The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-02-16
ENTOMBED In A MINE
THIRTEEN MEN BURIED ALIVE BY
A CAvE-lN.

A Wall Four Hundred Feet Thick he
Shaft-The Worst Disaster In the An
thracite Region Since 1885, When
Twenty-Five Persisted at Nanticoke.
WILKESBARRE, Pa, Feb. 14--The
mining town of Plymouth is in mourn
Ing over terrible accident that oc-
curren in the Gaylord colliery Tuesday
morning
Thirteen men all citizens of that
town, lost their lives while in the dis
charge of their duties. Their names
are:
Mine Foreman Thomas Picton.
Thomas Jones, Richard Davis, John
Morris, James Kingdom, Thomas Mer-
riman, Thomas Cole, Joseph Odds,
Daniel Morgan, John Hammer. Peter
s. Mclaughlin, Michael Walsh and
Thomas Leishon.
All the victims with the exception of
two, leave families. One of them lost
his wife only month ago, and four lit
tie children survive them. Consequent
ly the disaster throws II widows and
SO children on the worlds charity.
The Gaylord mine is owned by Daniel
Edwards. one of the wealthlest oper-
ators III the anthracite region. 1t is
operated by the Kingston Coal com
pany. of which Mr.. Edwards is the
president. The best coal in the mine
was taken out years ago. Then it was
abandoned because it could not be oper-
ated with profit.
About three weeks ago the company
decided to resume operations and Mon
day morning large number Of expert
miners carrying safety lamps entered
the mine ana began the work of clear
ing up the old gangways and propping
the roof. They had not been at work
long until squeeze" came which COM
PEELED the men to retrace their steps.
Foreman Picton with IL selected min
ers volunteered to go down the shaft
and see what could be done The de-
scent was made ut 10 o'clock Monday
night. Pictons object was to get as
near as possible to the most dangerous
part of where tie squeeze" was the
greatest. III order TO stay its progress
by beaming the roof with heavy timber.
In cases of this kind the men get as
near as possible to the cavern and by
insertion of cogs and props endeavor TO
break off the mass of rock overhead to a
certain point. thus relieving the pressure
on other portions of the mine.
1t seems that in this instance the
efforts of Picton and his men did not
prove a success, as the cave extended
far beyond the danger limit and much
greater distance than where the men
expected to be safe if they retreated at
the first indication of the heavy fall.
This is shown by the vast area of the
~, 20, lAfN 10 al 4 l.a 90,
The suppositien is that the men were
busily at work, timbering, when the
rocky roof came tumbling down upon
their heads. crushing them out of
semblance to humanity and putting
wall of debris between them and the
mouth of the shaft 400 feet in thick
ness.
AT first there was some hope that if
the men could be reached in a reason
able time they could be saved. This
was false hope, however. The rescu-
ing party had been in the mine only a
short time when they were obliged to
retreat on account of further caving.
A second rescuing party under SUI
perintendent James w. Davis went
down the shaft, but soon came back
thoroughly disheartened and 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 thu mine, who had as
sembled at the mouth of the shaft ex-
pecting at any moment to see their
loved ones brought up alive, set up a
most pitiful cry of distress. Mothers
wrung their hands and tore their hair
and little children wept bitterly. Two
of the women tainted and had to be
carried away by friends. Even stout
hearted men gathered at the entrance |
of the mine wept as bitterly as the
children. This disaster is
the worst that has occurred IN the an
thracite region since 1885, when % men
persisted by cave-in in mine No. Of |
the Susquehanna Coal company at
Nanticoke.,