The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-04-03
bruised, cut and burned. but not Sc


riously.
At last all were heard from but two
Of the miners who had gone in, against
the warnings of their fellow miners,
to the farther 'heading," beyond the
air drift to work.
Two half-crazed daughters of one
of them shrieked aloud, For Gods
sake help save our father ~ They
were the daughters of James Work,
one of the Inflated victims; the other
one being James Reese, an old and
experienced miner. No living person
dared to enter the pit, and the cries
Of the poor women were of necessity
unanswered, although great. stout
men tui ned away to hide their tears.
At last, after interviewing the wOun'
ded, it was learned that the two
named were beyond all hope. They
had gone in to the extreme end OF
the mine to work. The fire damp was
too heavy for safety. 1t had ignited
from their lamps, and the very noun
tain itself was shaken by the explo-
sion which followed. Other men,
hundreds of feet away, had been hor.
ribIy injured. What, then, must
have been their fate?
ABOUT 5 P. NJ. William Rainey, pit
boss of the Fairmont mine, and Jas.
Jack, an old miner, organized a
rescue party and entered the mine,
stationing men with safety lamps at
short intervals. They only got in 30C
or 400 feet, when the roof was found
caved in and the air became so hea-
Wy that the two leaders staggered and
fell, and were only gotten out after
great trouble. The search WAS, of
necessity, given up, and it will take
days to recover the bodies.
Old miners who were present some
of whom had witnessed such explo.
sions in Europe, say they never saw
such havoc as was created by the ex-
plosion. Whole tons of earth, rocks,
black sand and timbers were blown
out of the mouth of the pit, and
across the river, full quarter mile
of distance. Trees were torn to
pieces, and blackened as tho with a
coat of tar, and all round were evil
dences of fearful CONFUSION.
The whole country around is in
gloom. The da mage to the mine,
owned by J. p. Watson and.Others,
Is very heavy.
A Fairmont wv. Va.) correspon-
dent of the Wheeling Hateltigencer
gives the following account of the
fire-damp explosion in the CASTOR
coal mines, abut two miles from the
former place, Saturday afternoon
last, and heretofore briefly reported {:
"There were about twenty five
men in the mine at the time of the
and the first great fear was
that all had been killed or weuld be
burned to death by what seemed to
be a raging FIRE within. But one by
one, with bruises, cuts and burns, all
but two emerged from what seemed
a terrible death. For the two who
had not got out the gravest appre-
tensions were entertained, which
were only too fully verified by the
of their charred and bruised
Sunday. Every effort was
made to either rescue them or find
their bodies Saturday night, but it
was impossible to enter the mine I'M
til Sunday morning. A current of
heated foul air and binding smoke
issued from the openings for several
hours. Several brave men tried to
enter, but were overcome by the bad
air and driven back. An effort was
made to rescue them by sinking a
shaft near the place where they were
supposed to be imprisoned, but all, of
course. was futile. Sunday morning
search was begun with the use of
safety, lamps, and about 10 O'Clock
the body of one Of the unfortunate
James Reese, was brought
out, and at 3 O'Clock that of the other,
James Work, was recovered. They
are badly cut and burned, and some
think must have been thrown down
the'heading,' more than one hundred
feet. The explosion took effect chief
y in the heading where these two
men were working. The other men
were in another part of the mine,
which did not suffer so much"
GENERAL GRANTS SPEECH AT
GALVESTON.
GALVESTON, TEXAS, March 25.-
At the banquet last night, in response
% the toast, General Grant, our hon
bred guest-greater arm les than Ma
ooleon's have marched at his COM
nand, and greater glories than a
crown have been his" Gen. Grant
'eplied as follows.
"GentteDaen Of Galveston: I am
'ery much obliged to one and all of
you for the very kind reception
which L have received at your hands
ma at the hands of all citizens of
his city, and l assure you that it
'ffords me very great pleasure to be
lere on this occasion and to see so
many OF you. 1t was my fortune
more than third of century ago to |
'lslt Texas as a second Lieutenant.
ma 10 nave been one of those who |