, 1891-04-04
RESCUE OF ENTOMBED MINERS.

Evansville, Pa, Feb. %.
The following is the story OF the tour sur
viyOrs of a disaster which occurred IN the
mine Off. C. Hayden Co.. here on tebrua-
nv 4:-Thp accident took place through the
flooding of the mine where % miners were
working. They were employed in drilling
when they suddenly struck a vast hody or
wafer, which suShed into the mine. Inc
men at once threw down their ramps anu
made a rash for the entrance or me mine.
In five minutes the fool rose to helght OF
625tt. and only six out OF the 20 men succeed
ed in escaping. Ever since thai datea large
body of employees Of Hayden Co. nave ceen
pumping out the flooded mine and removing
Ibe bodies otSNle dead. -Four corpses were
found on Sunday at a point which had not
been reached by the flood, and it was evil
lent hat the unfortunate victims had starV"
ed to death.
1t was not thoaght possible that any of
the men could be alive, but, as will be re-
membpred, about 8 o'clock on Monday eve
ming the workers heard a tapping, which
proved to be a signal fro m tOnr OF The MISS
ing miners, who had been entombed Tor 10
days. A rescue party found the missing
men III a narrow passage III the cOal,
through which Ketcham, one OF the toremen
of the mine. volunteered to crawl III order
to reach the sufferers.
The spot where ,he entO mtcd men were
found was 600ft. beneath tn surface OF the
ground and th~ree-quarttrS OF amlIe from
the mouth 0tthe mine, and the hole III which
their bodies lay was but BIT. wide, 3tt. nigh,
and about AIT. in length. Ketcham, the
foreman SeiZedthe MAI nearest TO him ana
slowly dragged him towards the opening.
The w0Ik was painful to a degree, the coal
being rough and Jagged, and The AR what
ed. and it. was quite dark, as no lamp would
burn. Finally, Ketcham reached the open
inc and placed the man halt dead III the
hands Of the manager, Mr.. Macfarlane.
For, man KetchGm was so much exhausted
by the foul air and by his great eXeltlons
that Foreman Hale now volunteered to go
in after the next man, an after some trOu-
bic another of the unfortunate men was
brought to the opening, an. the other two
was also rescued soon afterwards.
The task Of the lescuerS was by no means
finished, and a feat Of great difficulty now
presented itself. Before the outer gang
cav could be reached il WAS necessary to
get the helpless men through 1oOtt. OF the
low tunnel leading to The large gangWay
down the sharp incline. TO do this it was
necessary for one of the resculng party to
lie on his back and take one OF the sufferers
ian has arms, and slide Oyerth rough part to
the bottom. Four men volunteered for this
difficult and dangerous work, which they
safely accomplished. Their clothes and
boots were, however, torn into Silreds III the
passage, and they themselves were badly
bruised and cut. The larger gangway was
finally reached and progress was now com
paratiyely easy. The men were quickly
transported TO the bottom slope, where the
h~oisting-car stood. They were placed i'll
the car and raised to the landing above,
where doctors were waiting, and where the
rescued men remained for some hours under
medical care before taking the remaining
Journey Of half a mile 10 the surface. A
great crowd waited at the mouth OF the
mine when the blackened, emaclated
miners were brou CHIT to the TOP. They
were taken at once to .he Town Hall upon
str, tcherr, wrapped in blankets.
big joe the strongest of the four men
rescued, made follOwingstatement: -"When
we were imprisoned we had but four pieces
of bread, which we broke into small bits no
bigger than the end of ones thumb. This
lasted but a few hours, then we drank what
little water we had, and ate The bark on
the timber over our heads and the papers III
the m~ining-box. We had no fire, and our
matches soon gave out. From that time on
the cold was very severe, and we oN4y kept
ourselves from freezing by budding to-
gether.'
The enact time that the men were en-