National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-06-16
4 Coal Mine Horror.

shaft of the West pittston Coal Mine
, A column of smoke was seen rising from
, the shaft causing an immediate rush OF
people for the rescue of the numerous
miners known to bc below There sue
cecdcd - hours of desperate exertion
10 subdne the fire and to penetrate the
recesses Of the mine before all the nm
fortunate men should be snffocatcd. Al
the end of that period, the last of the
~ who had been cntombed was brought
! to the surface. Eighteen were dead.
Most Of the Others were in state of in
scnsibility when found, but recovered
upon reaching the above ground,
Martin Cox, one of the miners who
was taken ont Of the mine alive, makes
the following statement
I'VE went in ut am. My brother
Robert cut through from one nir-way to
another, and turned in gas, md six
miners came out with him before their
shaft WIS up the air was so bad they
could not work at ALL This was about
fifteen minutes before the fire, and seven
miners came to the top five minutes be-
fore the fire was discovered. The first
intimation we had of the fire was "A
sound through the mine MS if there was
an explosion of gas. An English miner
said there was fire We were then
working about fifty yards from the bot
tom of the shaft on the west side ]
then ran to the bottom of the shaft and
saw the fire coming down ran back to
my comrades and told them, we are
all lost the shaft is on fire We were
seven in all. We then ran to the foot of
the shaft, and burning timbers We're
coming down. We threw on water to
put out the fire, and the smoke became
so intense that we were nearly suflocated.
Dense volumes came down the shaft aud
filled the place. We then ran over to
the west side in the direction of the
river bridge, down the SLOPE and got in
ut the door, with II others, making Is
altogether
In that place the smoke came in upon
ms SO badly that we gathered up lot of
fine stuff from the track and plastered
up the cracks of the doors, and also
stuffed coals in the holes, which stopped
the smoke for some time. We now had
time for thoughtand reflection. No one
expected to see daylight again, and
several said it was Il second Avondale.
We al sung hymns and prayed, calling
upon God in HIS mercy to save us, as
we all felt doomed and beyond human
aid We ran back and forth through
the gangways for fresh air.
At 3;15 p. M, Patrick Farley fell and
groaned twice, and was found dead when
the men came in the place after the fire.
then went over to the west side for my
{ -, Inl,, a.. hn A
we would all have been suffocated very
soon. The men then passed me, carry
ing back their comrades, who We're dying
in their arms. More men We're outside
the doors, crying out in distress and
anguish, calling on God for safety and
succor None expected to come out
alive The mules were kicking and
neighing. A boy told his father, with IA
horrible oath, "Stop praying and crying
we VIII come out safe, and if we must
die. let us die like men = The father
and son both came out alive.
At 7:3O p. M, | became iusensible and
remained so until ] was brought ont by
my brother Robert, about 5 o'clock on
Sunday morning.
The West Pittston mine has but one
opening, and, as required by the pro-
visions of the Ventilation act passed
after the Avondale calamity of last year,
gangs of men were at work opening a
second shaft. At 2 p. m. the engineer
began hosting out those who We're be-
low, their eight hours work having been
completed. Three carriage loads of men
/ had been raised when the fire was dis
covered 1t spread rapidly along the
dry wood work above and down the sides
OF the shaft The situation thus became
perfect parallel to that at Avondale.
The engineer remained at his post, and
though enyeloped III smoke, lowered
and hosted the carriage four times
! but, it seems, no more men were brought
up. The rope was then burned off, the
carriage fell into the shaft, and the en-
gineer, after being much injured, made
his escape from the flames. The mouth
of the shaft Is conspicuously located, 50
that all the people of the valley were
/ speedy made aware of the nature of the
disaster, and hurried to the place.
BY 3o'clock the breaker and engine
house Were nearly consumed, and men
had begun clearing away the debris, to
enable the tiremen to get to work as
soon as possible. Meantime, fire engines
had been telegraphed for and some ar
rived from Pittston. Kingston, Wilkes
barre, and Scranton. The Susquehanna
is half a mile distant, and it was neces-
sary to bring water from it. A line of
500 men, with buckets, was formed,
teams were engaged in hauling water,
and locomotives were employed in bring
ing up their tanks full of water for the
supply of the steamers.
1t was $50 o'clock before the steady
streams of water poured into the mouth
of the shaft had subdued the fire so as
to enable the shaft to be cleared and
preparations to be made for descent
| Thousands of men, women and children
had III the meantime assembled from
every direction 1t became necessary
to stretch ropes about the mouth of the
shaft and adopt system of police, to
keep back the crowd Meanwhile
numerous superintendent, managers.
engineers, and other leading men had
arrived, and the work proceeded more
Systematically than III the first hours of
wild terror and excl ement.
At a dog was let down into the shaft
for some distance, and after remaining
three minutes was brought up alive.
| He was then lowered to the bottom, $50
4 feet, and on being raised, after five
minutes, was found to be apparently un
injured. This gave hope for the safety
of the miners. But when temporary
/ framework was placed at the mouth, and
William Low of the Pennsylvania Coal
/ Company had been lowered Is feet, with
rope attached to his leg, he reported
serious distractions in the shaft 1t was
! then feared that before they could be