Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-08-06
MURDER IN THE PIT
An Incident of the Recent Coke
Strike.
EVIDENCE OF A OoWARDLY CRIME.

A Father and Two Sons Killed in Rain
ey's Mine and the Mine Set on Fire,
Requiring Inundation to Extinguish-
One Body Found and Two Missing
When a Search Was Made-The Two
Boys Probably Cremated-Hunting the
Criminals.
UNIoNTowN, Pa, Aug 6-The great
coke strike in this region, which cost so
many millions of dollars as well as num-
Der of lives, began Sunday, Feb. Is. On
that day the Grace mines of w. J. Rainey,
the Cleveland coke operator at Meyer be-
gan to burn. This was not unexpected, as
the strikers had threatened before that an
other week would not see Ra;ney's works
moving. This was after the strike had
been declared, and Rainey. who was the
only operator who was not stopped by the
strike, had continued to run up to sun
day, the day of the fire
Strikers Set the Mine on Fire.
On this day the bumpers were supposed
to be on duty, but it seems that some one
had sent Antonio Newak and his two sons
-Siavs-into the mines in the afternoon
to fix some track in room No. 8. The
pumper, Stewart \. Leach, was a strike
sympathizer, but during all strikes the
bumpers are allowed TO do duty After the
S!avs had gone in, as was snowl at the
coroner's inquest Tuesday, three strikers
were seen to enter by deputies then on
guard at the mines The strikers were
seen 70 come out shortly before the fire
was discovered but the unfortunate Slavs
Were never seen alive again. All attempts
to get into the mine and put the fire out
proved futile, and were, after two days
hard fight. abandoned
Foul Murder Discovered.
Later two large fish ponds were turned
into the mouth Of the mine and the dig
gings were flooded and the fires extin-
guIshed. 1t was necessary to let matters
rest several weeks in the mine Then the
pumping out of the water was begun, and
was finished only Monday. Tuesday cor
oner HolberJ and Mine Inspector Duncan,
with jury, visited and thoroughly searched
the mines. y short distance from the mouth
OF the shaft the badly decomposed body of
Newak, the father, was found with his
head lying towards the mouth of the pit.
He was lying in position TO convince the
jury that he could not have fallen in that
position. Besides this, his clothes were
all torn on his back and his trousers were
pulled. showing that the victim had been
dragged by some one By the legs into the
pit.
The Boys Bodies Both Missing.
A short distance from the mans body
the right hand Of one of the bows was
found !, was off at the wrist and looked
a though it had been burned off. which is
likely, as fires had beer started in differ
ent parts of the mine. Up near the mouth
of the mine was found the hat of one
of the boys. No trace Of the bodies
could be found The jury found while in
the mine that some wood braddishing or
supports had been removed before the fire
had been kindled. 1t was proven that the
Newaks were the victims of a foul murder;
that they had been followed into the mine.
killed. and dragged down the slope, after
which the pump house and the mine were
fired in several places. At a late hour
Tuesday night the coroner's jury ad-
Journed without rendering a verdict. This
was done so that those conuected with the
crime may be arrested before the verdict is
rendered.