Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-06-26
SOLID COAL REACHED
AND THE NEXT SHIFT EXPECTED TO
ACCOMPLISH MORE.

over a Week Has Passed and No More Is
Known Now Than Was Then of the
Entombed Miners-A General Shut
Down of All Mines Likely Until the
Miners Are Rescued Dead or Alive
If a Cave-In Has Occurred it May be
Days Yet.
DUNBAR. Pa. June 23-The pain of
waiting grows daily more intense.
Anxiety is accommodating. The past
fifty hours have scarcely made an i'm
preston on the wall of coal dividing the
restless rescuers from their unfortunate
comrades. Confusion becomes daily
more confused and the worst fate of the
entombed miners cannot be more dis
tressing than the dreary, anxious vigil
being kept by those directly concerned
in the calamity. This is awful" Col.
Hill said yesterday evening. He is an
operator, and he had spent the day at
the mouth of the Mahoning mines.
There is something radically wrong
here the colonel went on. Il am not
sufficiently acquainted with these works
to say Just where the responsibility at
taches or who is
Responsible for the Delay,
but there is delay which to me seems
criminal" Colonel Hill only voiced the
convictions of thousands of people who
have anxiously watched this work since
the explosion occurred. He formerly
owned the Hill Farm mines, and he
speaks knowingly on mining subjects.
The fact that the Hill Farm slope is fill
ing with water is causing fresh alarm tC
the friends of the imprisoned men, and
the hope of rescuing them alive is fast
fading away Their fate will be known
within - hours is the belief of the
authorities.
Another Survey Taken.
Mcclure & Co.'S corps of mining en-
gineers yesterday afternoon completed
another survey of the MahOning mines.
They positively refused to make public
the result Of their work. They said,
however, that the rescuers are on the
right track, but admitted that they
knew positively nothing of the prospect
of finding the entombed men. Accord
ing to the survey there are still 100 feet
of coal and ''gob' between the unfortu-
nate miners and the rescuers. No one
has the renotest idea of how long it will
take 10 get CSrOugn UnlS space.
DUNBAR, Pa, June 24.-Over a week
since the explosion, yet there is little, if
any more information than there was
then concerning the whereabouts or the
condition of the entombed miners.
Time has mystifed the situation, and
the rescuers were not ten feet nearer the
unfortunates at 10 o'clock last night
than they were at 10 o'clock Sunday
night. They have reached solid coal,
however, and the next shift will proba
bly, push further ahead than did all the
shifts since Saturday; but their efforts
will avail them nothing, as the most
expert miners in the regions say they
will strike the Hill Farm mines at or
about where the fire is now raging, and
that another hole will have to be dug
lower down in the Mahoning pit to get
below the fire
To the Burning Mines,
where the men must be found. The dis
covery of "gob'' has satisfied the old
| miners that the rescuers are still work
ing above where the men are, and many
of them are firmly convinced that all
the work will have to be done over.
District Master Workman Kerfoot early
this morning called convention of the
miners and mine workers of District 4,
embracing the entire Connellsville coke
region, to take action regarding the res
cue of the unfortunate Hill Farm
miners. 1t is highly probable that
general shutdown will be ordered until
the entOmbed men are found dead or
alive.
The Latest Reports.
At 2:2O o'clock this morning the res
cuing party struck the boundary line be-
tween the Mahoning and Hill Farm
mines. If these mines have not been
encroaching upon each other, they have
yet sixty feet of coal through which to
go. They may be able to get the un-
fortunates early to-day. If the Hill
Farm is caved in, as is feared, it may be
days before the work is completed.