Called Tommyknockers in the U.S., the German miners claimed that gnomes infested metal mines and could cause all sorts of trouble and even death.
The short article below on gnomes was printed in a 1918 newspaper.
German Miners’ Superstitions
Speaking of miners’ superstitions, in Germany the workers underground believe that the mines are infested by gnomes that prowl about, filling and emptying the lodes and engaging in all sorts of mischief, observes a writer. If displeased with a worker, they are likely to throw him down a ladder or crush him beneath a fragment of rock.
Chief of the Teuton mine gnomes are Nickel and Kobold. The former is a benevolent and helpful goblin, but Kobold is wicked and malevolent. To propitiate them, two metals, nickel and cobalt (both originally discovered in Saxony) were named after these subterranean bogies.
Source: The Kendrick gazette. (Kendrick, Idaho), 19 July 1918.
