The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-30
Families and Friends of the
Victims Haunt the Mouth of
the Shaft.
CAVES OCCUR CONTINUOUSLY
RescuerS Say 1t Will Be Impossible
10 Ever Recover Any of the
Bodies.

effort to reach the victims, but there is
very little hope that any of them will be
recovered alive.
1t is not yet possible to give the exact
number of persons in the pit, but it Is
certain that there are not less than seventy
men entombed, leaving about forty-eight
widows and 125 orphans.
The Board of Trade of Pittston to-day
appropriated $1,000 for the immediate wants
of the bereft families, and desires through
the United Press to appeal to the charitably
disposed at home and abroad for such aid
as they may be pleased to contribute to
this very worthy object. Contributions
may be forwarded to Mr.. Thomas Mangan,
treasurer of the Board of Trade of Pitts
ton, Pa.
The friends and relatives of the en-
tombed men haunted to-day and tonight
the head OF the shaft, hoping against hope
that some of the rescuing party may bring
up word of cheer. But as one gang after
another reached the surface and answered
the eager questions with only sad shake
OF the head despair was again shown upon
the countenances of the unhappy ones.
The rescuing party that went into the
shaft this morning came up at O. clock
this evening, and as they jumped from
the carriage the foreman was heard to say,
mo hope OF rescue as yet"
Later on it was learned that the situa-
ton inside is changing almost hourly,
owing to the continuous caving or ''squeez-
ing" and on this account nothing what
ever can be told as to when the men can
be reached.
The rescuing party tonight were work
ing their way TO the point where they
wished to start digging tomorrow morn
ing, but at midnight the props and pillars
in the shaft are being forced out of place
and no progress can be made until after
this difficulty can be averted. Monster
pumps were lowered and will be set as
near as possible TO the scene OF death, but
there is no telling what the pumps will be
able to do.
Men are at work drilling a hole through
the Clear Spring colliery into the Twin
Shaft workings. The men started on Sun
day to cut hole through large enough to
admit a mans body, but the officials
feared the water and gas in :he Twin Shaft
would rush into the Clear Spring and cause
disaster to those workings also, so it was
decided to abandon the work of making SO
large a hole and to merely drill small
bore-hole through the eighty feet of coal
for the double purpose OF finding out the
condition of the Twin Shaft workings as to
water and gas and with the idea of COM
municating with the men if they, or any
of them, should chance to be on the oppo-
site side of the cave, next to the Clear
Springs partition.
Prominent mine officials from all parts
of the country were on the scene to-day
discussing the sad disaster from every
standpoint.
A conference was held during the day at
which reports were made to the effect that
the fall is the largest ever known to any
miner in this valley, and that the cave is
still going on. Among the officials who
were present were: Mine-Inspector Blow
lit of Scranton; Anthony Horn, superin-
tendent of the Pennsylvania Coal Com
pany, Pittston; Superintendent DAVIS of
the Dodson Coal Company of Plymouth;
H. II. Ashley, general manager of the
Parish Coal Company, Wilkesbarre; ]. l..
Cake, manager of the Clear Spring Coal
Company, West Pitts ton, and ]. Bennett
Smith, practical engineer of the Hazard
Works, Wilkesbarre. Most of them have
come to the conclusion that the bodies will
never be reached.
Water has been running into the shaft
since Yesterday, and to-day it has in
creased in volume. Both the Lackawanna
and Susqueha1na rivers run in close prox-
unity to the Twin Shaft. From the sur
face TO the point where the rock begins
there is at least IDS feet of what is known
as river wash. From this point down to
the bottom, or the level where the men
are, there were previous to the fall $50 feet
of rock. As long as this remained intact
there was perhaps more leakage through
the crevice into the mine than in mines
which are not in such close proximity to
large bodies of water. When the fall oc.
Cured the $50 feet of rock referred to must
have been shattered, allowing the water to
pour into the mine in large quantities un-
til the open space below was all filed.
The very natural conclusion of this is
that if the victims did not lose their lives
under the fall they came to their death by
drowning. If this be true, and there is no
reason to doubt that it is, it will be i'm
possible to remove the bodies of the vic
tins from the mine.
When it became known tonight that it
was probable the men would never be
found the excitement was renewed. The
party that came out of the shaft
at 10 o'clock reported the situation
worse than at any time to-day. The
workings are crushed nearer the foot of
the shaft and the outlook is very sorrow
full The night shift of rescuers were
driven back by the roof caving in and
closing up the work that had been accom-
plished during the afternoon. 1t is now
feared that the opening or entrance to the
Twin Shaft may be closed before the next
twenty-four hours.
More props were lowered into the pit
tonight, which will be placed around the
pillars TO aid them in keeping the surface
from caving in near the foot.
What the night will bring forth no liv-
ing soul can tell.
I'm 0n lees