The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-12-21

that they famed only five minutes,
and then went TO work
But this story. in common With
others. could not be sabstantiated.
/ talked with several of the miners,
and they did not blame the mining
company for the accident.
AN ANTE-BELLUM EXPLOSION.
Just before the war terrific eyplo-
sion occurred in these mines, with fa-
tai results. The explosion was heard
and felt distinctly at Pittsboro. Mr..
Peter G. Evans owned the property at
the time.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE MINES.
Ex-Sheriff j. NJ Munger, of Sanford,
was connected with the mines during
the late war.
He furnished me with the outline
sketch of the plan of the mine in war
time.
1t will be seen from the maps that
the old workings which were devel-
oped during the war have been abaH-
doned by the new company.
The shaft of the mine during the war
was $50 feet deep. 1t is now more than
500 feet deep.
y Il IL
called until a short time ago. have
been worked for about half a century.
1t was first the property of Mr.. Peter
Evans.
During the war the Confederate ar
senal at Fayetteville and the blockade
runners Of the Confederacy used a good
deal of this coal. Tt made great deal
of smoke. and more than one of the
slippery blockaders was traced by the
Yankee vessels. by the trail of black
smoke she left behind her.
During the war there was one main
gang-way 600 yards long. The vein in
the mine inclined at an angle of about
80 degrees, and the coal was worked in
slopes leading out Of this main
gang-way.
Now the principal slope" No. !, is
4 thousand feet long.
1t is now owned by the Langdon-
Henszey Mining Company, which is
composed of Pennsylvania capitalists.
Several of the head men in the mines
are from that State.
The company has spent several hum
bred thousand dollars in improving
the plant, and it seemed to haze a
brighter future than ever before.
The company furnishes coal for the
Seaboard Air Lines engines. and was
beginning to ship coal to Wilmington
TO be used by ocean steamers. A hum
bred and fifty tons day is the average
production of the mines.
THE MEN EMPLOYED.
Nearly all the miners at Cumnock
are native North Carolinians. There
were seven PennSylvanians employed
as regular miners, in addition to the.
head men from that State.
Five foreigners whose names are I'M
Known were employed in the mine.
They spoke no English, and their com
apanions have never learned their
names Only one of these survives.
They are said to have been Hunga-
1ians.
The seven Pennsylvanians were to
have left to-day to spend Christmas in
their native State. They went down
into the mime that morning laughing
and joking about the anticipated pleas
ures ofithe- holidays.
HOY. THE MEN DIED.
Soon afterrahs.aceident occurred DIR.
r A. Moorey OF Moncure; DR.. Palmer,
OF Gulf, a1flggr Monroe. of Sanford
y ere summoned.
DIR. Moore is the physician who has
remained on the scene from the first
He thinks the majority of the miners
died from the after damp" that suc-
ceeded the explosion.
Some Of the old miners hold differ
ent view, and one of them said to me
that he was sure that most of the
dead were killed by the explosions.
There are different stories about the
quantity of dynamite in the mine.
Some say there was fifty pounds there;
some claim that two hundred and fifty
pounds of the explosive was stored in
the dynamite room.
4 Some claim that the dynamite eS-
| ploded first; others say that the coal
gas or fire damp explosion preceded
and caused the explosion of the .dyna-
mite.
inssThe general theory is that the fire
n A fret ho