Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-10
| TERRIBLE CASUALTY.
The Diamond COeI Mine Accident
Seventeen Men Fall lS6 Feet-TWelVe
Instantly Killed.


The Diamond COeI Mine Accident
Seventeen Men Fail Is5 Feet-TWelve
Instantly Killed.
The Scranton Republican publishes the
particulars of the shocking accident which
occurred on Tuesday morning March 3lst)
at the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad Company's Diamond Mines,
, Hyde Park. The accident occurred at
7:05 o'clock in the morning, as the first.
carriage" load OF miners was on the point
of descending into the "F'' shaft leading
TO the "E' and "F9' veins. On the car
riage, which weighs from $500 to 1000
pounds, fifteen men and two boys had
placed themselves. The signal was given
to the engineer to put his machinery in
motion to raise the carriage, which is gen.
orally raised about foot, when it settles
back upon what are called 'fans" which are
thrown across the opening to support the
carriage. At this time the driving boss,
Mr.. Patrick ("Pstsey") Barrett, said to a
son of Mr.. Rees T. Evans, the boss miner,
sect of, 1 want to go down this time" AS
he thus spoke, the boy jumped of, and Mr..
Barrett removed the lever which throws
back the "fans," and jumped on.
As he did so the carriage started with the
rapidity of lightning, falling to the bottom
of the shaft-a distance of 1S5 feet. The
sudden start was caused by the breaking of
a link eight inches long, Of the best Of
Ulster iron, put in less than three weeks
since. There were seven smaller links
above this before the wire rope commenced.
The broken link was picked up at the
bottom of the shaft, and was found to be
Strengthened completely, with the exception
of slight turn at each end. This straight
ening out showed the tenacity of the iron,
rs only slight crack was made in it on
the inside Of the broken end. The other
and shows the reason the link broke to have
been the imperfect welding of the iron.
The link was made of three-quarter inch
iron, and that less than halfway round the
rod was perfectly welded. That portion is
purely white, aud all the rest is blackened,
showing that for some reason the weld did
not take. When together the surface evil
IDENTIFY seemed perfectly Joined at the lap.
The wonder is that it held together SO long
while drawing up tons of weight every day.
1t is said by experts that sometimes YIELDS do
not take on account Of unusually sulphurous
coal being used in welding, and possibly
it was the case with the weld in question.
Bituminous coal ia considered better for
such operations. One of the employees who
stood by at the time of the accident, says
that Just after the carriage was raised, and
as it was on the point of descending, he
happened to look up and saw that the lower
link was standing crossWise, instead of up
and down, and it is thought that when the
carriage fell back upon the fans and the
chain slackened, this link caught, and was
thrown and held in that position. Conse-
quently, when the fans were thrown off the
link was probably suddenly jerked into an
upright position, and the sudden jerk and
strain caused the link to part at the weld.
Almost the whole population of Hyde
Park, seemingly, and hundreds from the
Scranton side of the river, congregated
about the mouth of the shaft soon after the
accident. DR.. Gibbs was promptly on the
ground, and as each body was brought up
to daylight he made an examination and
dressed the wounds as we'll as it could then
be done. Twelve were killed instantly, and
of the five living three can hardly survive
their Injuries