New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-02-05
PRICE THREE CENTS.
DROWNED IN A COAL NINE.
MORE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS IN PENN.
SYLVANIA
EIGHTEEN MEN LOSE THEIR LIVES NEAB
HAZLEToN-DRILLING INTO FLOODED
SLOPE FOLLOWED BY TERRIBLE
RESULTS-DETAILs OF THE
DISASTER


Hazleton, Penn, Feb 4.-Eghteen men en-
tombed IN watery graves marks the result Of tie
most awful mine horror that has ever occurred In
this region. Jcanesville, the pretty lit;lc mining
village of J. c. Hayden d Co.. two miles ACROSS
the mountains from this place. is the Scene of the
disaster. At IL o'clock this morning while
Charles Boyle and Patrick Coll Of Lewiston, were
engaged in drilling u hole in their chamber in
the lower light Of No. | slope of J. c. Hayden &
Co.'S mine, at Jelnesvllc. they broke into the old
No. slope, that has been Idle for five years. and
has been Hooded to the mouth with water. Will
lam Drislin, driver w2s AT the bottom Of tie
slope when he felt the wind coming and cried out.
81" boys, for Gods sake, run for your lives or we
will all be drowned" In a moment the force Of
water came, and Brislin barely escaped with h.s
life. He and six others were saved. They are
Henry Gibbons, John Mems. John Boyle. Charles
Boyle, William Coyle, dOortender. and Patrick
Coll. John Boyc's aborer drowned. The
water rose rapidly, and before any attempt could
be made to rescue the rest of the wOt.lmen 10
flowed in, and in five minutes time the slope
filed to the mouth, and eighteen men who few
hours before with light hearts left the brighs
sunshine and clear sky to descend into the dark
cavern of coal, were buried in watcry graves, and
their lifeless bodies, blackened and manned. are
all that is left to tell of the terrible cost oi mining
coal. Those lost are the following:
Lawrence Reed married eight children; James
red two Children jomcS Ward, marri.y c.-hi chl-
dren: Harry BUlI married. seven cnld;en. Jos ,ph
Closhcy, singe Patrick Kelly, single: Jake N!a"o,
single; Mike smith, Hungarian: John Berno. Thouas
Glk, married. one child Ih0ma, T0ma.ka,hay, m ir-
red three children Joe Astr0, single; Bo,co InAto,
single: ThOma, GrekO, single; Josn B0yIc shSS'
samuel Porter, single
The news Of the disaster created the widest
excitement and the mouth of the slope soon
throngcd with people frantic IN tLeir efforts 10
obtain information Of the inmates of the mines.
When all the men who escaped reached the sur
face and it was known who the lost we've the eN-
element increased and in less than half an hour
hundreds OF men, women and children gathered
around the slope and pitifdl scenes Of anguish
cnsucd
The weather which was bitter cold. did not
have any effect in diminishing the crowd, and in
was only after the result was made plain that
none of tie entombed men was living c0ald
possibly be reached until all the water was
pumped out OF the slope that the grief stricken
friends of the unfortunate men could he induced
to 20 to their homes When reporter arrived
at the scene at about l. 80, J. {. Hayden x CO.
had a large force of men at work under Master
Mechanic Rude placing pumps in position One
was got in working order in short time and
By the onloolerS, who seemed to count the
throbs of the engine as it forced tho
gallons of black and sulphurous water from the
mouths of the huge pipes at the entrance Of the
slope 4 large duplex Cameron pump was also in
working order by O'Clock tonight, and every
minute takes 800 .all)ns from the slope where
the men are entombed. The firm of llaydon ~
Co. will pump the water out as rapidly as machln-
cry placed in position can do the work. How long
it will take is question: since no definite idea oi
the volume of water can be asccrtalned some oi
the miners say il will take four weeks before Inc
bodies can he reached; others say twice as long.
since all the water that had collected III the aban'
doned NO ) slope will be run into tins MI Oh NO.
l slope and will Of course have to De pumped ouC'
Brslin. one of the escaping miners, VINO
was at the bottom OF the slope, said To the re-
porter: 4" was waiting at the bottom oi the slope
for a trip to come cut. Suddenly heard loud
noise and thought it the trip coming ont.
Then frshtful blast of wind came ana knocked
me down the gangWay. ! cried out To Jnues
Grniths. Then Tie wind blew his llght 0dt as
suddenly as il did nine | tued to run for the
slope, bG; stumbled and fell Then John Eoyle
and John Mems came running out. NeemsS
lamp was burning, and through the aid OF Mems 5
light we got to the slope. The water came pour
ing after us as we ran. We got 10 the slope
and then the light went out We clambered mp
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
slope. the pltcn ~ which IS ~3 degrees.
The civil engineer in charge of the Jeansylile
mines was II man from PottSyllle. La teyre
Womelsdorf Many theories are advanced a. i0
the cause of the great disaster. some charge IL
10 neglect 10 inform the w0rkmen of tie danger
ous proximity OF the wafer. The slope IN question
where the accident occurred Is a new slope when
was sunk from the bottom of a wOrked-oat slope.
The latter has Iccn flooded for at least sixteen
months and only few of the old miners knew
many a time had the remark been made that il
the lower gangway Workings were driven up too
ncnr a dreadful accident would be the result.
None of the wOrkmcn had any idea that tie
workings were driven as near 10 the water az
they were.
ID