Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-03-31
OUT OF THE DEATH PIT.
Removal of the Victims of the Dunbar
Mine Horror.

DUNBAR, "a, March 24.-The dead
have been wrested from their untimely
tomb and all that remains now is to ac-
cord Christian burial to the miners
who met their fate in the Hill Farm
mine at Dunbar on June 16, 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 Blgley,
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. Cahlll.
Yet in the tenacious grasp
of the mine are William Hay, Peter
Egan, Thomas Bigley, Milton Turner
and Barney Naust. These latter unfor-
tunates 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 a 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 moment
| later 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.
| A short distance away were three mi
| ners, two of whom, the brothers Nc
Courtney, afforded tremulous affect
ing spectacle of love strong even unto
| death. They alone were clasped 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 otheri n that last dread hour when
hope lad fed The third man, David
| Davis-it is supposed this is the
| 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 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
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
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 owners
of the Hill Farm since the awful disaster
| twenty months ago, at cost of over
| $780, 900. 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 o'clock this morning, and aft
| er impaneling jury proceeded to the
mine, where he met Supt. Hill. The
| party Went down into the mine, where
| the bodies were discovered. 1900 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 al once. Al O'Clock this afternoon
ten bodies had been removed from the
mine, and all had been identified.