HOW A WOMAN KEPT A SECRET.
After the poor fellow’s corpse had been brought to the stricken home, it was discovered, to the amazement of the whole town, that Johann was a woman; and it is to be presumed that he had never been anything else. The secret of his sex had been most carefully preserved, and it would never have been thought, from any outward indication, that it had been shared even by his spouse. This is an excellent proof, if proof were wanting, that women can keep a secret, and that there are some things which even the busybodies of a village cannot find out. The story of the man-woman Johann Gerbreitz is still told at Wieliczka, along with many other curious histories, of which specimens have already been given.
Like the great capitals, the mining town of Galicia has its comedies and tragedies, its lyrics and its epics, perhaps trifling in themselves, but of wondrous moment in its too partial eyes.
LXVII.
EXPLOSIONS IN MINES.
THICKNESS OF COAL SEAMS.—STUPIDITY OF A TURKISH MINING SUPERINTENDENT.—THE RESULT.—BLASTING IN MINES.—HOW IT IS DONE.—TERRIBLE ACCIDENTS.—MINES ON FIRE.—SCENES OF DEVASTATION.—EFFECT OF SUBTERRANEAN FIRE.—EXPLOSIONS OF FIRE-DAMP.—HORRIBLE ACCIDENTS.—STORIES OF SURVIVORS.—LOSS OF LIFE.—SCENE IN A WELSH MINE.—EXPLOSIONS IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MINES.—MODES OF RELIEF.—STORY OF TWO BROTHERS.—HOW THEY WERE SAVED.—THE SAFETY-LAMP.—ITS CONSTRUCTION.—THE FIRE-WALLS OF CHINA.—THE PENITENT AND CANNONEER.
After the shafts have been completed and the levels opened in the mines, the work may be said to be fairly under way. The seams of coal are of varied thickness. Sometimes, though rarely, there will be found a coal seam of thirty feet in depth, sometimes one of twenty, and so on down to two and three feet. A seam of three feet in thickness is considered a valuable discovery, and oftentimes the seams do not exceed twenty inches. In the deep coal seams the work is comparatively easy, as the space in the level can be hollowed out the full depth of the seam, and all that is necessary for supporting the roof is to leave a sufficient number of pillars standing.
There is a coal mine in Turkey where the seam is about ten feet thick. A superintendent, entirely ignorant of the business, was sent to take charge of the mine. On his first visit to the mine the men were below. He observed the pillars which were left to support the roof above. He gave one glance at them, and then turned to the workmen and said,—“Remove those blocks of coal instantly: this mine has not been worked properly.”