The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-12-26
In the Bowels of the Earth.
TwENTY-THREE MEN AND BOYS IMPRISONED IN
NINE, AND GIVEN UP TO DIE.

WuKEsBARRE, Dec. 22-It is now a settled
fact that the twenty three men and boys who
were imprisonedin No. slope of the Susque-
hanna Coal Company at Nanticoke on Friday
last are dead. The only question is whether
they died Justification by gas or whether they
were caught in the flood. 1t is possible that
the unfortunate men may have reached place
| where they were safe from the flood, in which
case the gas that began to accumulate within
twenty-four to forty ght hours after the acct
dent undoubtedly killed them. If they were
caught by the food their bodies will be found
in the gangways.
There was no rest for Nanticoke last night.
1t is impossible to describe the CONSERVATION,
the dismay, the agony which spread through
the village when it was learned after midnight
that all efforts to get the men out alive
had been abandoned. The town never saw
sucE a sight as that witnessed from 2 to 4
! o'clock this morning. No one thought ofrest.
| The whole population was out on the streets
discussing in the widest manner the decision,
and EXPLANATIONS of despair, cries of agony,
and mutterings of discomfort were heard on
every street corner and IN almost every house
hold. Relatives of the unfortunate miners
were in the widest agony, and several were
| seized with commissions. Fanny Sarver, sister
of the two Sarver brothers, was Frustrated
with violent fits, and at 3 o'clock this morn
| ing it was feared that she would die.
Mrs. Kiveler, the aged mother of the three
Kiveler brothers, was at deaths door from
weakness and shock, and many other relatives
and friends were completely Frustrated. The
| officials in charge of the work of rescue were
forced to abandon their labors. An investiga-
ton showed that sand, rock, and culm had
fallen to such an extent as to completely fill
to the roof the mine in which the imprisoned
men were confined, and that the unfortunate
miners were undoubtedly dead.
A second cave-in, ofvery large proportions,
took place during the night, and the real ex-
tent of the damage cannot be estimated. This
fall filled the mine with sulphurous gases, and
put peremptory stop to all work. AT 6
o'clock this morning it was announced that
| the bodies of the victims could not be recov-
cred for at least a month.
The officials of the Susquehanna Coal Com
pany met this afternoon, and decided to sink
a shaft as nearly as possible over the spot
where the bodies of the victims lie. Later,
however, the project of sinking shaft was
abandoned. 1t is said it would be necessary
to 90 down $50 feet to reach the nearest gang
way, and to do this would take three months
or more. The company will continue to work
on and clear the obstructed tunnel, in the hope
|
within the next ten days.
The only thing that remains is to recove
the bodies of the victims, and restore them to
their families and friends. Little has been
done to- day except to clear away the debris
preparatory to beginning anew, and render
the machinery and appliances more substan-
tial. The operations at the slope will be kept
up, and all debris removed as fast as possible.
The most practical miners are Of the opinion
that when the dead men are found, it will be
in their chambers. If they have been caught
in the fall of sand and culm, then the victims
will be found one by one as the excavation
continues, and it may be two months before
the last body is recovered. The loss to the
company is estimated this afternoon at $780,
600.
Michael Sarver, father of the two Sarver
brothers, was among the last who came out Of
the shaft this morning. He wept like child.
He is very old and lifelong toiler in the
mines.
Il have two as fine sons as ever father had
living down there he said, land as good a
daughter as a man could wish lying dead at
home But it is the will of God, and | say
/ His will be done 1t is a terrible affair, and
others are suffering as much as | am. | will
90 down again as soon as they will let me, and
| will work day and night to rescue them dead
| or alive"
The miners, or most of them, will return to
work to- morrow. Last night when the second
fall of sand took place the wild rush of debris
carried fear and CONSERVATION before it, and
drove the brave band of rescuers before it like
chaff before the wind. Down the steep in
cline on which the rescuing force were at
work they hastily scrambled. Foreman War
rem and miners Lewis, Morgan, and Absalom,
who were working in the face of the debris,
were caught by it, and they would probably
have been killed had they not, by almost SUI
perhuman efforts, torn themselves from the
Sliding mass. The long line of sixty rescuers
started with Bonded forms through the long
tunnel which they had opened through the
debris. Then came fierce blast of air down
the incline, which extinguiShed their lamps
and left them to groupe their way through the
darkness to the foot of the air shaft.