The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-30
1.-THE LARGEST CIRCULATION of AMY M0RTE CAROLINA DAILY

only ones to escape of the whole party
who entered the mine Saturday night.
He was on his way up the slope to get
some fresh water for the men, and when
about one hundred feet from the foot
of the shaft, was knocked down by the
concussion. He was badly cut and
bruised by flying coal and rock. He lay
unconscious for ten minutes. and then
came up the shaft.
The concussion was so great that
it was heard for miles around. The
foundations of nearly every building
in Pittston were shaken and windows
and doors ratified as i'm a tornado. In
the houses nearer the mines persons
were thrown from their beds.
The first thought was that a great
earthquake had occurred and the inhab-
;tants rushed rom their houses. The
! ringing Of the fire bells and the shrek
ing of the big mine whistle told the
story
Crowds of people gathered about the
mouth of the shaft, and numbered
thousands by daybreak Men and wo-
men were FRUSTRATED by the catas-
trophe. One mother cried out that she
had two sons below. Another was the
wife or widow of some unfortunate
aud had nine helpless children at
home. Many knelt on the ground,
and, in voices broken with sobs, inn
plored Divine Providence to restore
their loved ones alive.
When it was given out that there
was little or no hope of rescuing the
men alive, women and girls tainted
and were borne away senseless.
Young Sheridan, the water boy, who
had such a narrow. escape, tells thrill
ing tale of the disaster. He thinks
there was an explosion of gas, which
blew down the newly erected timbers
and caused the cave-in. When he left
the mine to go out of the slope and get
water those inside had no apprehen-
sion of a fall or a squeeze" Every
thing was working nicely and the men
expected to be out of the mine within
another hour.
s'The report of the fall" says the
boy, twas like hundred cannon, and
the force of it blew me fully twenty
five feet. / was hurled against the side
of the slope. A piece of rock hit me
back of the head, the wound COM
menced to bleed and then | tainted"
Richards and Gill, who were on their
way after timber, concur with Sheri-
dan that the concussion was terrific.
| They were Knocked off their feet and
| banged against some brattice work.
| They cannot conceive the possibility
! of anybody being in the wreck and es-
Gaping with his life.
| The first great disaster in the an
| thracite region was in September,
| 1869. when 120 men perished in the
| Avondale mine, this county. The
! breaker over the mine caught fire and
| all the men in the mine were suffo-
| Gated. This great catastrophe caused
| the legislature to pass law compell-
| ing mines to have two openings. But
| when a cave-in occurs in a mine and
| the men are surrounded on every side
| by debris it makes little difference
| how many openings there may be-
| They cannot escape, even If spared
| by the fall.
| The rescurers this afternoon encoun-
tered a new difficulty. Water is pour
| ing into the slope and threatens to
| drive the men at work out. supt
| Law thinks it is water from the sur
! face and that it will soon cease TO flow
Z into the mine.
/ There are others Of different opin-
! ion. They think the water comes
/ from the Susquehanna river, which is
| near bv. IF it is river water, the whole
| mine will be flooded in a short time,
and it would take months before the
| bodies could be gotten out.
The damage to the mine is estimated
! at $25, 900, and the expense of getting
! the bodies out will not fall short of
! $4,000, and may reach $4,000. Besides
! the company will be called upon TO
! bury a great number Of the victims,
especially the Hungarians. The com
! pany is receiving some censure for
! sending men into the mine when the
| higher officials knew it was in dan
! gerous condition. In answer to this
! criticism, it is claimed that the same
! thing is done every day in the coal re-
! gions. There was a valuable lot of
coal in the mine and the only way it
+, could be gotten out was to prop the
| roof and to hold it secure. The COM
pany either had to do this or close the
| mine, which would have menat the
loss of all the capital invested.
RIMETAlLISTS IN CHICAGO.