River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-03-31
GAVE UP lis DEAD.
The Bodies of Twenty-Three of the Vic
Tins of the Hin Farm Mine Disaster of
twenty Months Ago Recovered.

The Bodies of TwentyThree of the Vic
Tins of the Hin Farm Mine Disaster of
Twenty Months Ago Recovered.
DUNBAR, Pa, March 25.--The dead
have been wrested from their untime-
ly tomb and all that remains now is to
accord a Christian burial to the miners
who mot their fate in the Hill Farm
mine at Dunbar, June 10. 1890 Wednes-
day the bodies of twenty-three of the
miners were found and they have been
brought to the surface for burial
Their names are:
John Mitchell, Daniel Smith, John McCleery
Jim McCleery, Peter Deylin John Cope,
Andrew Cope, James Shearin, Elmer De
voy, John Devanney, Richard Bigley, Daniel
McCastinon, John Herman, Martin Kavanaugh,
Patrick Cahill, John Courtney, Patrick Court
ney. John Devanny, Jr., James X. Ivy, Thomas
Davis, Daniel Davis, James Mcclure and VIII
liam Cahill
Yet in the tenacious grasp of the
mine are William Hay, Peter Agen,
Joseph Bigley, Milton Turner and Bar
ney Naust. These latter unfortunates
were in the dip at the time of the ex-
plosion, and their bodies will not be
recovered until all the water is pumped
out.
The struggle for life of the en-
tombed miners was as terrible as it
was brief They were suffocated-
not burned or starved-and it is
improbable that any lived longer
than an hour. There is an IN
written 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 it
was with the Hill Farm victims When
found they were huddled together
in Flat No. 10. show lg that
they had rushed deeper into the mine,
and that a moment later a scorching
breath Of death filled the fiat, choking
their lungs, bursting their veins and
striking them to the earth to linger in
horrible torture a few moments and
then TO die.
A few Of the miners took refuge in
one little room. When found they
were piled on top of one another. con.
torted in CHASTITY shapes - heads
thrown back, moUths-where the
lips had fallen away open, flesh
less hands clinched and nails
soaring the bones of palms-all
sickening evidence of death which
was preceded by torture unimaginable
A short distance away were three
miners, two of whom. the brothers
McCourtney, afforded an affecting spec
tacle of love strong even unto
death. They alone were clasped
in each others arms, and their faces
were composed, even though time
had ravaged their manly FORMS
and drilled great wells where
their eyes comforted each other
in that last dread hour when
hope had fled. 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 breath of air had been exhausted.
The fourteen other miners were en-
tombed in a space 10 feet square. One
had an open knife in his hand, as
though he intended to kill himself, but
was stricken by more sudden death
of suffocation.
The finding of the bodies has caused
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 unremittingly by the own
ers of the Hill Farm since the awful
disaster about twenty months ago,
at a cost of over 100000 At
ter two weeks work the search
ers were compelled to abandon the
work for a time till the fire,
which followed the explosion could be
extinguished. The mine was then
sealed up and then flooded to SUI bdue
the fire, after which months were re-
quired to clear the mine of water and
the tons of collected debris produced
by the FIRE.