The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-07-23
rcr.sa of tho Mines.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TANK FAILS Thlk-
4gEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY FEsE INTO =;


nense that TO many persons was torture
almost equal to that OF the rack.
ATANK GOES INFO TIE sHEAvE.
IS About III O'clock yesterday forenoon, as
4he tank which Is used b, baiiing water
from the shaft was being hoisted 70 the ne SUI ~,
lace, the engineer on duty, deorge N = pa
Ier, by some mischance, allowed " % oe
run up into the sheave. The tank, Wn ~,
is oil six hundred gallons capacity, was iuil
siayfs ~ means OF which 1t was fastened.
a, the ateel-wire cable, was broken. The
rank was oi wood and ran on guides, the
s,,r,e az a cage. It was big, clumsy, wa
fer.soaked affair. and very heavy, TO say
I,otf,ing OF the water It contained. When
NJ parted from. the cable 1t went down the
shaft like a leaGen plummet-a distance OF
thirteen hundred and fifty feet to the water
mt The bottom. I, saaz.s ,3
Il AN EXCITED ENGINEER.
When he saw what had happened the en-
I pineers was almost wild with excitement, as
I NE knew that seven men were somewhere at
the bettom Of the shaft, aud could not hope
that all had escaped with their lives. ne
ran out Of the works and shouted for assist
ance till his voice was heard at great dis-
lance, hardly knowing what he was dong.
News Of the accident spread rapidly in
! the ueiehborhood. and soon reached tne
Julia shaft, to which place messenger was
sent for Superintendent hayer. Mr. mayer
was soon on the ground, as the distance DC.
tween Julia and the Ward mines Is not
great, and proper efforts were soon pelng
made to ascertain the fate OF the men oeloM.
The hosting tank fell down the south
conpartment. The next compartment north
ss the one in which the cage is used. Inc
cage was down at the time the tank fell.
The first move was to attempt to Rolst
this cage to the surface. A move was mace
10 do this, but no sooner had the cage been
started than a signal came up from oeioW 10
s-stop. This showed those on the SURFACE
that there were some men below who were
alive.
PERPLEXISG SIGNALS.
The men below then struck twenty bells.
No one above knew what this meant, though
it is now said that it is the Cornish DEAN
signal. Not Knowing what to do, those
above again tried to hoist the cage, when
sharp and unmistakable came the signal to
stop, Again came up the twenty bells.
These were followed by other signals That
could not be understood. Several times IL
was thought that those below might be
ready to have The cage hoisted, and careful
attempts were made to move 1t up, but each
time came up from below the peremptory-
<sStop!" All this was exceedingly perplex.
ing and ominous. 1t was finally concluded
that some one was wedged in between the
cage and the timbers OF the compartment,
and no further attempt at hosting was made.
DISTRESSING SCENES ABOVE.
AS the news Of the accident spread, peo-
Dle came from all directions and crowded
into the works. Among these were the
wives and children of some OF the men who
were in the shaft, and the friends and rela-
tiyes OF others. How many men were killed,
and who they were, were questions that
were torturing all present.
The men below were Michael O'Mara,
Richard Fault, j. Cunningham, j. c. Roch-
ford, William st. John, j. w. Stickney, and
Samuel TerriIl. Y 49,. .a...
AS the cage could not be moved, an at
tempt was made to communicate with the
men and learn something OF the situation at
the bottom Of the shaft. By direction OF
Superintendent Thayer, a rope was lower
ed, to which was attached two lanterns, a
bit OF board, and q pencil so that those
uninjured below might make their wants
known. After allowing it to remain a few
moments it was hauled up. One lantern
was gone, the other eXtiDguished, and it
tination.
This failure greatly increasedthe distress
OF those above. Although this effort at COM
munication failed, repeated signals on the
bell were struck by those below, but could
not be understood. p
A PLAN FOR RESCUE. @..a.
What now seemed necessary to be done:
was to make descent into the shaft. In
xrda 70 oil NJ moi m
attached to the cage in the depths had to be
anchored to the surface so securely that its
entire weight would be sustained, and then
detached from the reel. This was done and
the cage put in place. As soon as all was
ready-and 1t took hours Of preparation to
complete everything-John Oswell, fore
man of the Julia and Ward, took two COM
panions, tools, lanterns, etc., and started for
the depths. The guides and timbers in the
shaft had been so badly damaged by the de-
scent OF the tank that 1t took forty minutes
for the cage to reach the bottom OF the
shaft.
It had been agreed upon between Super
iutendeht Thayer and the foreman that ii
any men were dead he should, as soon as
the cage reached the bottom, ring six bells
and then one for each death.
When at last the cage stopped and no
signs came up the suspense of all at the
surface was terrible. What to make Of this
silence OF the bell no one knew. At last
the bell began to strike, and all present be
gan to count. No death-signal was sounded,
but instead, clear and unmistakable, the
signal 10 hoist.
it then occurred to all who understood
the bells that no one was killed after all !;
yet they could hardly believe that this was
1he case.
AS the cage came to the surface five men
were seen on 1.-THE three who went down
and two others, one OF whom was support
ed by his comrades. The Joy Of all present
was great when it was announced that the
two men on the cage were the only ones
hurt-that all left below were sound and
svell. l
The two persons injured, and who came
up on the cage, were Mike O'Mara and
Richard Fault. Mike was not SO badly in
jured but that he was able to limp to the
dressing-r0om without assistance. Fault
swas- more seriously hurt. 1t was seen, as
he was borne along by his comrades, that
he was badly bruised In many places, and
bad quite q severe cut over his right eye,
which may have fractured the bone some
what. He is not considered, however, to
be dangerously inj ured. 49,
1t was soon ascertained from the men
That the lucky escape was owing to the fact
that all the in the bottom OF the shaft
We're Ia the north compartment, out OF the
way OF harm, except Fault and O'Mara.
they We're In the tank compartment, and
must have been instantly killed had they
not heard the tank coming down the shaft.
Thew fnSfanfIv dashbd into the N, ,ddIo conn.