St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-23
GRIEF AND GLOOM.
Light Thrown on the Terrible Ca
tastrophe in West Virginia.
rhirty-Nine Newburg Miners Sleep
the Sleep Of Death
Words Too Weak to Picture the
Agony Of the BereaVed'
Two Brides of But Few Weeks Among
the MOurners.
Rescuing Parties Busily Engaged in Faith
oming the Depths.
By a Strange Fascination a Great Crowd
Haunts the Awful Scene.
Rescuing Parties Busily Engaged in Faith
oming the Depths.
By Strange Fascination a Great Crowd
Haunts the Awful Scene.
one Communttv,s sorro,v.

dG lhC DOIIOh Vi Ihc plI. NdSI your eye
over the list of sleeping bodies, thirty-nine
of them; note what quota Newburg, her
self, furnishes, and realize, if possible, what
a rent this makes in town of 500 inhab-
itants which lives chiefly on its coal mines
and coke ovens and little country trading.
j had but stepped off belated train from
Wheeling and turned towards the mines
when | heard the voices of lamentation,
women wailing and piercing the air with
shrieks of agony. 'Ah, that is a sad case, +"
said a gentleman with me; "a sad
case" The cries you hear are
of scarcely a month. One Of
them was married on Christmas night. The
strong arms they leaned upon, the men they
loved. are lying down yOnder. The weep
ing women were the wives of Adolph Vein
and Clinton Albright. two industrious
fellows who set up housekeeping under the
same roof. The following is a correct list
of the men in the mines.
A CHASTITY TOTAL OF THIRTYNINE:
MORGAN FREEMAN, married, Irontown.
HY LAMBERT, married, Newburg.
ANDREW SCOTT, single, Scotch Hill.
JACOB WEAVER, married, Independence,
ARTHUR OGDEN. married. Newburg.
f.. FORTNEY, single, Clarksburg.
ROSS KELLY, married, Newburg.
WILLIAM LAMIRE, married, Indepen-
lence.
FRANK LAMIRE. single, Independence.
NJ. KEANEY, single, Newburg.
NICHOLAS BIRTH, boy, Newburg.
ALBERT M'WILLIAMS, married, Newburg.
JOHN HORNBY, single, Newburg.
DANIEL MILLER married, Newburg.
BIRD MILLER, single, Newburg.
ISAAC TIMMONS, married. Newburg.
WILLIAM TIMMONS, boy, Newburg.
CHARLES TUNLEY, married, Newburg.
PETER HOWLEY, single, Newburg.
MICHAEL CLARKE, single, Newburg.
NEWT MOORE, married, Newburg.
WILLIAM STANSBERRY, married, Inde-
Dendence.
ALVEY WEAVER. married, Independence
JAMES MCGOWAN, single, Newburg.
JOHN CARROLL, married Newburg.
WILBUR SPENCER, single, Newburg.
JOSEPH JOHNS TON, married, New burg.
HENRY GUY, single, Newburg.
THOMAS GUY, single, Newburg.
RICHARD RIERTLEY, married, Newburg.
JOHN BYERS. married. Newburg;
CLINTON ALBRIGHT, married, Newburg;
JOHN CONAWAY, single, Newburg;
JOHN EDWARDS, single, Newburg;
ADOLPH HINE, married, Newburg;
JOHN LAMBERT, married, Newburg;
GEORGE HIGGINS, married, Scotch Hill;
+. MOON, single, Scotch Hill.
AT THE TOMB.
The east-bound train brought a great
number from Clarksburg, Farmont, Graf
ton and intermediate points and sympa-
tiZng friends came from as far east as
Piedmont. They swelled the hopeless crowd
that hung about the mouth of the pits.
Men, women and children were gathered
there, pale, trembling, weeping, staring at
the shaft almost dumb with CONSERVATION.
Few words were exchanged and those in
low tones, for the people there knew that
they stood above the tomb of thirty-nine
men, who went down to death at Z o'clock
yesterday morning. In half an hour more
they would have been out, so narrow was
the margin between the sweet welcome of
home and the appalling fate that overlook
them. AS l reached the spot men were
still at work repairing the shattered timbers
of the shaft and others were in the bucket
going down the black hole into the blacker
deep below. Returning they brought no
tidngs for the anxious crowd. but soon
the rumor spread that the search party had
found at the bottom of the shaft Daniel
Miller, the eager, and his son, Is years old,
a driver. young Timmons, trapper, and
young Clark, q driver. One of the party
was quoted as saying they found Kinney's
mule blown sixty feet out of the stables
with his halter on. Tie searchers them
selves would say nothing. 1t was thought
better to keep
THE DREADFUL SECRETS
that the lamps revealed below until a wider
search brought more definite knowledge.
There could be no certainty as to the iden-
tity of the blackened remains. The bucket
went down and up. the men repairing the
breaks in the air shaft as they found them,
the crowd growing larger aud larger and
pressing harder on the ropes stretched
about the shaft, so eager were the people to
get even look down that terrible hole. A
temporary fence of boards was hurriedly
put up to make an enclosure in which the
work might go on without interference.
AS soon as the shaft was sufficiently re-
paired, the cage was put on to take down a
larger working force in the hope of bring
ing up some bodies and beginning the in
quest. Coroner Jones of Terra Alta sum-
moned jury to be present at the works at
5 o'clock But the progress was slower
than the coroner expected, and the inquest
was postponed for an hour. 1t then became
apparent that there was little probability of
any bodies being brought up tonight. and
the inquest was adjourned until o'clock
tomorrow morning. Work in the mine
will be continued through the night by re-
lief parties, composed in part of men who
have fathers and brothers below. At this
hour the crowd still stands about discussing
the chances of
LIFE AND DEATH
crowds of people from along the railroad
and farmers for miles back in the country
eager to do something and nothing for
them to do. The origin of the disaster is
variously determined by experts, who vary
In their theories. The generally accepted
theory, which is that of the company's
representatives, is that Nick Williams
who was cutting a ditch through brattis
at the extreme end of the working to let
water off. knocked down door to give him
a better chance at this work. The door
PLAYED an important part in the system of
ventilation, which was thus deranged. The
foul gas collected in great volume and was
fired by a miners lamp. One of the last
men to come out of the mine before the eX-
plosion says he heard Nick Williams say
he was going to knock the door down. and
as he came he heard a heavy pounding as
though the door was being battered down.
The state inspector of mines, on his recent
visit here, recommended the COM
pany to put in hue, but this
had not been done. There is much talk
of an indefinite kind about foul air
in the mine, but L have not found a miner
who does not say that the air was not good,
though have not been able to talk with
all. McNicol, the company's manager,
who came out from Baltimore to-day, saws
they have never had trouble with the air
and have always kept ahead of water. One
fear has been that the entombed men would
be drowned, but fortunately the pumps
have not stopped since the explosion. Mr..