Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-05-31
Another Mining Horror.


The shaft Of mine at West Pittston,
Pa, owned by the Lchigh Valley Railroad, |
and worked by Blake & Co., Of New York
caught fire at ten minutes past two o'clock on
Saturday afternoon It was the time Of
changing shafts, and three car loads Of men |
had just been hoisted The engineer, McDer
mott, was soon onvclope1 in smoke, but stood |
to his post brayely. lie hoisted his carriage
four times more, but none came up. The sew
enth time the rope burned and broke and the
carriage fell into the shaft The engineer |
could then stand it no longer his arms were
severely burned, and it was with the utmost
difficulty that he escaped with his life. BY
this time the breaker and engine houses we're
one mass Of fire, and by three O'Clock the
burning debris covered the ground. Thous-
ands Of persons had now repaired to !
the scene. Fire engines were telegraphed
for, and men with buckets brought water
from the Susquchanua river, half mile dis
tant. line Of five hundred was formed
who passed buckets from one to another, aud
water was finally passed into the SHAFT out OF
which dense black moke continually issued.
Shortly after fire engines from Pittston,
Wilksbarro and Scranton arrived and streams
OF water were soon played INTO the mouth o,
tne NINE Locomotives were at once engage1
10 conveying water 10 tanks Iof tne supply OIL
the hre engines ana by SIX O'Clock the hrc
was 80 lar eAungulsneu as 10 a"o" an lusPo''
ton Of the shaft At eighteen minutes be-
fore seven o'clock dog was let down, and in
three minutes raised alive. 10 a few minutes
he was again let down and, after five minutes,
was raised WIN tne same result as before
at o.0o, Nnilam Low, assistant supoFln'eu'
I'hI o. inc lehnsyiVah'a coa' company "cn'
uo"u I'D Iee' W'ln " rope iouu" JUS w.
carriage anu platform over 'ne mouth OIL Tue
smart was soon a'Ier CON p'''eu, "uu "' '''f
Oa'" Harris anu "uham warren miners
commenced decent INTO the mine' repairing
the partition between the up cast anu ths
down cast ana clearing away 'h' INSTRUCTIONS
OF tne ialen tlmners as lhey Went
me s1alt OF the NINE was -'o iee' uocP'
ana the WORK OF re'cuius inc lmperiiel miners
was pushed with the greatest Visor' Al nall
past ~ clock the rcscuing party sueeeeueu 10
eheciing an entrance to the bottom oil the
shaft and brought to the surface Andrew
Morgan, who was insensioIe. lhey also iound
Hiram Curtis dead, lying with his lace III
the water At l24O they sent up WORD that
the men had barrlcaded' anu sent up the cage
for more men and tools. On Sunday morn
ing the excitement was greater than ever be-
fore. Up to a. m.i - men had been brought
to the top OF whom SIX were dead. VI the
lnsenslble but one or TWO nave so lar recov-
cred as to be able to give an account OF them
selves. Morgan who was hrst discovered, IS
still alive, but the IS stu unconscious and his
recovery Is doubtful The exploring parties
are compelled to proceed with the utmost
caution, and are frequently brought out as
phyxiated with foul gases. AT 10 a. m. thirty
men had been brought out, ten OF whom were
dead, aud at II not more than one or two
remained in the mine. Every one brought
up for the two hours before noon was lound
b to be stone dead. At ~ O'Clock all the
men had been removed but 5 OF the u were
dead. The excitement at the scene OF the
catastrophe on Sunday was almost indescriba.
BILE. Thousands OF people crowded around
the mouth OF the pit and were with dlihculty
kept outside the ropes which had oeen stretch-
ed around the shaft
The tire originated by the friction OF the
wooden machinery OF the breaker ana was
communicated to the surrounding woodwork
by the oily wrappings ana packings Inc
SHAFT has but one opening ana Is IN precisely
the same condition as the Ayondale smart was
previous to that great disaster, Inc oper-
> ators OF the NINE were notified about month
ago, that, according to the provisions oil the
ventilation bill, no more than twenty miners
could be allowed to work on one shalt until a
second opening had been secured and work
uUOU second shalt urOnreSS at the
e time OF the disaster.
Martin Cox who was taken out oil tue mine MI
alive, makes the following statement Inc
first inhmaton we had OF the hre was sound
as though an explosion oil gas had taken place
b An English miner sad there Is hre' we
we're then working about oo yarus rom the
bottom oil the shalt' theh ran 70 the potion
e OF the shaft and saw the hre coming down
It ran back TO my comrades ana tolu 'nen' "N'
y are all lost the smart is On nre' we wer
n seven IN an. Nv then rau 10 tne loot 0, 'n'
e shai' and as the burning timoers came down
b tlreW or water 10 put OUT 'ue mr. "nu siloAe :
q Whlch became so intense 'nu' VIC "ore near
q sunocated. Dohse volumes qauie uo"n tn'
f smart ana hllea tho place we ,nen ran owe
10 the west sue anu GOV III at 'ue uooI wiz
eleven others uSNing e'snITeh OF Us all 'ol'
r. IN 'ha' part oil tne niue inc s'uoNe ouu
e IN upon us 50 a pai'y 'na' We gaIn'rou up
}. The door and also stuffed coats in the holes
y which Stoned the smoke for some time. w
e now had time for thought and reflection. ~
y one expected to see daylight again we said
N was second Avondale. We all sang HYMN
Z. and prayed, calling on God his mercy to saw
u.s. as we all felt doomed and beyond humal
+ aid. We ran back and forth through the gang
= WAYS for fresh air. At 3.15 Patrick Earle
r fell. groaned twice and was found dead Tn
2, men came into the place after the fire the
e went over to the west side for my coat to he'll
e stop out the smoke as we would all be sufIc
:, Gated very soon. The men then passed m