GREEN ISLAND FATALITY.

Evening Star, Issue 14626, 24 July 1911, Page 10

GREEN ISLAND FATALITY.

FUNERAL AND PULPIT REFERENCES. A verylargfc number of men followed the remains of James Walker to their last resting place at Green Island Cemetery yesterday. The- service both at the bouse and at the grave %vas conducted by the Rev. John Kilpatrick. At tho grave ft brief reference was made to tho courageous efforts of tho men in their attempts to rescue their late fellow-workman. In the evening Mr Kilpatrick took as his text Job v., 7: "But man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." In concluding his sermon he said : But four days ago a man, in the prime of life, loft home and wife and child to prosecute his daily calling. He was at the time when the "brightness of hop© gives clearness to the eye and largeness to the vision. Dull care "probably found little place in his life, for, strenuous as is the life of the miner, he is rarely a dull man. The work of the day was "probably half-done, and with eyes and ears alert, the steady swing of the shoulders and ring of the pick went jn. when, without warning, a great fall of coal and clay overtook him. and, with it, he fell to rise no more. Then there was the silence, and the discovery, and the suspicion, and the calling out of men, »nd the feverish rush to the rescue. No braver man ever led a braver band than that which followed the manager, Mr A. Gillanders. With absolute confidence in him and in his judgment, and following his example, each vied with the other in facing dangers worse than are to he faced in rnanv battlefields. The hope was only faint that their comrade might still be alive, but their efforts were giant-like in their determination to find him. When at last the lifeless bcdv was found pinned beneath an immovable mass of debris, ■wise steps were taken to protect the living while seeking reverently to recover tho body of the dead. Time would fail to tell of the incessant toil during those 15 hours that in the end brought to the light eyes that no longer saw and a heart that had leased to beat. There were sad countenances—many of them —while loving hands ministered to the dead, the saddest of all being the widow, who sat Jiko one ushered into a world of strange things. Gcd is both as a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless ; and we commend j them to His unfailing care. I want to j salute as heroes my fellow-men who, for- ; getting seif, fought so bravely for the life j of their fellow. It makes one" think better of one's fellows to hear and know of such deeds, and wish for them the of Christ in life, and the salvation of Christ, vriih its victory over death and the grave, when the finger of God touches them, and they, too, sleep. I