Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-08-31
OUT OF THE PIT.
Despair Gives Way to JOY at Bridge
End, Wales.

| W VI II CIV GAlC dI ~ oil II p1I. CLC SCSAO VI
the disastrous explosion at B ridge End,
Wales, yesterday. They worked with
a will and removed an enormous guam
tity OF debris from the mine. At
O'Clock this morning they had penetrat-
ed 800 yards into the main shalt. In all
this distance not q sign of life was dis
covered, but here and there the body of
a miner was found, Its attitude showing
| how suddenly death had come to them.
Some of the men had died in the very
act OF using their picks. Ten bodies
| were recovered of men who did not
| have seconds warning of the fate
hanging over them. All who were
killed III this locality, however, had not
met with instant death. The bodies
OF two miners were found wlo
had apparently made frantic efforts to
frustrated by the falling roof of the
mine and their bodies were terribly
mutilated. Crushed to death they were
swept over by the raging fire that
burned out many of the timber sup
ports, and their arms, legs and heads,
that had not been protected by the fall
en- earth, were horribly burned.
The rescuers are divided into reliefs.
1t is impossible for any of the volun-
teers to work for any length of time, as
the mine Is filed with after damp
The rescuers are showing the effects of
the heavy work they have done since
yesterday morning, but they work with
untiagglng energy.
| LIKE VOICES FROM THE DEAD
Suddenly, while band of the res
cuers were working their way further
into the pit, sound was heard that
caused the Workmen to suddenly als-
pend operations. Eagerly listening
they awaited a repetition of the
sound. Soon 1t came, low and
weak, but in sufficient volume to
make the rescuers know that some BODY
behind the fallen rock and earth was
alive. With a hearty cheer in response
the rescuers again bent to their task
with renewed energy. Word was
passed to the pit mouth, and soon well
come intelligence spread around the
district that some of the imprisoned
miners were yet alive, and that they
would be saved.
In short time there was a scene Of
| the widest excitement above the pit
mouth. Women and children who had
stood about all day yesterday waiting to
see II the bodies of husbands and
fathers would be brought to the surface,
ran to the pit and In eager, strained
voices asked the official If the news was
true. When assur ed that some o: the
men We're surely alive, the scene WAS
about as affecting as that of YESTERDAY
when everybody believed that all in
the mine had met their death.
| DUG \ TUNNEL.
Far below the surface of the ground
the sturdy rescuers continued their diff
cult task. Slowly they dug their way
| tOTWa rG (.9rafn thot I1l ~;c
did not tall upon them. At last they de-
termlned to change their operations
and to dig sort of tunnel. Creeping
and sometimes lying fiat on their stom-
achs, they advanced, while those behind
kept the tunnel clear. For many Yards
they thus dug forward, eheered and en-
couraged by the sounds heard now and
! then, showing the survivors knew they
were approaching.
| Some of the women fell on their
knees and prayed that their husbands
might be among those whose lives had
| been spared. Others, still doubling the
good news, stood perfectly still and
gaZed with fixed eyes on the burned
and blackened mouth of the pit. as
though they expected to see the sup
| posed lost men emerge from it.
| FOUND GROUP OF SUFFERERS.
| AT last the separating bank of rock
and earth fell inward and the rescuers
| following entered an open space in
! which were huddled together @ num-
Der of the miners who had
been imprisoned since yester-
| day morning. 1t was as though
the grave had given up its dead. The
rescuers found that most of their COM
T5ades had been badly injured and
| burned. So serious, indeed, is their
condition, that special arrangements
will have to be made to get them from
the pit. slings and other appliances are
being hastily, yet carefully, prepared to
raise the saved men from the pit.
BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE.
| At halt-past | O'Clock this afternoon
another dispatch was received from
Bridge End stating that thirty nine of
the imprisoned miners had been res
cued and brought to the pit head. The
| scene when they reached the surface
was Understandable. When they were
recognized by their wives, mothers or
| sWeethearts, they were frantically en-
braced and kissed again and again. Their
| arrival at the surface, though it brought
JOY to many hearts, brought deep sor-
row and despair for others. 1t was
painful to witness the looks Of hopeless
ness and despair on the faces of some
of the women and children when they
saw their husbands and fathers we're
not among the rescued. Sadly they
turned away, and with heavy hearts
walked to their homes. Their despair
| was not hopeless, however, for the res
cue OF thirty mine led to the belief that
perhaps others in the far workings of
the pit had escaped and were awaiting
the coming OF their rescuers.
STORY OF ONE OF THE RESCUED.
One Of the rescued miners said:
Eighteen of US got together in level
after the explosion. We could hear the
flames roaring through the mine. Aft
er time we tried to get out, but were
driven back by the sulphur fumes.
Three of the men thought they could
rush through the level. They crawled
and picked their way until they reached
a com paratively clear space, when they
started to run. They had gone only a
short distance when all three we're
overcome by the gas and fell. It was
impossible to save them, and they died
where they fell"
The afterdamp is so bad that the work
Of rescue is often retarded, the volun-
teers being driven out of the excaya-