The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-06-04
ENTOMBED IN A MINE.
Over a Score of Men Perish at
Ashley, Penn.
First Game a Cave-in, Then Care
lessness Caused an Explosion.

AOeSUO6o S0u0Ou etA AAp1oSlUuI
The long series of mine disasters that have
visited Pennsylvania within the past year
reached climax in the entombing of twenty
seven men in the Hartford mine of the Lehigh
and Wilkesbarre Coal Company at Ashley,
three miles from Wilkesbarre At o'clock
in the morning the community was excited
when the news spread that an extensive
cave-in had occurred in No. & colliery, cover
ing an area of more than ten acres. Thou
sands rushed to the scene of the disaster and
found that the surface almost as far as the
eye could reach was scanned and cracked
with long circular assures, some Of which
were over two feet wide.
The colliery employs, isside, about three
hundred men and boys, and they went to
o'clock some of the men at work in the lower
split saw signs of cave-in. The mine began
to ''work, as the miners term it. The roof
cracked, bits Of coal and rock fell and
Clipped off from the sides Of the gangways
and breasts Such tokens are never disre-
garded by miners and those who noticed it
at once flung down their tools and made for
the slope.
The first crash told every man in that part
Oh CQe IQlHo WudI WAS ROluS Ou, lOl Gue ldl-
ing rock drove the air out from under it with
a mighty rush that e1tinguished every light
and sent clouds Of dust and smoke through
the workings. Every man in that part of
the mine flung aside tools and everything
else and ran for his life.
Crash after crash followed as more Of the
snperincumbent rock fell in. Men rushed on
in the darkness amid flying coal and rock.
Some were knocked down by falling pieces
and crushed under others before they could
get on their feet again, but every man that
could pushed on for the gangway and the
that that " was his only hope Of life.
Rescuing parties were at once organized
and an opening broken through into a man.
way along the bed of a mountain stream
where the chambers in that part of the mine
came within a few feet of the surface. All
day long these men toiled at the stubborn
rock. while the weeping wives and little
ones of the doomed victims stood around the
opening and rent the air with their cries ant
lamentations. -.
Gang after gang relieved one another unit.
at 5 o'clock the news was passed taat they
had succeeded in breaking through tne chan.-
bers beneath the cave.
The men toiled on in silence until $3.50.
when there was a commotion at tht
mouth of the dark opening, and the fore
man crawled out on his hands and knee
and announced that they had founc
one of the victims. He was lying at The
bottom of q fifty-foot plane, and in order
to rescue him it became necessary TO lower
miner down with rope. This was done, anc
the charred and blackened form OF Anthony
Froyne. the first of the victims, was holste:
to the surface.
The rescuing party worked all night, ana
did not give up hope Of taking the men OUT
alive until George Russ was found next
morning. Russ was IN advance OF the other
men in his efforts to escape. He was work
ing toward the abandoned workings, which
he knew the rescuers would enter first, when
he fell down from exhaustion. He died just
before he reached the surface:
and @ entered the chamber. They stumbled
over six blackened corpses near the
opening. none of them recognizable
Pursuing their search, they found
thirteen other bodies, all more or less
burned. The sight was so terrible that
three of the exploring party tainted. Many
of the unfortunate men had held up their
blackened hands as if to ward of the deadly
gas, while others were lying on their races as
il to escape the damp which suffocated those
who were not burned by the explosion.
The bodies were found nearly a mile from
the entrance and tha work of bringing them
out was exceedingly difficult. The scene.
when, about nine o'clock. the men carried
out the bodies Of some of the miners, was
heartrending. Notwithstanding the strong
guard about the entrance OF the mine fren-
lied women would rush forward and tear
the blankets from the limp forms and try to
discover in the blackened remains the faces
of sons, fathers and husbands.
Owen Willams's body was ldentlhed only
by his shoes. He was a Sunday-school
teacher in the Welsh Methodist Episcopal
Church. Williams was one OF the most e4-
pert miners in that region.
Another victim named Henry had never
worked in the mine before. Patrick Mona
han asked him if he would not work for him
on Thursday, as he (Monahan) desired
to attend the funeral Of friend.
Henry said he did not like to 60 TO
work in strange mine, but he Wouid ac-
commodate his neighbor. Henry's daugh-
ter was to have been married next day.
John Allen, the assistant fire boss, and one
of the three men rescued died next morning,
making the number of the dead twenty
seven. He too, was horribly burned by the
explosion. Allen was the man accused oy
the survivors of causing the explosion. When
the caye-in occurred all the lights were put
out.
General Superintendent Phillips says:
pIhe men lost Cnelr lives InTouSu 1uo nSSAF
peuce of Assistant Mine Boss Allen, who In
Sisted on relighting his lamp in the presence
of large volume of gas. Had he not done
so the men now dead could all have been
rescued alive. There was good current OF
air passing through the chamber where the
men had taken refuge after the cave-in had
taken place"
In many of the houses of those who were
killed there is no food, and the company Is
looking after the wants Of the families.
The cause of the cave-in was the great
amount of coal removed from the supports
and the thinness of the roof. james Sullivan
had an extremely narrow escape. He was
standing in the gangway talking toa boy when
the shock came. He caught the boy up IN his
arms and ran for ife closely followed by
John Henry. After going a short distance
he heard a crash, and looking back saw
great pile of rock fall on Henry, crushing
him. :,
Ats o'clock next morning all operations at at
the mines were abandoned. There were stu
six men in the fatal chamber. Six mules
were taken out alive during the afternoon
The bodies of five Polanders were buried to-
cether. no one having claimed them.