The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-12-26
A Mine Disaster at Nnntinnl,e.

A terrible result followed when Oliver
Kiyler fired a blast in No. / slope of the
PENNSYLVANIA Coal Company's workings
at Nanticoke last Friday morning. Huge
masses of rock cane down and in
another instant water flooded In. filling
up the gangway,and bringing with it an
immense quantity of quicksand. In
, less time than il takes to tell it the water
had filled up the gangway to a depth of
ilve and six feet, and desperate struggle
took place on the part Of the miners to
escape the deluge. All escaped except
the following persons: William Kivler.
Oliver Kiyler, Frank Kivler Abram
Lewis. Edward Lewis. William Denniby.
Thomas Clifford, William Donahue,
William Elkie, Isaac Sarber, Andrew
Lowe, John Schutt, John Hawks, John
Sarbe, Albert Snttul, Edward Hard
graves, Edward Matthews.
The presumption is that the men still
occupy their respective chambers and
are above the water level, but il they
have escaped drowning there is great
danger that death will result from foul
air or starvation. Between the i'm.
prisoned men and the air shaft there are.
it is estimated, fully sixty feet of coal,
rock and debris To dig this out or tun
mel through it is the work that the
relief party is engaged at, and which is
watched with interest by hundreds of
people.
NILKEsBARRE, Pa. Dec. 20.-To-day
was the gloomicst Sunday ever witnessed
in Nanticoke. Thousands of people
poured into the town in vehicles, on
horseback and afoot. Hundreds of them
gathered in groups around the various
workings, where they discussed the
situation of the men imprisoned in the
flooded mine.
The rescuing party worked with will
this morning, and in one hour they
cleared away twenty-seven feet. The
fact that the quicksand is not piled up to
the roof allows the air to circulate, and
If the men lived through Saturday they
will not die of suffocation. An impor- |
tant fact established is that the men must
have escaped to the highest part of the
mine in safety, for had they been caught |
in the flood, which carried everything |
before it, they would certainly have been |
drowned, and their bodies carried along |
the gangway. Had they net the latter
fate their bodies would have been dis
covered by the rescuers while making n
through the gangway.
IL Is estimated that about $4,000 tons
OF coal dirt were precipitated into the
mine. To remove this will require weeks
OF labor, and the loss to the company
Will be great. The miners will not
return to work until the bodies of their
are found. The Superintend-
en- of the Susquehanna Coal Company
has telegraphed to the officials to spare
neither pains nor money to get the miss
ing. The reScuing party consists of 100
men-as many as can work in the place.
At6o' clock tonight, when the rescuers
were within twenty feet of where the
men are supposed to be, they knocked
on the pipes which run through the
5angway but received no response.
The first report, which obtained wide
that the disaster was caused by
4 blast fired by Oliver Kivler, is now
ienied by the officials of the company.
They say that the real cause of the dis
ister was a settling of about one hundred
md fifty yards of the floor of a new tun-
lel in which fifty-two men were at work.
This settling caused the sides of the
to bulge and made break in the
'ock roof overhead, which left hole
arge enough for two'to pass themselves
through. By this break twenty foot
'ein of quicksand was surged into the
The quicksand underlay the
urfaee above, ,on which was mammoth
'ulm bank, over fifty acre9 in extent and
wo hundred and fifty feeet high. Fol- !
owing the quicksand Thousands of tons
'f this culm pressed into the tunnel, and
With it came water from pond under
leath the culm, which is estimated to
lave contained upwards of 20,0O0,0 900
,allons and which was, as result drained
# the last drop
W1LKEsBARRE, Dec. 2l.-About 9
clock this evening the work of the res
uinS party was suddenly interrupted
y another fall of sand-rock and culm.
he men were working on steep in
line, when a vast mass of debris came
raShing down toward them with great
ioience. They fed for their lives and ,
Though they escaped uninjured several
# them had very narrow escapes. The
work of digging for the imprisoned
men is for the time suspended. but
he officials in charge are making
trenuous efforts to overcome the dihi-
ulties, and continue their labors. They
lopc TO have matters so arranged in an
lour or two, that the work may be pro-
eeded with.
WILKEsBARRE, Dec. 2S.-At 1890
his morning the mine officials at Nanti-
oke decided to abandon work in the
lr shaft on account of the cave-in aud
he presence of fire-damp. All attempts
o get the missing men out alive have |
low been abandoned, but the work
trough the tunnel will be pushed stead
ly forward. 1t will probably he about
wo weeks before the bodies of the miss
ng men are reached.
LArEsT,-The buried miners have not
'een as yet reached, and it Is now
that all are dead, still the search
viii be prosecuted until the bodies arc
ound.
he Original Stroll Family. :
The famous Stroll Family, will give
grand concert in School Hall on Sat
Irday evening Dec. 2G. This family :
onslsts of father. mother and eight
hilQren and are considerad IN, mans, ,ba