated in the northern part of the mine. I hesitated a moment what to do. I thought I would go back to where Pearson, Gatwood, Savage, my son William and others were at work and in- form them of their danger. In the mean- time I observed that the pillars of coal were crawling outwards at the bottom. Chunks of coal began to fly from one side of the entry against the other. They went with such force that I think they would have cut a man in two if they had hit him. All this occurred in less time than it takes me to tell it.
Others had got to where I was standing with their cars. I started back to warn the boys, but it was too late. The mine was fall- ing so rapidly in that direction that it would
WHERE GARFIELD TAUGHT SCHOOL.
389'SP.
Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.
THE SCENE OF THE BLUE MINE DISASTER.
This was drawn by me from the deck of a steamer while it was ascending the Muskingum, and re- drawn for engraving by J. N. Bradford, O. S. University. The mine was in the nearest hill on the left. The caving-in of the mine was in April, 1856.
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have been madness to venture. The way was already impassable. I turned towards the mouth ; it was falling in that direction too. I called to the boys, " Hurry out, hurry out." As I turned something struck my light and knocked it out ; there were lights behind me but I stumbled ou in perfect darkness. In the race I struck a pile of carth which had fallen in the entry and pitched clear over it.
When I rose I was on a fair ground again and went on rapidly, calling for the boys to follow. I came to a place where a light shone in from the mouth. I was safer now, but there was danger yet. At once a sudden faintness came over me. I grew blind and dizzy ; my knees became weak and it seemed impossible to move one before another ; they were as heavy as lead. But somehow I struggled and found myself upon the platform.
Experience of the Imprisoned Miners .- The four persons imprisoned were William Ed- gell, Jr., aged 20 years, single ; James Pear- son, aged 31 years, married, with two children ; James Gatwood, aged 22 years, married ; Edward Savage, aged 16 years.
At the time of the accident they had their cars loaded ready to come out, but were not aware of what was happening. Edgell gives their experience as follows :
Myself, Pearson and Savage started out at the same time. My car was in front, Pearson next and Savage behind. We had gone about two hundred feet, or a little more, when I observed that my car ran over some slate which had fallen in the entry and then in a moment it ran against another car which was standing on the track. I stopped, supposing that it belonged to some one who was digging in some of the side entries, and called out, " Whose in the b-] car is this standing on the track ?" I listened for an answer, but in a minute or less I heard the bank breaking with a sound like that of distant thunder. I turned around and said to Pearson, "Jim, the bank is falling in." He replied, "It can't be, Bill." One of us, I forget which, said : "Let us hurry and get out.' We ran around our cars and had advanced about twenty feet when I suddenly struck a pile of slate which had fallen down, blocking the entry entirely up. In doing so I knocked my light out. Finding I could not get ahead I called out to Pearson, whose light was still burning, and said to him, "Run back, Jim , there is a bluff place and we can't get out." We started back at once ; the slate was falling in chunks from the roof between us and our cars ; we hurried baek beyond them and met Ned Savage. I said to him, "Ned. for God's sake, the bank has all fallen in." He replied, "No, it can't be, Bill." Pearson then sug- gested that we go back and get into the old diggings in the north part of the mine as that might not have fallen in. We were about starting wben Ned Savage said, "Let's get all the oil we can find." We started back to hunt for oil when we met Gatwood coming with his car loaded. I said to him, "Jim, the bank has all fallen in." He re- plied in a frightened way, "Oh, no, I reckon
not." Pearson told him to come with us; he thought we could get out through the old diggings at the air-hole. "If we can't," says he, "we're gone." We all started together as fast as we could go and got about two hundred feet to an old blind entry. We found the mine falling faster than it had been at the place where we left the cars.
Preparing for a Lingering Death .- The falling was still accompanied by a rumbling noise ; the pillars of coal along the entry were bursting out at the sides and bottom and the whole mine was jarring and trembling. We found the passage we aimed for entirely stopped ap; then we turned back into the main entry where our cars were, thinking we might possibly find a way out there, but we saw it falling worse than ever. We found we were completely shut in. We at once saw there was no escape. We gave up all hope. Pearson spoke first and said, " Boys, let us go back and make up our bed whereon to die."
