The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-08-26
4 MINE DISASTER
Many Pennsylvania Miners Suf
fOcatcd by Poisonous Air.
Scores Of Men Brought to the Sur
face Of the Mine Unconscious,

A frightful mine accident occurred at the
West End Coal company's mine, at Mocana.
qua, Penn, the other morning, by which ut
least twelve lives were lost and twenty-five
children rendered fathcrless About 0
o'clock A. M. the engineer in charge Of the
fan which supplies air to the mine
discovered that tho shaft was bent,
and that tho fan would not work as we'll as
usual In other words, it was running at too
ow rate of speed, and thus diminishing the
amount Of mir in the mine below, where over
100 men were at work digging coal. Tho en-
gineer, instead of giving the alarm at once to
the miners attempted torepair tie broken fan,
out his efforts were without success. During
all this time the gas in the mine was accu-
mulating in large quantities, and when it
canle pouring into tho different galleries it
was too lato for the miners to escape. The
fire boss was the first to give the alarm. He
was at the bottom Of the slope nearest the
surface and had chance to make his escape
al no so desired, but he knew there were
over hundred Of his fellow-men in the mine
| and to leave them meant instant death for
all. Quickly summonin2 couple of door,
tenders lie made his way through tho dark
subterranean passages OF the mine, yelling at
the top OF his voice
| your lives; quick"
He was not able to reach every quarter of
the mine, which covers an area Of two miles
under ground. When he had gone halfway
through the mine ho was overcome by the
| gas and Frustrated. Many of tho miners
who had heard his words of alarm hastencd
quickly to the mouth of tho minc and made
their escape, but others became exhausted
and had to succumb to the power of the poi
s,nous gas.
An eye witness, miner who worked in one
! OF the chambers aud who made his escape to
the surface, thus Describes tho scene in the
mine when the alarm was first given. "About
o'clock | noticed that thero was more or
less gas in the mine, buj thought nothing Of
| it at tho time, rs ] thought the engineer in
charge Of the fan had Stacked up little to
mako some repairs. This is sometimes the
case, but when tile necessary repairs are
made the fan is given increased speed
and it soon cleans out the gas. About 40
minutes before | heard the fire boss give the
| alarm / thought that the gas was increasing,
and so stated to my laborcr. then for tile
| first time began to realize that something was
the matter. told my laborer wo had better
make our way to tho top. We threw down
| our tools and hastily took our departure.
We had not gone ono hundred yards before
noticed a dozen rats running ahead Of me.
knew that whenever l saw rats
in the mne on tho run that there
is something going to ruin. My 10
trnea TtS osa at the sight Of a them He
ming, We will all 10 killed. We ran for
all wo were worth through the dark pas
Sagcs. Wc ware within five hundred yards
Of the opening when heard the fire loss
| give the alarm We were now almost ex-
hausted from the gas. In our progress through
tho mine We could hear the groans of
! those who had succumbed to the gas and
fallen to the ground. Every few yards we
went we would stumble over some poor I'M
/ fortunate who, like ourselves, had attempt
I'd to make his escape from the death
lealns vapor, but had fallen by the roal-
way. Some of them we tried to put on their
feet, but they were as stiff as log and could
not move. Seeing we could render no relief
we trudgcd on. now and then stumbling over
tho PROSTATE bodies Of other miners At last
my laborer gavc out. He fell. ! tried to
drag him, but it was no use. He was dead in
y few minutes, and knew that if 1 remained
five minutes longer too would be prostratcd.
| FASTENED OH, and at last saw the foot of the
;.opc, where some men were at work lifting
the unconscious to the bucket so they could
he carried to the open mir. This is all I re-
niember, for the next moment I fell from
sheer exhaustion. was carried to tho top
~ The relief party"
| as soon as the accident became known O
r:lief party was organized, with Superin-
tcadent John 1casdae at the head. They went
i,wn in tho minc and rescued about eighty
! s,cn who were nearest to the mouth of the
:iine. All of them were lin an unconscious
condition, and when brought to the surface
were stretched out on the earth and medical
assistance summoned. All the doctors for
twenty miles around were pressed into SER
rlce. The scene was n most pitiful one. The
mothers, wives snd sisters of the miners
gathered around the spot and made the mir
ho with their cries and lamentations. They
were of great assistance. however, and ten.
| Gcrly cared for the PROSTATE men. Some were
carried to log shanties, and, with the aid Of
natures help and the kind ministrations OF
friends, so3n recovered. Others were too
weak to recover and died in short time.
All attempts to get the fan in running or
der were fruitlcss, and at o'clock the rescu-
ing party were compelled to give up the
search, tho gas in tho mine boing too strong
They rescued about ll5, and about twelve
&.~1 L. x1n