The Osceola times., 1882-03-25
BURIED ALIVE FOR A DAY.
The Miraculous Escape Of Two Miners I'm.
prisoned by Fall of Rock.
New York Times.

NtW 1ofh lnueh.
A thrilling experience of two miners
John X. Price and Daniel NJ. Davis, who
were buried alive for twenty four hour
in the Watkins and Williams mines
near Carbondale, Pa. The two impris
oned miners were employed on the nigh
shaft in constructing a head to connect
the old and new workings of the
mine, when terrific fall of roof, about
twenty feet in extent, occurred between
themselves and the entrance, completely y
pletely shutting up their only avenue OF
escape. The heading" was about seven
feet IN witth and six feet high, and the
space was exceeding narrow where Price
and Davis found themselves with horse
and coal car, after the terror of the fall
had passed away.
Their unfortunate situation was not
discovered until the morning following
when Morgan Reese and William DAVIS
were going to take their places. The
new corners were Mortified to find the
entrance to the heading barred by a
rough and Jagged mass of coal and rock
and they thought surely their comrades
must have been crushed beneath the
ruins. Reese called with all his might
and was answered from within by Davis
who said they were all right and in q
place of perfect safety The news Of the
accident spread rapidly, and in less than
half an hour the people of Carbondale
were hurrying to the scene in scores t.
assist in the work of releasing the buried
miners. The rescuing party went to
work with great earnestness and was
making splendid headway, when another
crash came tearing down the crumbling
rock and burying the horse beneath a
huge mass. 1t was surely thought that
the imprisoned miners were struck by
this last fall, but the ringing voice Of
Davis gave hope to the workers outside
Another force of men was then pressed
into service to sink shaft from the sur,
face, but the yielding nature of the earth
and rock made their progress somewhat
slow. Just as it was thought sue.
cess had crowned the undertaking, and
one of the rescuing party was in the act
of talking to Davis, through q narrow
opening, fresh slide of earth filled up
the space and brought new terror to all
Thus. all day long, the earnest, excited
crowds without worked for the release
of the imprisoned men, who were finally
rescued at o'clock at night. As soon
as Davis and Price staggered ont Of their
living tomb, they were greeted with a
cheer and surrounded by Joyous
friends. Price was unable to speak, but
Davis appeared in good spirits, and gave
an intelligent account of the adventure
lie said:
The mines closed in Monday night
about II O'Clock. When we found our
selves shut up We used short rails in the
manner of props, as we had no other
timber to use in propping up the edge
of the broken roof. We thea brought
the coal car rom the face of the heading
placed it close to the fall, took up the
road truck and built log support on top
of the car with the ties. All this was
done in few minutes. BY this time
our lights went out, and, having no oil,
we were compelled to struggle in the
dark and do the best we could to await
relief. The second fall came about II
o'clock Tuesday morning, when the
horse was caught and killed by the
crash. We were taken out about S
o'clock Tuesday night"
The scene Of the accident is only a
short distance from that of the forty acre
fall Of roof which occurred many wears
ago, and under which several men and
mules were killed. That fall is especial.
ly noted because Of the experience OF
the late John Eosie, who was buried in
the mines for nearly week, and was
mourned as dead by all his friends
when he struggled home.