The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-06
ENTOMBBD ALIVE.
Terrible Disaster in a Pennsyl
vania Coal Mine.
Many Miners Overwhelmed by
Sudden C:lVe-in.

The disastrous cave-in of a coal mine al
Nanticoke, Penn, on Friday, the 18th Of De-
cember, was followed by incessant work
for several days on the part of c ~rescuins
party, in the hope of finding the imprisoned
miners alive. But after midnight on Mon
day, December %, the fate Of the in. prisoned
men seemed to have been sealel. A dispatch
dated 2 A. NJ. said:
The fate OF the imprisoned men at No. J
slope seems now to have been practically de
termined by the extensive cave that oo
Cured last evening at 8 o'clock and drove
the force Of rescuers before it in a wild and
terrible flight for their lives. The gangway is
now filled up with a and culm a distance
of $50 feet, sixty feet more than it was when
the work Of rescue was started on Friday at.
ternoon. In the face of this obstruction there
is accumulated O large body of black damp
that can scarcely be removed short OF
thirty days. There is really no hope OF
the men ever being found alive. A council
of the miners, composing the working forces,
has just concluded its sitting, in which they
expressed their iirm belief that the men must
have persisted before this, the black damp
that is now in the main gangway having come
over the incline from the breasts in which
they were.
When this new calamity befell them the
men in the rescuing party had only forty feei
of sand to work over. This had a pitch OF
forty-five degrees, and although some small
quantities of the dirt camed down during the
shift, nothing so serious vas expected. II
came with a terrific rush, the fearful
gust OF wind that preceded it extin'
guished all the lights the men car
ried, and leaving them in utter darkness.
With q clasp on the man i'll front, the long
continuous row followed the leader to the
foot of the air shaft. 1t was a pellmell rush
for life. Foreman Warne and Lewis Morgan,
and a workman named Absa!om, were caught
by the rushing debris, but by holding fast to
the men in front they recovered their footing
and finally escaped.
For the first time Superinten1 dent Morgan
has given up all hopes Of saving the men.
He has been on continuous duty since the
fatal calamity, and up to tonight ne felt
confident that no less than twenty Of tn:
men would have been taken out alive. The
names of the persons whose deaths are now
deemed certain are as follows:
Thomas Clifford, II years old; William
Delaney, IA years old; William Elkie, Is
John Hawk, 30 years old; w. Jelgoshinski,
2S years old; Oliver Kivler, 81 years old;
William Kivler, II years old; Frank kivler,
~ years old; Maux Longolki, II years Old
Abram Lewis, miner, 42 years old;
Andrew Lowe, 25 years old; Vincent Luke,
age not known: Edward Matthews. ~ years
oil; August Matte, As years old; Peter
Matte Wyese, age not known; Joseph Nc.
Carthy, 81 years old; John Lowach, age un.
known; Abram Rutinski. age unknown;
Isaac Sarver, % years years old; John
Sarver, 81 years cd, John Shut, q years
Old; Thomas Williams, 81 years old.
At 1890 O'Clock this morning the mine
officials decided to abandon work in the all
shaft on account of the cave in and the pres
ence of fire damp. All attempts to get the
missing out alive have now baen abandoned
but the work through the tunnel will Ee
pushed steadily forward. 1t will probably
be about two weeks before the bodies Of the
missing men are reached.
The excitement around the mine is indie
scribable. Women and children who have
hardly closed their eyes since Friday arc
made nearly crazy by the fresh calamity
Screams and walls of anguish from the
women rend the air, while the disheart .neG
and exhausted miners sit around the mouth Of
the mine in sullen despair. Crowds of people
for miles around are coming to view the
scene of desolation. The town Of Nanticokt
is a place of universal mourning and lamen
tation.
The loss to the company by the disaster
will reach 500, 600 or more.