Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-09-15
Fire in a Coal Shaft---TwO Hundred
Men Shut Up in the Mine.--The Buried
Miners FOHnd--All Dead.
PLYNfOUTH. r.. Sept.

PLYMOUTH, PA, Sept. 8.
A fire broke out this morning in the
ffues of the Bolton & Stuben shaft,
owned by the Delaware, Lackawana
and Western Company. in this place,
and in a short time the whole breaker
and out buildings were in flames, and \
the hOisting apparatus. the only ave
nue. Of escape for the miners, was de-
strOyed. All efforts to allay the flames
were unavailing, and the whole struc-
ture fell, filling up the shaft. Over
200 men are in the shaft, and no COM
municatiOn out, with no chance for
air. as the only way for getting air in
TO the shaft was through the main ope-
ning and that was filled with burning
timbers and debris of the flames. 1t
is feared the whole number have been
suffocated by smoke or perished for
want of air.
The fire department of Scranton,
Wlkesbarre and Kingston are playing l
streams down the shaft for the pur-
pose of quenehing the fire there, so
the rubbish can be cleared out and
condition of the men ascertained. 1t /
will probably take till tomorrow
morning before tidings can be receiv-
ed from them. The scene is heart
rending. Families are congregated in
large numbers. Miners from all parts
of the county are there at work, and 1
merchants, and in fact the whole pop |
ulatiOn of the town have turned out to .
assist. The loss by fire will amount to /
about 500, 600; partly covered by in- |
surance. All physicians of the vicin- /
ity have been summoned to attend |
nf O.
certained.
The affair has cast a gloom upon the
whole community, and business is al
most entirely suspended. The miners
only resumed work to-day, after a
suspension of about three months
Among the men in the mines is Mr..
Hughes, the Superintendent.
SCRANTON, Sept. Especial trains,
/ this morning, ran from here to Avon
| dale every hour. The whole eOmmu-
nity is thrilled with horror here at the
great calamity. All work is suspend
[ ed in the mines in this vicinity, and
I nearly the whole force of miners in
their miners suits, have gone to Avon
I dale to remain until their brethren are
/ brought out, dead or alive. Thousands
| have gone from this direction alone,
and the whole country is aroused and
/ fiOeking to the scene of the disaSter.-
| Streets are thTUnged with women, the
/ relatives and friends of the men in the
/ AvOndale pit, eagerly beseeching eve
/ ry person arriving from below for in
/ formation, and their weeping fills the
air. The widows and orpha-is will
number not less than six hundred.
! At eight o'clock the crowd was
I cleared, and a rope enclosure made
around the mouth of the shaft by the
police. The engine and fan were got
to work at $40, and shortly after it
was connected with the canvas con-
duetor that reaches to the bottom of
the shaft, 237 feet. superintendent
Corwin, of the Hampton mine, and J.
p. Davis, carpenter, of Avondale, de-
scended one hundred feet and lowered
two lamps to within fifteen feet of the
bottom of the shaft. The lamps burn
ed freely. After remaining in the
shaft 40 minutes, they returned from
reconnOitering. George I. Morgan,
John Powells, Thomas Davis, and
Thomas E. Davis, a committee of
miners, descended the shaft. They
proceeded about 80 feet into the. gang
way, and finding a great deal of car
bonie acid and black damp, retreated.
As far into the mine as they went,
the damp was between two and three
feet deep on the bottom of the mine.
At 11:55 another miners sOmmfttee
began a descent at the shaft. The fan
was kept constantly in motion. Du-
ring these proceedings at the shaft,
committee of fifty volunteers was
formed and regularly differed by the
miners, to descend and recover the
bodies of their companions.
The most experienced miners gave
up all hope of finding any one alive in
the mines.
Three hundred miners from Coal
vile have arrived, and there are
thousands upon the grounds in the
immediate vicinity, nearly One-half OF
them women and children.
At l, P. NJ, the party of men re-
turned safely as had the first. They
penetrated the gangway a distance of
70 feet and found the large door was
open; they then went a hundred feet
further in one of the passages and
found a small door which was closed.
/ After opening this door to give cir
culatiOn of air around to the entrance
they returned. Had this small door
been opened there might have been a
shade of hope, as the gas and smoke
and fire would have had free passage
around the circuit and out again. As
it is, the fears are that the smoke has
penetrated into the mines and sutfo-
Gated all the men. The main door
way leading to the mines has not yet
been reached. The third set Of men,
four in number, went down and came
back in fifteen minutes. Two of them
were so overcome with the effects of
gas that they are being restored with
difficulty.
The gas is coming out of the outer
mine very fast since the passage way
was opened. The widest excitement
prevails, and the mass of people are
kept back with great difficulty.
1870 p. M.-The two miners are saw
ed at last. 1t seems idle to risk life
by any further attempt to go down as
long as the gas is so strong. No at
tempt can, of course, be made to reach
the main door, OF to penetrate the
mine until the outer gangway is clear
ed of gas. 1t is uncertain how long
this will take. There is really no
ground to hope that a single life re-
mains of those who were at work in
the mine. Everybody gives them up,
and nothing probably remains TO he
done but to recover the bodies.
/ SCRANTON, Pa, Sept. s, \. M.-At
Sis A. NJ, four men went down the
shaft and were gone thirty-tive min
utes and discovered dinner cans and
cups.
At half-past seven o'clock one Of the
gangs reported that they went up the
plane, Just beyond which a barrier
was met consisting of a car packed
i around with Coz and clothing. This
was cleaned away and proceeding a
little further another barrier was met,
nearly completed and constructed as
the first. One man was found upon
the outside where he had been at
work laying up the wall All was
completed save a small aperture suffi-
eient to admit the passage of human
body and it was inferred that he had
lust finished his task and was prepar-
ing to ioin his companions on the Op-
poSite side by crawling back. This
barrier was removed when the whole
force'of miners were found cOngrega-
ted and piled one upon another and
dead.
Daniel Jones, who lost his life in an
effort to rescue his companions on
Monday night, and Thomas Williams,