The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-02-12
MET AN AWFUL FATE.
EIGHTEEN MEN OVERWHELMED
BY A FLOOD.
Tic Slope in Which They Were Working.
Over GOO Feet Deep. Filled in Five VIM
utes Drilling Into an Abandoned Work
ing Was the Cause of the Disaster.

fiaZieto3. Pa Dispatch.
Eighteen ncu in Watery graves mark
the result of the most awful mine horror
that has ever occurred in this region.
JeanSEille, the mining village Of j. e.
Hayden X Co. TWO miles across the
mountains from this place, is the scene
of the disaster which has resulted in such
loss Of life and brought desolatiou and
anguish to so many homes. The lost are:
Lawrence Reed, married, cigh. chill
dren.
James Grittiths, married, one child.
Edward Gallagher, married, two chill
drcn.
James Ward, married, eight children.
Harry Rntl. married. seven children.
juseph Matskowitth. married. four
children.
Barney McCl"sIsey, singh
Patrick Kelly single
Jake Wiasto. single.
Mike Smith. Hungarian.
John hrrno.
Tom GIik. married, one child
Tom TomaSka>kay, married. thrca
children.
Joe A>tfo, single.
EoSco Frinko. single.
Thomas Grcko. single.
John Boyle, Single.
Sanlicl Porter. single.
AT II o'clock this morn'n while
Charles Boyle aud Patrick Coll OF Lev
i>tun- were engaged in drilling ii hole in
their chamber in the lower lift of No
slope. they broke into old No ; slope,
THAT has ben Idle for five years and had
been Hooded t. the mouth with water
William Brisiin- Il driver, was driving
at the lott0m Of he s,ope when he felt
, I, a
for Gods sake, iun for yonr lives or we
VIII all be drowned "
In Il moment the force Of water came
a..d Eri>|in ar"ly escaped with his life.
Te>ideS him SIX otic:s- Henry Gibhon,
John Mems. JOHN Boyle. harlcs Eovie,
W liam toylc. Conrtcndrr and Patrick
toI-Hcrr saved. The water rose rap
III y. AMI before any attempt could b"
made to rescue the rest Of the work men
the slope. which i GA feet deep. WAS
I'll ed to the mouth. and the eighteen men
were buried in Watrry graves.
The news Of the disaster created the
widest excitement, and the mouth of
th" SioJr was soon throngci with pco-
pc. frantic III thc.r efforts to obtain ia
formation IF the inmates Of the mine.
" hen all th. men who escaped reached
The surface. and it was known who the
LOST We're, the excitement increased AMI
i'll less than haf an hour hundreds of
men. women, and children gathered
around the SLOPE. and the tcrribl.. scenes
of an2uSh that tnsucd cannot ht. drpict-
ed. Wives imp.oring pitcou>ly Of the
miners standing by. who knew only too
well the fatal result. to save their hu--
bands from the terrorS Of Il watcry
grave: little Childr u crying for he pap
FhD would never letnru: relatives and
friends wringing their hands in sorrow
and distress. and appealing to a merciful
providence 10 save all. when within each
breast was the certain feeling that their
prayers would be. unanswered
\ pump was got i'll work ing order in Il
short time. and every stroke was watched
anXionSly by the onlookerS. who seemed
to count the throhs Of the mighty en-
ginc Is it forced the gallons OF black
and sulphurons water from the mouths
of the huge column pipes at the entrance
OF the slope. \ large duplex Cameron
pump was also at work by p. M.
and every minute il takes 1.50o gallons
from the slope here the men are en-
tombci. Hayden x Co. will pump the
water ont a> rapidly a. machinery . Il cd
in position can du the work How long
ii will take is Il question. since no def
mite idea of th" volume of water can be
asccrtained.
Mr.. Brislin, one of the escaped miners
at the bottom of the slope. said: Il was
waiting at the bottom Of the slope for =
trip to come out, Snddcnly | heard
loud noise and thought it was the trip.
Then fearful blast Of wind came and
knocked me down the gangway. ] cried
out to James Griilths Then the wind
blew his light out as .udienly as it did
mine. ! tried to run for the slopa. but
stumbled and fell. Then .Iohn Boyle
and John Mems came running out.
Mems lamp was burning and through
the aid of NcrmS' light W. got to the
Slopr. The water caa e pouring after
Us aS We ran. We got to the Slole tl4en
The light went ont. We cIamhered up
as fast as we could and the water came
rushing after us, rising very quickly.
In five minutes the water rose POS yards
10 the mouth of the sope, the pitch of
which is 81 degrees"
The civil engineer in charge of the
mines was man from Pott sville. Le-
Fevre WomclSdorf Many theorieS are
advanced as to the cause of the disaster
Some charge it to neg cct to notify the
workmcn of the dangerous proximity of
the water The slope whore the acci-
dent occurred is new slope which was
sunk from the bottom of Il worked out
Siopr. The latter has been flooded for
at asst sixteen months. and only Il few
of the old miners knew of the presence
of that great body of waite, and many
time had the remark ke.n made that if
the lower gangwav workings were driven
up too near dreadful acridcn. would be
the result.