Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-02-14
THIRTEEN ENTOMBEO.
Miners Were Examining
an Old CoIIierY.
PROPS HAD BEEN REMOVED.
But Little Likelihood OF the Victims
Being Rescued Alive.

wnKEsBARRK. Pa, Feb, fA-Thirteen
miners are now entombed alive In the
Gaylord mines at Plymouth; 10 may be .
tomb Of death. It IL possible that they
will never be reached or found. The
names of the men aret
Thomas Pioton, Thomas Jones, Richard
Davis, John Morris, James Kingdom,
Thomas Merriman, Thomas Cole, Joseph
Olds, Daniel Morgan. John Hammer,
Peter 8. Mclaughlin, Michael Walsh and
Thomas Leyshon.
All the victims, with the sxosptioa of
two. leave families. One Of these lost his
wife only month ago, and four little
children survive them. The disaster
throws II widows and 80 children On the
worlds charity.
The Gaylord mine Is owned by Daniel
Edwards, one Of the wealthiest operators
In the anthracite region. II IL operated
by the Kingston Coal company, Of which
Mr.. Edwards IL president The best coal
In the mine WAS taken out ysars ago
Then It was abandoned.
About three weeks ago the company de-
cidsd to resume operations, and party of
expert miners were sent into the mine to
mako an examination. They found that
the last men at work In the colliery had
robbed the pillars supporting the roof
until they were very thin. A great many
falls had taken place, the passages were
blocked by the debris and the air was too
strong. Mining experts gave II - their
opinion that the mine could be put In
operation again with . small outlay of
capital.
How the Accident Occurred.
The company decided to go on with the
work. Monday morning . large mum Der
Of expert miners, carrying safety lamps,
entered the mine and began the work of
clearing up the old gangways and prop
ping the roof. They had not been At
work long until squeeze" came, which
compelled the men TO rstracs their steps.
Foreman Picton, with twelve picked
miners. volunteered to go down the shaft
and see what could be done. The descent
was made at 10 o'clock Monday night.
Picton's object was to get as near as pos
sible to the most dangerous part or where
the squeeze was the greatest, In order to
stay its progress by beaming the roof with
heavy timb Der. In cases of this kind the
men get as near as possible TO the cavern,
and by insertion OF cogs and props en-
deavor to break off the mass of rock over
head to certain point, thus relieving the
pressure on other portions Of tho mine.
1t seems that in this instance the efforts
of Pioton and his men did not prove
success, as the cave extended far beyond
the danger limit, and a much greater dis
tance than where the men expected to be
safe II they retreated at the first indica-
tion Of the heavy fall. This is shown by
the vast area of the cave-in.
hut Little Hope OF Rescue.
No one is left to tell the story. The
supposition that the men were busily st
work tim bsring" when the rocky roof
came tum bling down upon their heads,
crushing them out Of semblance to hu-
manity and putting a wall of debris be-
tween them and the mouth of the shaft
400 feet in thickness.
At first there was some hope that IL the
men could be reached In a reasona BILE
time they could be saved. This was
false hope, however. The rsscuing party
had been In the mine only q short time
when they were obliged to retreat on ac-
count of further caving. A second res
cuing party went down the shaft yester-
day afternoon, but soon came back thor
oughly disheartened, and at 8 O'Clock all
hope Of rescuing the men alive was given
up.
The news Of abandoned hope soon spread,
and the wives and children of the men In
the mine, who had assem- bled at the
mouth of the shaft, expecting any mo-
ment to see their loved ones brought up
alive, set up most pitiful cry Of distress.
Mothers wrung their hands and tore
their hair, and little children wept bit
terly. Even stouthearted men wept al
most as bitterly as the fatherless chill
dren.