The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-08-21
A NINE DISASTER.
Twelve Pennsylvania Miners SufrO-
Gated by Poisonous Air.

A frightful mine accident occurred at the
West End Coal company's mine, at Mocana
qua, Penn, the other morning, by which at
least twelve lives were lost and twenty-five
children rendered fatherless. About 0
O'Clock A. NJ. the engineer in charge of tho
fan which supplies air to the mine
discovered that the shaft was bent.
and that the fan would not work as well as
usual. In other words, it was running at too
low a rate of speed, and thus diminishing the
amount of air in the mine below, where over
100 men were at work digging coal. TIL en-
glneer, instead of giving the alarm at once to
the miners attempted to repair the broken fan,
but his efforts were without success.
An eye witness, a miner who worked in one
OF the chambers and who made his escape to
the surface, thus describes the scene in the
mine when the alarm was first given. About
y O'Clock i noticed that there was more or
less gas in the mine, but thought nothing of
it at the time, as ] thought the engineer in
charge of the fan had Stacked up a little to
make some repairs. About forty minutes
before | heard the fire boss give the alarm
| thought that the gas was increasing,
and 50 stated to my laborer. then for the
first time began TO realize that something was
the matter. | told my laborer we had better
make our way to the top. We threw down
our tools and hastily took our departure.
We had not gone one hundred yards before
| noticed a dozen rats running ahead of me.
| knew that whenever | saw rats
in the mine on the run that there
is something going to ruin. NY la
borer turned white at the sight of them. He
said: My God, John, do you see the rats run
nlngi We will all be killed. We ran for
all we were worth through the dark pas
sages. We were within five hundred yards
of the opening when | heard the fire boss
give the alarm. We were now almost ex-
hausted from The gas. In our progress through
the mine we could hear the groans of
those who had succunbed to the gas and
fallen to the ground. Every few yards we
went we would stumble over som, poor I'M
fortunate who, like ourselves, had attempt
ed to make his escape from the death
dealing vapor, but hal fallen by the road
way. Some of them we tried to put on their
feet, but they wore as stiff as a log and could
not move. Seeing we could render no relief
we trudged on, now and then stumbling over
the PROSTATE bodies of other miners. At last
my laborer gave out. He fell. | tried to
drag him, but it was no use. He was dead in
a few minutes. and | knew that if remained
hve minutes longer | too would be prostrated.
l fastened on, and at last saw the foot of the
slope, where some men were at work lifting
the unconscious to the bucket so they could
be carried to the open air. This is all | re-
member, for the next moment / fell from
sheer exhaustion. | was carried to the ton
by the relief party"
As soon as the accident became known a
relief party was organized, with Superin-
tendent John Teasdale at the head. They went
down in the mine and rescued about eighty
meE who We're nearest to the mouth of the
mine All of them were in 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
vice, The scene was a most pitiful one. The
mothers, wives and sisters of the miners
gathered around the spot and made the air
echo with their cries and lamentations. They
were of great assistance, however, and ten
DERBY cared for the PROSTATE men. Some were
carried TO log shanties, and, with the aid of
natures help and the kind illustrations of
friends, soon recovered. Others were too
weak to recover and died in a short time.
All attempts to get the fan in running or
der were f%ruitless, and at 1 o'clock the rescu-
ing party were compelled to give up the
search, the gas in the mine being too strong.
They rescued ll5, and about twelve were
known 10 be dead.