Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-08-28

Eight Men Sufocated While Attempting to
Flood a Burning Mne-A Heartrending
T ISceHe at the Mouth of the PITT Efforts Be-
ing Made te, Retoser tho Bodies. igia s1li ii
|. ~ Ia j.. W1LkEsBARRE. PA, August y.
Excitement gover the fire 1t, Buckridge
! olfieryl was Increased to-day by the suf-
location ofeight men Whpwere engage d in
the vain attempt to drive q hale from the
Greenback CollerY into the burning mins,
through which to sruu the creek.sl.ti Disr
trict ~ SuperintendentsE Williams and,
Booth,s having, immediate supervision of
the men, 81 constantly remained with
them until about >, five I'll this morn-t
ing when they came. out to- look
at the fire. While they. were absent PEI
ter WeIker went down the .Greenbsck
slope to feed the mules In descending
he felt the wagon in which he was riding
4jar. He jumped out and discovered tho
body of q man lying on the track. Before
he could see where the man was the fire
damp Elk tinguislzed, his light and, almost
xhausted, he managed to get II. into the
car, grasped the bell. wire and .uoj,ss5,, !
: af,., sIGNALLED TO BE HoIsTRD.dt h "a
A few minutes later the, wagon reached
the surface with Welker lying in it insen-
.sibie This was the first inrimation the
officials had Of anything wrong inside.
Frank Wardrop and Valentine Depnef
Volunteered to go :. down landly reach
the miners. inside, but the, attempt almost
cost, them their. Lives, and they were.
hoisted out more dead than alive.
Both the Greenback and ,Buckridge
mines SOON flied up with gas aud 'ev-
cry one workfngsa thesupface was
forceduto the surface. The menawho
were, driving the hole and fifteen mules
were still inside, and all of course
persisted. The mining engineers exam.
ined the Slope as, far as they Could
with safety, and give 1t as their opfn-
ion thatithe gas forced it's way from the
old workings down upon the miners,
ismothering the eight men q engaged in
arWIng the nole. Ia ,a.,,asdu1 - ,.tafoi
! a. ,rsleaY THEIR NAMES ARE: - IL t.Iia
william Carl, PstEick Haley, William B.
Clark, William ShaEkweiler. William Tay-
lor, George Beck, Robert White and Viii
liam Fox. The news of the accident soon
reached Shamokin and elieighboring
patches, creating intense excitement.
Men,, women and children esrushed
to. the, scene, ~ and lin, less than an
hour over 1000 people pressed closely
up to the mouth Of the =. mines,
The coal and iron engineers and experts
examined closely the condition Of the
mine, and knew it would be certaindeath
for. any one to attempt fo go down the
Greenhack. slope. 1t was then decided
to open the bottom, vein slope at the
Buckridge mine, which would change the
current OF air at the Greenback, and force
it back to Buckridge by means of q fan
t, be erected. and if nothing happens to
delay the work the bodies may be reached
tomorrow. The uuL ,dal :,5nant!s q
ar = WIVES OF, THE VICTIMS elo.s4a.
sat together in tears near the slope, anx-
iously awaiting for the recovery of the
bodies of their husbands, while the little
children, bitterly crying, CHUNG to them.
Carpwas thirty Six years Of age and had
q Hwife aud atwoI childrenli Haley was
forty years old, leaves q. widow, and five
children. Clark was thirtyrnine, had 3
wife and four children. Shankweiler was,
forty-two, with wife and six children.
Taylor was thirty eight, wife and one
child. Beck, thirty seven years. wife
and three children. 81 Fox, tfortyathTee!
years, wife and four children. Robert
Whitelwas the SON of Inside ,iSuperih-
tendentf White, " and was only, sixteen
years OF u, age Nothing; will be LETT
undoue nor expense spared to recover
the bodies. The loss to the Coal ana
Iron Company Will probably reach $780,
900. besides the long term of icieness
that will be dorced tipon thesenpioyes by
the disaster.
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