Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-08-09
ALMOST A.DISASTER.
THE NARROW ESCAPE OF THIRTY WEST
VIRGINIA C0AL.MINBRS.
They Owe Their Lives 10 the Presence Of Mind o
Miles HiggiAs-SsVeral May Die
General State News.

A telegram ffbm Cumberland says:
The little mining towns of Eckhart and
Hoffman were greatly excited Friday over
what came very near being frightful dis
aster. About $50 o'clock in the afternoon,
when nearly all of the miners had finished
their work, miner named Michael Lyons
came staggering out of the mouth of the
slope. He told the bystanders that a
large number OF miners were dying for the
want of air in the third lift, mile and
half from the mouth of the slope. As soon
as possible every available man joined the
rescuing party and entered the mine.
They found and bought out about 80
miners whom they found in various atti-
tudes along the gallery perishing from suf-
location. In q short time many of them
revived. but is feared that six
or eight will die. The accident Oc-
Cured as follows: The men were on their
way out of the mine and We're walking not
! far behind the train of cars drawn by the
! locomotive used inside of the mines. Some
arrangement of the ventilating apparatus
occurred and the smoke from the engine
settled in the gallery behind, completely
enveloped the unfortunate men.
The men owe their preservation TO Miles
Higgins who broke open brattice, thus
producing small current of air. The
names OF the injured men, so far rs could
be learned, are: Francis and George ERODE,
Jacob Prcssman, Morris White, Henry
Higgins. William Mcmillan, Peter Brady,
! Thomas Sullivan, Thomas McMahOn,
James White and John Ratigan.
On Friday night last serious cutting
affray occurred between two young men,
white, who CHANGED to meet at the colored
festival, at !. ID. Smiths, about two miles
| from Petersburg. As near as we can learn
il was the OutgrOwth of an old grudge
| The parties are Ham Ours, aged about Il
! years, son of Andy Ours, ST., now deceaS-
ed, and Scott Hall, aged about 20, who
resides some four miles from Peters
burg. 1t appears that they met and
quarrelcd and were prevented from hight
! ing inside the building No one saw the
! fight outside, it seems, but soon 1t was
! found that Scott Hall was seriously cut
with some sharp instrument that some
supposed must have been razor, but we
are informed that Ours says it was an old
penknitb, There are two glsheS on his
| face, cut TO the bone OF the jaw, and, we
| hear it said, close TO the artery OF the neck;
two cuts OH the shoulder and one on the
ribs. Hall will recover, no doubt, but is
in bad condition.
Jake SchOOlcrait, who has recently fin
ished serving years term i'll the peniten-
tiary, is to certain extent terrOriZlng
Boone county. 1t appears that School
craft, who is from Elk, went into the up
per part of Boone few days since and told
the people that he w;lS Il United States Otfi-
Ger sent out to arrest one General BeaSley,
who was wanted in kanawha for
murder. He also told the citizens that
he had the authority to do
with them as he pleased. lie then
proceeded to press four men in as guards,
took pistols, clothes and money from some
of the citizens, horsos from Others. lie
discharged the guards, but kept the other
things The people of that section come
to the conclusion that it WAS the mission OF
SchOOlcraft to steal, not to hunt down
BcaSley, and they accordingly sent MIR.
Nelson to Charleston to find out ifsuch were
not true.
1t is generally understood that Mr.. {.
u. Huntington will this season construct
railway along the south side of the New
River from the New River bridge, near
Hawks Nest Station, up to near New
River Falls, where bridge will he built
across the main line. This road, some
forty miles long, will, although on Oppo-
site aidcs uf New River, give the CheSa-
prake and Ohio double track through
the New River coal field and at the same
time more than double the ACCESSIBLE area
of that field for this railway, because the
beds of coal on the south side of that river
are thicker than they are on the north or
present railway side of that river. This IL
4 very important move, one that when
cOnsummatcd will enable this railway to
easily move more than double lis present
output OF this uueXcollcd New River
cOking and steam coal.
Concerning Joseph Parnell, who died
last week, at Clarksburg, aged % years, it
is said that when young man he was en-
ariStOcratic family in England, and he
married the daughter of his master. She
was diSOwnCd and dislnhcrlted, and the
newly married couple came to Canada,
thence TO the United States. Her people
afterwards relcnted and asked her to leave
him and return to her old home, but she
refused and lived faithful until her death.
During her last few years her mind carried
her back to her girlhoOd scenes and she
anxiouSly waited and watched for Il letter
torgiving her and asking her and her hus-
band to return to England and TO plenty,
but her parents were dead, and she died
firmly believing the letter would soon
come.
The Kingwood Journal says that Col.
Nemegyci, the cnterprising proprietor OF
IrOndalc, is making great improvements
that growing town. He has torn down
and wholly rebuilt the furnace there, and
made extensive improvement and repalrSt to
the coal and ore mines, the dwelling
houscs-in short, to Use the language of
our informant, she has built everything
new" The Colonel is contemplating the
erection of basic steel plant ut lrondale,
by which he will convert his pig metal
into steel That it is feasible there is no
doubt.
The supposed petrilied snake, recently
dug out from one of the Davis creek coal
mines, turns out to be simply a fern foS-
sill of the carbOnierOus age found in coal
formations and most commonly on top
where this was taken from. 1t is sigil-
laria, well known by the seal like impress
sionS OH it and the unjointcd stem. These
seal like impressions what were taken
for the scales of the snake or reptile. 1t
is slightly hattened, is eighteen feet long
and about six inches in diameter at the
largest part.
Point Pleasant is the oldest English
town on the banks of the Ohio 1t is the
jamestown of the Ohio Valley The first
mention made of the place in the acts of
the General Assembly, is December 26,
1892, when ferry was established from
the lands of Andrew Lewis across the Ohio
to lands in the Northwestern territory
The rates were fixed at ; cents for man
and the same for horse,