Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-05-22


of Spectators--W Wild Enthusiasm Of the
! People ,chen 1t ,cos found tie Buried Men
uere 4Alipe-FJteen Days withom Food
| The four miners who were buried alive
in the coal mines below GAINESVILLE, Ohio,
something more than two weeks since, were
reached about one o'clock on Saturday
morning last, and taken from their dark
prison house. The Statesman gives very
| interesting account of the rescue. We quote
as follows:
The caving of the coal bank, by which
they were shutin, took place two weeks ago
last Friday, at about 1 O'Clock in the
morning. The men had gone into the bank
very early in the morning of that day, SO
that they have been shut out from ligh,
and pure air for nearly fifteen days. They
had only one dinner, AMI after being shut
up, found the dinner Of another man, w.:o
had, with sixteen others, at great risk,
barely escaped the catastrophe 1t is not
true that they lived on lamp oil. They had
but little of it. One of the men swallowed
some of the oil to relieve his throat, which
had become very sore from drinking the
copperas water. So that the marvel re-
mains of four persons rescued after two
weeks deprivation of food and water; and
not in very bad condition either ,consd
ering.
The excl ement consequent on this affair
has been at the highest pitch all along the
Muskingum, from GAINESVILLE to Marietta
There has never been less than five hun
dred persons on the ground-all wrought
up to the most intense agony of excitement.
On Sunday last there were over two thou
sand people at the scene. From every
farm house along the road, eager inquiries
were pu. to every returning visi or; and
GAINESVILLE has been in an intense fever on
the subject.
The locality of the accident is on the
west side of the Mushingum. in Blue Rock
township half Il mile above what Is called
Coal Run The bank is owned by NJ. Gu
thlic The mouth of the bank is but a few
feet from the river, and some twelve feet
above the ordinary stage of the river. The
! bank opens into hill that is some three
hundred feet high; and when the bank gave
way, the cavng extended into the hill about
the same distance; SO that when the work
of rescue began, tho men were hundred
yards from sunlight in every direction!
| The cause Of caving was the unskillful
manner in which the bank was worked
Instead of working the vein. which was
four and half feet vein, to the ordinary
width of about twelve feet, and leaving at
short intervals pillars of ten fee; square to
support the superintendent mass of rock
and earth-the:e were urge rooms made
and few pillars left, and those small; SO that
when the crash came, which it did with
report that sounded to the men like thun
der it fairly pulverised the pillars and crush
ed into fragments the rocks above. Upon
the top Of the hill there were found crevces
wide enough for a mans leg and percepti-
bly, extending twenty or thirty feet down.
Perhaps these crevices supplied the men
with pure air-and thus enabled them to
support themselves with comparative ease.
gain, the caving began at the mouth and
ran inwards, shutting in, perhaps compress
ing, the air. There was considerable room
for the men to exercise in, notwithstanding
the extent of the caying
are named Edgin, Savage, Parsons, Get
wood. Parsons is an old man, and Savage
Il boy about eighteen years old. The old
man suffered the most--and the boy least
from exhaustion. Edgn and Parsons had
families who were constantly present under
an almost Insane agony Of mind.
The work of rescue was herculean
work, but bravclv undertaken and heroic
ally consummatcd. 1t was more difficult
as but eight men could work at time
There were eighty men constantly laboring
day and night relieving each other in gangs.
The progress was slow, and become slow
or the further they went into the bank; so
that since Sabbath last not more than foot
an hour has been realized. And this prog
ress was interrupted by the rock falling
in, and by the impure air which put out the
lights.
| THE RESCUE.
Let it be known that those heroic work
men were in constant peril of their lives III
all the fortnight's work. Of course they
had propped up with timber as they work
ed in; but at times the timber bent like a
reed under the immense pressure, and, at
times, gave way The fragmentary condi-
ton of the rocks prevented the workmen
from making themselves secure. They
could not work without light, and when, on
Sunday, they had cut in 236 feet, and were
about to despair, owing to the bad atmos-
phere and the counsels of some who thought
il too late to save the men-.hey took new
vigor and new hope, and still pressed on
until Friday; when the attention of the
workmen was arrested by the knocking
within. They paused AID halloed; again
and again halloed, when the voices of the
/, entombed were heard family in responsive,