Having fully realized that there was no avenue of escape they went back to one of the small rooms at the head of the entry (8 on diagram) and shoveled together a quantity of loose dirt for a bed on which to lie and wait for death. The room they had chosen for their tomb was a small compartment, like other parts of the mine, but four feet high and hardly large enough for the four to lie abreast. Having prepared their bed a search was made for what could be found to prolong life. Two dinners left by escaped miners were found. They consisted of four pieces of bread, two of which were buttered ; four small pieces of fried bacon, two boiled eggs and two pickles split in two. Three jugs were found containing about five quarts of water and about a quart of oil for miners' lamps. Having carried these supplies to their room they felt that it was useless to prolong life when death seemed so certain and decided to eat all they wanted, so each partook freely of the provisions, but they were not hungry and but half of the food was consumed. They then laid down on their bed and tried to imagine every place where there might be a possibility of escape, but could think of none.
Suffering from Cold .- While the mine was falling the air became very cold, so much so that Edgell said, "it seemed like pouring cold water down our backs and that he never suffered so much the bitterest winter he ever knew." Do what they would they were always cold and the only way they could get any warmth was to lie down on the bed and take turns lying in the middle ; sometimes they would lie on top of each other.
An Ante-mortem Bargain .- While lying on their bed Pearson said : "Boys, let us make a bargain that whoever of us dies first let the others lay him down on one side of the room, but on no account take him out of it, so that when we are all dead we'll lie here together." The agreement was made and each expressed the wish that he might be the first to die.
At what they supposed was supper-time
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(they had no watch) they ate what food was left and drank freely from their water-jugs.
Horrors of Darkness .- For a time after their first imprisonment they kept a light burning and when they went to examine the entries, which they did at short intervals, would light two or three lamps. But after ten or twelve hours the lamps burned dimly and gradually went out, refusing to burn in the dampair of the mine. This was a terrible deprivation to them. The perfect darkness seemed the most terrible part of their situa- tion.
No difficulty was experienced for want of air, as there was evidently some crevice through which the outside air had access to the mine and they imagined they could tell day from night by the difference in the tem- perature of the air which poured into their room in a cold stream,
Drinking Copperas Water .- After the water in the jugs had been exhausted they found water in a depression of the floor in a room about fifty feet distant. This water was strongly impregnated with copperas and at first very disagreeable to drink, but Pearson thought there was something in it which helped to sustain life. Shortly after they began using it the pangs of hunger became less severe and frequent and the knawings at the stomach less painful.
Illusions of Delirium. - For some time after they were first confined the paroxysms of hunger were frequent and terrible. It seemed as though they must have food or die. Then as the hours wore on these paroxysms became less and less common. Towards the last they seldom occurred. "After a time," says Pearson, "I became delirious ; strange dreams were running through my head. Every good dinner I ever ate seemed in turn to be stand- ing before me again. I did not merely dream that I saw them thus, but they were as plain be- fore my eyes as you are now, sir. Tables loaded with noble baked hams and delicious pies were just within my reach, but my delirium never extended so far as to make me believe I was eating them. Notwithstanding they were so temptingly near me, I never enjoyed more than the sight of them, and then I would wake up from my delusion to the full horror of my situation. Whether we had any hope left I do not know ; I can hardly tell. We would often talk over the chances of being rescued. They seemed very dark ; and yet we frequently went toward the entries. It was the way out to the world, though we knew it was blocked up and impassable to us." Gatwood says: "I had. the same strange delirium of which Pearson speaks. I also saw splendid dinners standing beside me. I seemed to recollect all the good meals I had ever eaten."
Topics of Conversation .- Their principal conversation was concerning things good to eat. First one and then another would mention something which would be particu- larly nice, but as this conversation seemed to aggravate their sufferings they found it would not do to permit it.
