Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-02-26
SAVED WHEN HOPE HAD FLED.
Four Miners Found Alive After
Being Entombed 19 Days.
Most Marvellous Rescue ON Record--Res-
cuers Amazed at Faint Tapping of Their
Starving Comrades.

Most Marvellous Rescue on Record--Res-
cuers Amazed at Faint Tapping of Their
Starving Comrades.
HAzLEToN, Pa, Feb. 23.-The search
for the bodies of the victims of the
Jeanesyille mining disaster went steadily
ON all day. The work went on systemat-
ically, but with no extraordinary speed,
for all hope of rescuing any of the i'm
prisoned miners was long ago given up.
Tits now 10 days since the accident, aud
nobody believed it possible that life
could still exist in the black depths of
the ruined mine.
But at . o'clock tonight there came
to the ears of the workers in the deepest
shaft the sound of faint tapping from
an abandoned position of the NINE. The
noise was inexplicable at first The
workers listened intently and the knock
ing was resumed. II was recognized as
Il signal from their imprisoned brothers
who still lived. The news was sent to
the mouth of the mine and it created
the widest excitement. Few could
credit it at first. Every man who could
work in the narrow shaft Joined the
rescue party and added his frantic eff
forts to pierce the barrier which still re-
bodies had been taken out, making IL
in all recovered of the III who it was
supposed had persisted. The last four
had persisted by drowning, and not by
starvntion,a AS did those found yesterday.
Efforts to reach the four whose signal
indicated that they had not yet per-
ished were terribly hindered by the
black damp, which was present in large
quantities.
Means of getting rid of this impure
air had then to be constructed, while
nourishment was taken down by ply
scians.
At 10 o'clock the exploring party had
got so near the imprisoned men as to be
enabled to converse with them. The
voice heard was distinguished as that of
Joseph Matuscowitz, better known as
"Big joe
The men were located in an overhead
passageway, and could not possibly be
reached until the foul gases and i'm
purities could be removed. Every effort
was eXerted and preparations for rescu-
ing them were made.
From Matuscowitz it was learned that
Frinko, Joseph Orsook, and John Ballo
We're with him and still alive.
The astonishing information was re-
ceived by the rescuers with Joy, and
they could scarcely restrain themselves
from rushing into the deadly black
damp.
Repeatedly Superintendent McFar-
lane cautioned them to work carefully,
and after four hours exciting and CON
tinuous toll they were enabled to reach
the point from which they could satisfy
themselves that the men lived.
At IL O'Clock tonight the men are
still imprisoned, but nourishment is
begging given to them through small
opening, and they will undoubtedly be
reached before morning.
The experience Of these four men
with that of those who closed in Sugar
Notch in 1880 can in no manner be COM
pared. Those men had water, pure air
and a mules carcass tol live upon. They
had plenty of room to move around IN
and other conveniences which these
men were deprived of. II is supposed
when the rush came they were on the
gangway, near the "breast" worked by
Reed, and in making their escape from
the rushing water fled up the main way.
This led them to cross hole and after
proceeding along it for some distance
they found their road blocked by the
water which had now come down an
other opening and filled IN the space
through which they were travelling.
Upon retracing their footsteps to find
an exit from the end through which
they entered they found themselves sim
ilarly cut off.
The water had cut across the level
and moved downward. The space
which they had to move about in is not
moro than four feet high and two and
one-half feet wide. How they managed
to live in the place is Il mystery.
The Polander, whose vitality and
strength are to be marvelled at, cannot
be perfectly understood on account of
his broken English, but the fact that his
three companions and himself are still
living is satisfactorily established.