The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-20
The ENTOMBED MINERS.
Probability that the Twenty-FOur Men I'm
prisOned Near Wilkesbarre Have Perished.

| No. l slope this morning is frightful Mine In
| spector Williams says that if the men can be
reached in forty hours they will be found
| alive. The total exhaustion of the air will not
occur before tLen, and the chance of rescue is
this morning very SLIM from the fact that the
air circle has been broken. This was ascertained
by the second rescuing party working
at the opposite end from the first
party in slope No. l. Superintendent
Morgan finds that there are sixty-seven feet
of quicksand and earth to be dug away. This is
wedged In between the mine timbers, which
have sprung inward and crossed. presenting an
| almost insurmountable barrier. The shifts are
now changed every TWO hours, but the culm and
quicksand, by its very nature. fills in the place
of that which was taken out before. An expert
authority says that it will require FIVE or six
days to dig through. This ends all hope of the
twenty nine men imprisoned, who, it is believed,
died within the first twelve hours from suffoca-
ton. Sixteen English, Irish and Welsh. and
thirteen Poianders and Hungarians are now
known to be entombed in the chamber of death.
party consisting of sixty miners connected
with the rescuing force came out of the slope at
Bis, and reported that all are hard at work.
They have sent calls in every direction and in
every manner possible, but were unable to elicit
any response from the entombed men. AS to
their being still alive, it rests wholly upon con-
lecture. Old and reliable miners, who under
are surely dead.
1t has now been definitely decided that the
disaster caused by the caving in of the roof
and the rushing in of large body of water
which had accumulated on the surface from
natural drainage. This water brought with
it a vast quantity of coal dirt, which
blocked the gangways and passages and cut
off the escape of number of men in the upper
lift The caving-in started by blast fired
by Kivler, one of the men who were in the mine.
AT o'clock this evening it is believed that
Swenty-sx persons are in the NINE Whether
they alive dead cannot be told If
they have been enabled to obtain fresh air, they
are undoubtedly alive, and there is good hope of
rescuing them. Many experienced miners be-
lieve, however, that in their position they
cannot get any new supply of air, and that,
having exhausted what little was in the workings,
they must now be perishing from suffocation.
The measures for the relief of those still in the
mine were begun as soon as the other men had
been brought to the surface. At first little
could be DONE for the water was
five feet deep. and it was impos-
sand and culm which blocked up the gangways.
Last evening the water subsidized, having all run
off to the lower levels of the mine, and effective
work was commenced in earnest Two gangs Of
men were set to work excavating from different
points toward the place where it is believed the
men are One party, sixty strong commenced
work from the foot of the air-shaft That is
the nearest point to the men, but great difficult
ties are encountered. The men and tools are
let down by a derrick. The workers are obliged
! to throw behind them the material excavated
and this hinders them. The gangway being
closed up at one end, they could get no circula-
ton of air until tubes were brought and air
forced to them. to the place where the men were
| at work. The rescuers are working with the
greatest energy to night The thought that their
comrades are perishing on the other side of the
mass of rock, sand and dirt, nerves every arm
with strength The gangs are re-
lieved every four hours, and sixty
men have been constantly at work since last
evening. AT o'clock this evening it was be-
lieved they had penetrated to within fifty or
sixty feet of the imprisoned miners. Another
party is working from tho direction of the slope
toward the same point They have further
to 60. but have better facilities. The
air is pure. and they have powerful
material Whether the men can be reached in
time to save any lives cannot DE definitely told.
There is little ground for hope, but the efforts
will not be abated until the fate of the i'm
prisoned men is determined.
The people of Nanticoke are in the greatest
excitement, and nothing is thought of or talked
about but the disaster. Business is partially
suspended, and the colliery is surrounded by
hundreds of persons, among whom are many rel
atives of the imprisoned men. eager to
to gain hope that their friends
may be rescued. The officials of the company
state, this evening. that there are twenty-four
men in the fatal slope. not twenty nine, as is
generally understood. They state, further. that
the disaster was precipitated by a col
lapse of the passage way of the
tunnel to the extent of FIVE feet. causing
depression which brought down into the tun-
mel twenty ton vein of lake quicksand The
vacuum created by this created an arch, and the
entire roof with the contents of pond of water
overhead, containing over 10000, 900 gallons of
water rushed into the mine.