Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-21
WHOLE NO. 1O,8l7.
The NANTICoKE HORROR.
Twenty-Five Men Known to be Entombed
Alive.

by Telegraph
WILKEsBARRE (Pa), December 19th.-
me outlook at No. slope this morning is
trlghttul. Mine Inspector Williams saws
| that II the men can be reached in eighteen
hours they will be found alive as total ex-
| haustion will not occur before then. The
| chance OF rescue was this morning yerv
slim, from the fact that the air circle has
been broken. This was ascertained by a
| second rescuing party working at the op-
| poslte end from the first party in slope No.
l. superintendent Morgan finds that there
are sixty seven feet of quick-sand and
culm "a species of coal found in balls and
| knots and earth to be dug away. This is
wedged In between the mine timbers,
| which have sprung forward and crossed
| presenting an almost insurmountable bar
rler. Shifts are now changed every two
hours, but the culm and quicksand, by
their very nature, fill IN the places of that
which was taken out before, and expert
authorlty says 1t will require five or six
days to dig through. This ends all hope
OF the rescue alive of the twenty-nine men
| imprisoned, who, it is believed. died within
the first twelve hours from sufIocation.
Sixteen English, Irish and Welsh miners
and thirteen Polanders and Hungarians
are now known to be entombcd in the
| chamber OF death.
ORIGIN OF THE DISASTER
/ 1t has been definitely decided that the
! disaster i'll slope No. l was caused by the
caylng in of the roof and the rushing in OF
large body of water which had accumu-
! lated on the surface frola natural drainaoe
/ rms water brought with i vast quantity
OF coal dirt which blocked the gangways
ana passages and cut off the escape of a
number Of the men who were working in
| the upper lift. The cave was caused bv a
! blast set off by one OF the men who are
now in the mine.
NUMBER or VICTIMS
! The exact number of men imprisoned
/ cannot even now be told, but at o'clock
this evening 1t was believed, on what
seemed good grounds, that twenty-nine
persons were in the mine. OF these
| eighteen are Welsh, Irish or American and
! the rest Polish or Hungarian Whether
| they are alive or dead cannot now be told:
! II they have been enabled to obtain air,
| they are undoubtedly still alive and there
i are good hopes of recovering them. Many
; experienced miners believe, 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 suflocation.
EFFORTS MADE FOR RESCUE.
| The measures for the relief Of those in
( the mine were begun as soon as the other
men had been brought to the surface At
I first little could be doue, for the water was
hve feet deep. and il was impossible to be-
gin digging away The quicksand and culm
/ winch blocked up the gangway. Last
! evening, however, the water subsidized, hay-
! ing run oil 10 the lower levels of the mine
ana effective work was commenced in earn
est. Two gangs of men were set to work
| eXcaVaung from different points to where
1t Is believed the men are gathered. One
! party sixty strong, commenced work from
the foot of the air shaft This is the near
est point to the place where the men are,
but great difficulties are encountered
There Is no hoisting apparatus at the air
shatt. Men and tools are sent down by a
derrick, and the workers are obliged to
throw behind them the material they ex-
cavate, and this hinders them. The gang
way being blocked at one end, they could
get no circulation of air until tubes were
! brought and air forced through them from
a compressor used for the rock drills.
ANOTHER GANG AT WORK.
Rescuers are working with the greatest
! possible energy tonight. The thought that
their comrades are perishing on the other
side of the mass of rock and dirt nerves
/ every arm with unusual strength. The
gangs are relieved every four hours, and
sixty men have been constantly at work
! since last evening. At o'clock this even
! ing it was believed that they had penetra-
| ted to within fifty or sixty feet of the
| point where the men are imprisoned An
other party are working from the direction
OF the slope towards the same point They
have further to go, but have better facili-
| ties.
| FEARING THE WORST.
There is little ground for hope, but efforts
| Will not be abandoned until the fate of tha
| imprisoned men is determined. The people
of Nanticoke are in the greatest excitement
and nothing is thought of or talked of but
the disaster: Business spartially suspended,
and the colIiery is surrounded by hundreds
! OF persons, among whom are many rela-
! tlves of the imprisoned men. eager to
gather the hope that their friends NAV be
rescued.
MINE OFFICERS STATEMENT.
The officials of the company state this
evening that there are twentv-four men in
the fatal slope, not twenty-nine. as gener-
ally understood. They state further that
| the disaster was precipitated by a collapse
/ OF the passageway of the tunnel to the ex-
tent OF five feet, causing depression which
brought down into the tunnel 20-foot vein
of lake quicksand. The vacuum caused
by this break created an arch, and through
/ the heavy pressure in the roof a mass of
, culm, estimated at 5000 tons, with the con-
tents OF pond containing over 100000
gallons, poured in, flooding both No and
slopes, choking up the tunnel and carry
ing with 1t fitty-two miners who were at
work there. OF these twenty-four were in
all probability caught before they could
gain the chambers that pitched upward.
! and they are supposed to be in this quick
sand and culm