Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-02-23
MINERS ENTOMBED.
Thirteen Perish by a CaTe-ln
at Plymouth, Pa,
SCENES OF ANGUISH.
Widows and Orphans at the Mouth
of tn a Pi .-FrultlesS Effortsto re-
Ileve the Victims They Wero
Warned Of the Danger.

The mining town OF Plymouth, Pa, Is In
mourning over a terrible accident tnat oc-
cure in the Gaylord coliiery.
Thirteen men. all OF them cit zens OF tnat
town. lost their lives whlIe in the discharge
of their dulles.
Allof the victims with the exception Of
two leays families One of these lost MS
wife oniy month ago, and four little chill
dren survive them Consequently the DIS
aster throws IL widows aud i6 children on
the worlds charity.
The Gaylord mns, in which the accident
occurred. is owned by Daniel E iwards, one
of the wellthiest operators in the anthracite
re zion. 1t is operated by the Kingston Coal
Company, OF which Mr.. L lw 'rds is The presl'
dent The best coal in the mine was taken
out years ago. Then 1t was lba idoaed be-
cause it could net be operated with proht'
About three weeks ago the company decided
to resume operations, anl party OF expert
miners WAS sent into the mine to make an
examination. They found matters in bad
shape. The last men at work in the coIIlery
had .rob, ell the pillars supporting the root
until they were very thin. great many
falls had taken place, the passages were
| blocked by the debris and the air current was
moor. Mining experts gave it as their opin-
ion however, that tie Baltimore vein OF Inc
mine could be put in goo1 condition again
with small outlay OF capital.
WARNED By A"sQUEEzE.
The company decided to go on with the
work at once. A large number OF expert
miners carrying safety lamps entered the
mine and began the work OF clearing up the
old gaDgways and propiDg the rooi. Ihey
had not been at work long until squeeze
came which compelled the men to retrace
their steps. Foreman Picton with II picked
miners volunteered to go down the shalt and
see what could be done. The descent wac
made at 10 O'Clock at night. Pctons object
was TO 20 rs near as possible to the most
dangerous part or whore the "sqaaeze" was
the greatest, in order to stay progress Dy
beaming the roof y...sh heavy timber.
In cases O: this. kind the men get az near
as possible to the caYe-in AMI by tho lnser-
ton OF props endeayor to break OIL the
mass OF rock overhead at certain point,
thus relieving lhe pressure on other por-
tions of the mine. 1t seems that In this in'
stance. the efforts OF Picton and his men did
not prove success, as the cave extended
far beyond the danger limit and a mucn
greater distance than where the men ex-
pected 10 be safe even though they retire d al
the first In ication of heavy fall
This Is shown by the vast area OF the
caye-in. AS no one is left to tell the tale
the suppos tion is that the men were busily
"timbering" when tho rocky roof came
tumbling down on their heads, crushing
them out of semblance to humanity and put
ting wall of debris between them and th'
mouth of the sha 4OJ feet in thickness.
At first there was some hope that II th'
men couli be reached in a reasonable time
they could be saved. This was false hope
however. The rescung party had been II
the mine only a short time when they wer
obliged to retreat on account OF lurtne
, caying.
ALL HOPE ABANDONED.
; second rescuing party, under Superin
tendent James W. Davis, went down tn
shaft. but soon came back thoroughly dis
heartt ned, and all hope OF rescuing the me
alive was given up
The news OF abandoned hope soon sprea(
and the wives and children of the me
in the mine who had assembled at the mout
of the shaft expecting every moment 10 Sc
: their loved ones brought up alive set up
most pitiful cry of distress Mothers run
their hands aud tore their hair, and llttl
children wept bitterly Two of the wome
tainted and had to be carried away b
.. friends Even stout-hearted men wac ha
gathered at the entrance to the mile, wei
almost as bitterly as the fatherless children