The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-30
NOT ONE SURVIVES.
LATEST FROM THE COAL MINE
HORROR AT PITTsToN.
phnns, All of Whom Are in Need of
Aid and VIII Get 1t.

WILKESEARRE, Pa. June est is
almost settled fact, tonight, that OF
the small army. CT men who entered
the Inflated Twin Shaft, at Pittston,
on Saturday night, not one survives.
Not only is every approach to their
dark tomb barricaded by enormous
masses of rock and debris, but it is
known that in the mine there is
large quantity of water which is in
creasing in volume every minute. Thus
the chances of recovering their bodies
are more remote than ever. Prominent
officials say that weeks or
MONTHS MAY BE CONSUMED
in clearing away the fallen coal in or
der to reach the bodies of the victims.
A mine superintendent OF thlrty-flVe
years experience thinks the unfor-
tunate men have met the same fate
that befell the twenty-six miners who
persisted in No stope of the Susque-
hanna Coal company in December, 1885.
These men were caught in a rush OF
culrn and water from the surface.
Their bodies were buried under
mountain of coal refuse.
Three hundred men labored for more
than two weeks to rescue them. but
the more debris they took out the more
rushed. in from the surface opening.
AS the task was hopeless one, it was
finally abandoned, and the portion CT
the mime where the men died was
closed UP.
WATER NO DOUBT.
The suppesition that there is water
in the Twin shaft is well founded. Both
the Lackawanna and Susquehanna
rivers run in close proximity to the
shaft. From. the surface of the point
where the rock begins there is ait least
river wash to, the depth of fourteen
feet. From this point down to the
bottom of the level, where the men are
there was. previous to the fail, two
hundred and eighty feet of rock. So
long as this remained intact there was
perhaps more leakage through the
crevices IN the mine than in mines
which are not SO close to large bodies
or water
When the fall occurred the $50 feet
OF rock mentioned must have been
shattered, allowing the water to pour
into the mine in large quantities, I'm
III the open space below was filled
The natural consequence of this is that
II the men did not lose their lives under
the mass of rock, they must have
DIED BY DROWNING.
If this be the case, it will be i'm
possible to remove the bodies from
the mine. The story will be a repeti-
ton of the Nanticoke disaster. Mine
Inspector Mcdonald has issued the
following signed statement:
SO far as my knowledge of the work
ing OF the mine goes and the manner
In which the work was conducted, l
do not believe 1.-The accident was due
to any criminal carelessness, but / can
+ OF say definitely that it was not I'M
til 1 make a thorough investigation
This cannot be done until we find the
men or abandon the mine.
HUGH MCDONALD,
Mine Inspector"
There are surface indications tonight
that the stope and main gangway OF
the mine are packed tight with fall
ing coal and rock. In other words,
late fails have completely wrecked
the inside workings of the colliery.
A QUESTION.
Some take the view that it would be
better to let the, bodies remain where
they are and devote the money that
would have to be expended to open
the passageway of the mine to the
relief of the widows and orphans of
the victims.
Relatives of the entombed men op-
pose this proposition. They look with
horror upon the idea of their loved
ones sleeping their last sleep in an
abandoned mine, apart from the pos
sibility still entertained by some that
the men may be alive.
Practical mine. foremen who are in
no way interested in the Newton Coal
COYDDanV saw than since there is no
possibility of recovering the dead, pub
lie opinion favors the idea of relieving
the living rather than digging for the
dead. The company, however, has
given no hint of abandoning the work
of rescue