Savage seemed to keep in better spirits than the others. He was less in the habit of lamenting about his friends. His prin- cipal cause of trouble was concerning his want of sleep. He frequently became quite spunky because he was not allowed to sleep in the middle by his companions, and when his request was not granted he would threaten to tell his uncle "Duck " Menear and get them all a thrashing after he got out. Frequent contention arose as to who should occupy the middle of the bed. They did not sleep much nor long at a time. They were too cold to do so. Sometimes one of them would be able to sleep a little by get- ting in the middle and having another lie on top for a coverlet. They sometimes used the heads of each other for pillows, but the pil- low generally grumbled considerably before it had been occupied very long.
The . Rescuers Heard .- One day Savage and Edgell were in one of the mine entries when they heard the dull sound of a pick. The sound seemed to be communicated by the wooden rail or run which occupied the middle of the entry. "Then," says Edgell, "I commenced pounding upon the run with a piece of sulphur stone or 'nigger-head,' in the hope that I might be able to make my- self heard. I also hallooed two or three times, but was not able to get any reply. I went back to the room and said, 'Boys, I hear them digging.' They would not believe me. After this I made my visits frequently, in- tending to go down every hour ; but I sup- pose that the intervals were longer than this. Two days, I presume, must have elapsed be- fore I was able to make them hear me. When this occurred Gatwood was with me. I had called out, as usual, and this time heard an answer. What it was I could not under- stand, but I knew it to be the voice of a man. We then went back to the room and told Pearson, but could not convince him that we were not mistaken. In about half an hour, as we thought, I went back again, taking Ned Savage with me. This time I heard them at work plainly, and when I called to them, some one replied, 'Is that you; Bill, for God's sake ?' "It is I,' I said, "Who is it that speaks to me ?' 'You don't know me,' the voice replied. I then asked him if all the miners had got out alive. He said they had, and told me to go back and keep out of danger ; that they would have us out before long. I made inquiry as to what day it was, and was told that it was Thursday, I sup- posed from this that we had been in only to the Thursday following the accident, making six days, instead of thirteen, as I discovered after we were rescued. We were all of the same opinion, and were rather surprised to find that it had been that long.'
When the entry was opened and cleared so that the miners could be taken out, they were placed in rocking chairs and carried to their homes. It was a few minutes after 1 o'clock when they were rescued, after having been entombed fourteen days and thirteen hours. Says Edgell :
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"When we went in there was not a bud open upon the trees. The morning after we were rescued we looked from our windows
and beheld the forest clothed in green. We never before knew what a beautiful earth it was."
President Garfield Taught School for three months, in 1851, near Duncan's Falls, in this county. "In the spring of 1851 James A. Garfield and his mother visited Mrs. Garfield's brother, Henry Ballou, in Harrison township. A teacher being needed in the district, Garfield taught a three-months' term in the school- house on Back Run. To show the young the building which a President of the United States occupied while teaching a district school in a rural neighborhood, a sketch was taken of the building as it appeared when occupied by the general in 1851.
"Some of the boys are yet living in the township who were Gen. Garfield's scholars at the Back Run school. An old-fashioned tin-plate stove was used for warming the room, which would take a long stick of wood. Garfield assisted the larger boys in cutting wood, and the boys claim he was one of the best hands with the axe they ever saw. The sketch, taken before the change in the building, is pronounced by his old scholars a correct one, as it appeared in 1851. It is one mile west of Marriem station, on the Z. & O. Railroad, and fourteen miles south- west of Zanesville, Ohio."
A Disastrous Hoax .- In January, 1820, in boring for salt in the neighborhood of Chandlersville, about ten miles south of Zanesville, some pieces of silver were dropped into the hole by some evil-disposed person, and being brought up among the borings, reduced to a fine state, quite a sensation was produced. The parts were submitted to chemical analysis, and decided by a competent chemist to be very rich. A company was immediately formed to work the mine, under the name of the " Muskingum Mining Company," which was incorporated by the Legislature. This company purchased of Mr. Samuel Chandler the privilege of sinking a shaft near his well, from which the silver had been extracted. As this shaft was sunk near, the well, it did so much injury that Mr. Chandler afterwards recovered heavy damages of the company. The company expended about $10,000 in search of the expected treasure ere they abandoned their ill-fated project .- Old Edition.
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