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a few more large rocks, we could get through to the lower shaft," he told his son.

   "Halters and I crawled through that hole and, in less than a moment, we stumbled across the body of a miner who'd been crushed by a large timber."

   THEY STUMBLED across another body a few feet away.

   "That man wasn't killed by any cave-in." Barger related. "He must have been killed by some sort of animal; that was obvious."

   As the two men crept along in the darkness; their lanterns revealed something even more startling - the existence of a second, deeper tunnel, which had been rumored to exist for years.

   "I don't mind telling you, son, if Walters had said turn around, your dad wouldn't have argued," Barger related.

   There was no way of telling how old this second tunnel was - or who'd dug it.

   “I was afraid the slightest vibration would bring the walls down around us."

   But the two mining inspectors had to go on, since none of the other bodies had been found.

   "HALF AN hour later, we found nothing, had come to a dead end." Barger reported.

   There was no trace of the remaining miners.

   As they turned to leave, however, the shaft caved in, pouring tons of dirt down upon them and closing off their escape route.

   "They had nothing to do but wait and hope," Barger later told his son. "I fell asleep for a time. It wasn't long. Suddenly, I felt a hot breath on my face."

   Barger was terrified, but remained lying down with his eyes closed, The hot breath remained in his face for what seemed to be hours.

   Finally, the mining inspector got up enough courage to open his eyes and look over at his mate.