Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-07-07
NO HOPE OF RESCUE.
BURIED MINERS ABANDONED
THEIR FATE.
Experienced Men Believe There IL No
Chance OF the Unfortunates being
Total Loss.

Wilkesbarre, Pa, July 1.-The ex-
element at the Twin shaft, in Pitts
ton, where nearly 100 miners are en-
tombed, either dead or alive, continued
Monday. At the mouth OF the shaft,
besides the wives and children Of the
entombed men, there were hundreds Cd
persons-not residents of Pittston
alone, but viyitors from Kingston,
Scranton, and Wilkesbarre. Practical
ly nothing has been accomplished to-
ward the recovery of the men. There
is scarcely an old miner about the en-,
trance 20 the mine who does not be-
lieve the men are all dead
The rescuing party which went into
/ the mine at o'clock came out of the
shaft at o'clock. The foreman reports
the timbering in the mine going on as
rapidly as possible. He said the work
was necessarily slow. owing to the dan
ger of falling rocks, which have been
loosened by the terrible explosion.
The rescuers in the mine have en-
countered a new difficulty. Water is
pouring into the slope, and threatens
TO drive out the men at work. Superin-
tendent Law thinks il is water from
the surface, and that il will soon cease
moving into the mine. Others think
the water comes from the Susquehanna
river. which is near by. II it is river
water, the whole mine will be flooded
IN short time, and it will be months
before the bodies can be got out
Inc suggestions advanced as to the
probable time the men would bs
reached are mere guess work, as all
depends upon whether the slope is COM
pleteiy choked up with debris or not.
III not, the rescuers may possibly be
able to reach the men within the next
"a hours. Otherwise, it may be two or
three days.
The rescuing party is 1000 feet from
"here the cave-in occurred. The gas
continues TO accumulate, and the roof.
winch was weakened by the explosion.
is IN danger of falling at any moment.
Inc men came out of the shaft bearing
the marks of anxiety and hard labor
"A survey in the interior of the mine
SHOWS that the main slope is badly
pIocKeu, even worse that the offici-
ais are willing to admit. 1t is known
positively that sixty feet that had been
cleared up Sunday afternoon is block
ed again by another fall that occurred |
oe1ore O'Clock Monday afternoon.
before any attempt can be made 20 |
ciear this part of the slope again it will
De necessary to do extra propping and /
timberlng. This will consume a great
zeal OF time. A few of the more home
lui, who believe that there might ne a
possibility Of the entombed men be-
ing alive, have now surrendered. and
no one can be found VINO il willing to
ADMIT that there is any life under
ground.
ROPE of finding the men alive and
unlnJured, by the older miners. was
abandoned Sunday night because they
knew the ventilation was bad and that.
even II they men had escaped the fall.
they could not live twenty minutes in
such an atmosphere. Others, however.
recalled the Sugar-Notch disaster of
1879, in which five men were rescued
from a breast in this mine, after they
were imprisoned five days. But the
TACT was overlooked that the breast in
which they were was free from any
and in a direct line with the
main current OF air This was the
most remarkable case in the annals of
he anthracite coal mining region, and
may not be repeated again for a CEN
ury.
The disaster probably means the ruin
d the company which operated the
nine. The damage to the mine Is
'stimated at S25, 900, and the expense of
getting the bodies out will not fall
short of $4,000, and may reach $4,000.
5esides, the company will be called
lpon to bury a great number of the
'ictims, especially the Hpngarians and
'olanders. The company is receiving
ONE censure for sending men into the ,
nine when the higher officials knew il :
vas in dangerous condition. In an,
wer to this criticism it is claimed that !
he same thing is done every day in 7
he coal regions. There was valu- S
Bile lot of coal in the mine. and the I
My way it could be gotten out, was
prop the roof and hold it secure.
he company either had to do this or =
lose the mine, which would have :,
leant the loss of all the capital in, {
ested. a
Mine Cavern Kills Three u
Duiutn, Mimi, July Word has !.