Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-12-23
THE BOOK OF FATE.
All Hope Abandoned OF Finding the
Twenty.FOur Men EntOmbed at
NanticOke Alive.
a GrRy-Haired Father Left 10 Mourn the
Loss OF Fair Daughter and
Two Brave Sons.

| wuEnsBARRE, Pa, Dec. 22.-Littlc
change was observable IN the condition Of
affairs last night. The miners at Nor
gantown quit work to-day and Joined the
relief party at Nanticokc. Forty men have
! been working on eight-hOur shifts at No
! 1 slope and 100 men at the air shaft, be-
| Ing relieved every six hours II is in
reaching the imprisoned men IN this way
! that the only hopes are entertained of ever
resculng them. Fifty cars OF rock and
sand are sent out every eight hours from
| tho slope but the treachcrous quicksand
mixed with culm keeps pouring in so that
| IL is impossible to form an idea
OF the vastness OF the work
| TINT lies before the relief party. The fan
is kept Running night and day, but oXpe-
| rlenced mine bosses doubt whether there
| Is sufficient power to cause the fresh air
TO penetrate the vast obstruction filing
the gangway OF No. , slope. About .
O'Clock last night the work OF the res
cuing party was suddenly interrupted by
another fall Of sand, rock and culm, The
men were working on steep incline.
They fed for their lives, and several Of
them had very narrow escapes. The
work of digging for the time being was
suspended. The fall did not come from
the surface, but from an upper bank,
At 1880 this morning the miue officials
decided to abandon work in the air shaft
on account OF the cave in and the pres
encc of IRE damp. All attempt to get
the missing men out alive has now been
abandoned, but the work through the
tunnel will be pushed steadily forward.
10 will probably DE two weeks before the
bodies are reached.
beyond ALL HUMAN HEP.
WILhEsBARHE, PA, Dec 99.-There
was no rest for Nantcokc last night. it
ia impossible to describe the Consternu.
ton, dismay and agony which spread
throughout the village when ii was
learned after midnight that efforts to get
the cntombed men out alive had been
abandoned. No one thought OF rest The
whole population was on the streets dis
cussing in the widest manner the deCis-
ion to abandon the efforts at rescue.
Explanations of despair, cries of
agony and mutterings of discomfort
were heard on every corner. In almost
every household the relatives of the un-
fortunate victims were in the widest
agony of despair. Several were seized
with commissions and many more were
completely Frustrated. The officials were
| forced to abandon work from the air
shaft by several irresistible conclusions.
| Investigation early this morning showed
that the sand, rock and culm had fallen
| to such an extent that the mine was filed
to the roof, and that the men are dead
and beyond all human help. The list of
victims numbers tWenty-tour, among them
several boys, but mostly men, the larger
number OF whom are married and have
families.
WILL SINK a NEW SHAFT.
WIIKESBARRE, PA, Dec. 22-The of.
iicials OF the Lehigh G WUkesbarrc Coal
company are now going to sink shaft
directly over the slope where the i'm
prisoned miners are supposed TO be. 1t
Is thought that by doing this they can
reach the victims in about four days.
\ SEALED BOOK.
WURWsnAnnn, Ia, DIV. - .---,rlr fate
OF the men in the slope is sealed, and the
only thing that remains Is to recover 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
to render the machinery and appliances
more substantial. Operations on the
slope VIII be kept up and
all the debris removed as fast
as possible. The most practicable miners
are OF the opinion that when the dead
men are found it will be In their cham
bers. If they have been caught in the fall
or sand and culm, then the victims win be
found one by one rs the excavation con
tinues and 1t may be two months before
the last body is recovered The loss TO
the company is estimated at $50, OOO, and
will be greater in the cost of the sinking
of a shaft, the loss of time and the clear
ing away of a mile of debris, sand and
rock which is wedged in mass in the
gangways. Michael Sarver, father of the
two Sarver brothers, was among the last
who came out of the shaft. This morn
ing he wept like child. He is very old
and has been Il lifelong tolcr in the
mines, He expressed himself as en-
tirely satisfied with the work being done
to eStricate the men. He did not place
the blame for the disaster on any one,
holding that IL was entirely accidental
81 have two as tiuc sons as ever had a
father lying down there" MIR. Sarver
said, "and as good Il daughter as man
could wish lying dead at home, but 1t Is
the willof God and say Ills viii be done.
10 is terrible affair, and others ara
suffering as much as |. | will 20 down
again as soon rs they will let me, and |
viii work day and night TO rescue them,
dead or alyen
The project Of sinking a shaft over the
workings of the fatal slope has been aban-
doned. 1t is said it would be necessary
TO 20 down 900 feet to reach the nearest
gangway. To do this would take three
months or more. The company will con-
t'nuc to work on and clear the INSTRUCTED
tunnel.
STILL EAT HUMAN FLESH,