Daily Republican., 1890-06-17
BURIED ALIVE.
rHlRTY-FoUR MEN IN Ii
BURNING MINE. "
A., Explosion Of Eirs-Damp Tho
Hill Farm Coliicry the Scene
caused by Accumu-
lated Gus.

uyJoYrowN, juno 1.-THE H!ll Farm
Cosl Nine of tho Dunbar Furnace, one
nAs from Dunbar, yesterday was the
..rne Of the most disastrous explosion OF
nrs. damp iu the history Of tho bitunia.
Gus coal m,uirg region, recalling the ter
riple Leisenring disaster Of 1883 Fifty
men ue,c In the mine at the tins, aud
\ ,hIrty.two Of these are either dead or be-
yond the reach Of help. BIxteen bodies
have been taken from the mine, but the
names make it almost impossible TO pro-
eeed with the work Of rescue. The mine
has but one opening, being operated by q
thait, which 10 filed with flames and
great volumes Of smoke.
THE DEAD AND ENToMpED.
At the time of the disaster there were
tshieen men In one Of tho headings snd
u. rest OF the gang In the other. The
trhteen men contrlved to escape, but
&arger gang was cut oil and not one
anPed
THE MINE ON FIRE
The workings OF the Mahot lag mine
Oh one side aud the Ferguson mine on
The other communicate with the Hill
Pslm, but the Mahoning headings were
blocked by the explosion. Entrance to
the wrecked mine must be effected from
the Ferguson workings, but before any.
thing eau be done the flrc thst broke out
after the explosion must b. exiting guished.
The niue, 1t seems, had been somewhat
ir nbied with water, aud an air shaft
h,d been drilled from the surface to the
jnnetuie OF the right and lott shafts,
where the water seemed 10 be most sbun-
dani. As tue miners branched oil from
this point they knew that Au air hole had
ben drilled there that had net yet been
broken into the mine, but they did not
know that the shalt was to be broken
into to-day. A miner named Kerwin had
been left IN the right drift near whore
That branch Joined the mines exit, and
In the course of his lAbors broke into the
perpendicular shaft. The moment this
was broken into flood OF wafer kushed
out, aud Kerwln aud . man named
LAndy, standing by, yelled out for some
one TO save the men In the right drift, %
Stream and he feared that they would be
drowned.
HERo's DEATH.
Young David Hays, who had seen the
nflair, lesped forward at the call and
turned down the left drift In o dslugs oi
water to warn his endangered comrades
below. The flow OF water had chan ged
toa deadly volume Of nre-damp, and az
young Hays swung down the shalt 9
hash Of blazing light slid through the
shaft from end to end. The DARING
youth carried an open burning miner'i
lamp In his hat, and he had hardly tnker
a step beyond the roaring shaft when thu
IL al nj hA 4,
mud that hsd already -esss..si.s.a Aas
he eank corpse near the men whom b,
had hoped to eavo and whom he csrtaiul,
doomsd. In Al instant an unQuenc cha.
bic fire sprang up Ia the nine-!oot vein,
just between the main entrance and on
The right drift, forever shutting the
ibirty-two men Imprisoned there.
Poor old David Hays, tho father of thu
missing hero, crazed by the death of BIZ
sOn, dashed into the sulphurous slnok,
and strangiing hre-damp only to fall
blindly by the sido Of his son and to bs
drawn out an hour later with James
shesrp, both recognised only by theil
wives.
FIRE RAGING PIRRcELY,
The FIRE, famed by air from the mair
drift aud from tho fatal shaft itself soon
sprang into an awful confiagration W hicl
rs now impossible to subdue owing u
,he difficulties Ia the way Of flooding the
nine. That the entombed men arc be-
yond all human aid Is the general belief.
II they escaped the explosion, they had
70 face the dreadful alternative OF death
oy nre. and even II they managed "a
avoid this, by retresting Into tho mine
she probability 10 that they must sue.
Sumo % 70 the ioul air. a. tho mine 10 very
ihe mines wero operated BY tho Dun.
b;.. ~. afnaee Company, OF which Samuel
Cnr' Cnssson' the Philadelphia lawyer, aud
,Eoarles Parrish. Of WiIkesbarre. sre
,si mise stockholders. The coke made al
sua pant was used By the furnace com
psny snd has been operated by them Z
so,aa saa many years. The company Il
a, nuS everything In their power to effect
~ ,,an eAuahce into the uncxplored Dor.
impossible. 'oN"u '" os