The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-06-30

"S "io'ner opening IN order to reach
Ihe ehlonoed men was begun by the
inahing Oh bore hole at the Clear Spring
colilery, which adjoins the twin shaft
After reaching below the surface ,vorl
was begun by driving hole with a I;s>
mond drill from the clear spring To tho
loot OF the slope, where the men are s,,n-
posed to be under the fall This hole IL
10 ne driven diagonally for. l2O feet. Jt
Is an experiment to learn whether there
Is gas or water below with view of ne
certaining the feasibility of drivino, nm
Mr-way from clear spring to the foot of
the slope. After this has been done If
results are satisfactory, the rescuers viii
urlve an ali way to point where the fall
begins '''''
prominent officials say that after this
"ir-w"S mas reached the point referred to.
WEEKS OF months may be consumed i'm
cie"rihg away the fallen coal in order to
reach the bodies of the victims. 4 mine
superintendent of thirty-five wears, ay-
perlence, thinks the infortunate mon hove
met the same fate that befell the twenty
SIN miners who persisted in No. 3 slope of
.he ouSquehanna Coal Company in De-
ceihoer, 1889 These men were caught
III rush OF culm, and water from the
surface. Their bodies were buried under
mountain of coal refuse Three HIM
ureu men labored for more than two
weeks TO rescue them, but the moro do
OTIS they took out the more rushed in
from the surface opening. AS the task
was hopeless one, it was finally aban-
uoheu ana the portion of the mine where
the men died was closed up.
Mine Inspector Mcdonald has issuod
the following signed statements:
so far as my knowledge of the ,vorL
ings of the mines goes, and the mnnner
III which the work was conducted do
not Delleve the accident was due to any
criminal carelessness, but | cannot saw
ueHhl,ely That 1t was not until mako
thorough Investigations. This cannot be
done until we find the men or abandon
the mine.''
IN an interview, the mine inspector
said: ''ie0'or
made an examination of the Twin
smut ABOUT month ago. At that time
iounu the mine apparently safe. The
onici'ls gave me no intimation that il
was otherwise. | believe now there
"o"i" nave been no loss of life. You
can see that all hope of recovering rho
men alive has been abandoned aSd -
looks as if it was going to be diflicult to
recover the bodies. The area of the
cave Is greater now than it WAS western
uay, ana the danger line is extending
NO more lives will be risked, and the re-
treat OF those now at work is guarded
ana Is the chief consideration. In Mi
my experience in the mines | have never
known OF case where men took such
ioolhardy risks as in this one The rule
Is to work from II place of safety toward
tne danger and cover the retreat In
ohis case 1t Is evident the men went di-
rectly to the greatest point of danger
III mas developed that there was some
trouble in getting the men to go into the
i NINE iast week. Two instances are
known. The sons of Superintendent
i-angan and Inside Foreman I.ynott Went
INTO the NINE on Saturday afternoon to
work Their duties We're to assist the
.l'hoermen. They became afraid and
told their fathers they were going omnit
work quarrel ensued but the boys
We're determined and went ont of the
mime Their resolution saved their lives.
John Hughes II brother of Michael
Hughes, who is in the mine. saved HE
life in the same way.