Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-03-30
OUT OF The DEATH PIT.


F! Removal Of the Victims Of the Dunbar
| Mine Horror.
DUNBAR, Pa, March 24.-The dead
have been wrested from their untimeiy
! tomb and all that remains now is to &C.
cord q Christian burial to the miners
who met their fate in the Hill Farm
| mine al Dunbar on June Is, 1890. Yes
terday the bodies of twenty three of
the miners were found, and to-day
they were brought to the surface
for burial. The bodies found were
those Of John Mitchell, Daniel
Smith, John McCleery, Jim McCleery,
Peter Devlin, John Cope, Andrew
Cope, James Shearin, Elmer Dewey,
John Devanney, Richard Blgluy,
Daniel McCastinon, John Herman,
Martin Kavanaugh, Patrick Cahill,
John Courtney, Patrick Courtney,
John Devanney, Jr., James x. Ivy,
Thomas Davis, Daniel Davis,
James McCune and VIM. Cahill.
Yet in the tenacious grasp
of the mine are William Hay, Peter
Egan, Thomas Biglev, Milton Turner
and Barney Naust. These latter unfor-
Inmates were in the dip at the time of
the explosion, and their bodies will not
be recovered until all the water is
pumped out.
The struggle for life OF the entombed
miners was as terrible as it was brief.
They were suffocated, not burned or
starved, and it is improbable that any
lived longer than half an hour. There
is an unwritten law of protection among
miners, by which they rush together at
the sound of an explosion, impelled by
common instinct of self-preserva-
ton, for together they stand better
chance Of fighting for. freedom. So was it
with the Hill Farm victims. When found
they were huddled together in fiat No.
10, showing that they had rushed deep
er into the mine, and that q moment
later a scorching breath of death filled
the fat, choking their lungs, bursting
their veins and striking them to the
earth to linger in horrible torture few
moments and then die. A few Of
the miners took refuge in one little
room. When found they were piled on
top of one another, contorted in ghast-
ly shapes-heads thrown back, mouths
with the lips fallen away, open heshless
hands ciinched, and nails soaring the
bones of palms-all sickening evidence
of death which was preceded by tor
ture unimaginable.
4 short distance away were three mi
ners, two Of whom, the brothers Nc
Courtney, afforded q tremulOus affect
ing spectacle Of love strong even unto
death. They alone were casped in
each others arms and their faces were
composed, even though time had raw
aged their manly forms and drilled
great wells where their eyes comforted
each otherin that last dread hour when
hope had fed The third man, David
Davis-it is supposed this is the
man-sat beside them, his head between
his knees. He had evidently kept his
mouth close to the ground until the last
vital breath OF air had been exhausted.
The fourteen other miners were en-
tombed in a space thirteen feet square.
One had an open knife IN his hand as
though he intended to kill himself, but
was stricken by more sudden death by
suffocation.
AS soon as the bodies were found
word was telegraphed to Mine Inspec-
tors Blick, Evans, Louttit Jenkins and
Striver to come to the scene at
once. The coroner was also mott
fed and an order was sent to
Pittsburg for their collins. If the
remaining six bodies are not found !;
to-day the others will be buried at once.
The finding Of the bodies has caused a
fever among the families Of the dead
men still living here. Two of the
widows have again married and few
others have moved away from the place
in which they felt the great blow that
the mine horror brought them.
The search for the bodies has been
carried on unremittinglv by the owners
of the Hill Farm since the awful disaster
twenty months ago, at cost of over
100000. After two weeks work the
searchers were compelled to abandon
the work for time until
the fire, which followed the ex-
plosion, could be extlnguished. The
mine was then sealed up and then
flooded to subdue the fire, after which
months were required to clear the
mine of water and the tons Of collected
debris produced by the fire.
Coroner Robert arrived from Union
town at 8 O'Clock this morning, and aft
er impaneing jury proceeded to the
mine, where he met Supt. Hill. The
party went down into the mine, where
the bodies were discovered. 4, 200 feet
from the surface. After viewing the
remains the coroner adjourned the in
quest until the bodies could be positive
ly identified, and ordered them brought
out at once, Al l O'Clock this afternoon