The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-04-10
The Diamond Coat Mine saCCi-
DENT

The Scranton Republican publishes the pa
ticulars of the shocking accident which oc-
CURED on Tuesday morning at the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad Compa-
ny's Diamond Mines, Hyde Park. The ac-
cident which occurred at 7:05 o'clock in the
morning, as the first Carriage" load of
miners was on the point of descending into
the Of" shaft leading into the &C." and Of"
veins. On the carriage. 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 C'Patsey') Barrett, said to q son of
Mr. Rees T. Evans, the boss miner, "Get
off, want to go down this time" AS he
thus spoke, the boy jumped off, 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 1856 feet The sudden start
was caused by the breaking of q link eight
inches long, of the best Ulster iron, put in
less than three weeks since. There were
several 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 Strengthening out showed the tenacity of
the iron, as only slight crack was made in it
on the inside of the unbroken end. The
link was made of three-quarter inch iron,
and tibet less than half way round the rod
was perfectly welded. The portion is purely
white, and all the rest is blackened, showing
that for some reason the weld did not take
When together, the surface evidently 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
is considered better for such operations. One
ofthe 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 de-
scending, he happened to look up and saw
that the lower link was standing crosswise
instead of up and down, and it is thought
when the carriage fell back upon the fans
and the chain slackened, this link was caught,
and was thrown and held in that position
Consequently 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 at the
mouth of the shaft soon after the accident
Doctor Gibbs was promptly on the ground,
and as each body was brought up to daylight
he made an examination and dressed the
wounds as well as it could then be DONE
Twelve were killed instantly, and of the five
living, three can hardly survive their injuries.