Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-07-02

Il g. M. " ilAlt 1
about a hundred miners were at work
IN the Red Ash vein of the Twin shaft |
at PiutSton about 3 o'clock this morn !
ing, II roof caved in and il is believed
all OF the mel persisted. About forty !
OF the imprisoned men were English
speaking miners, the others were for
eigners. The names of the former are: !
M. j.. Langan, inside superintendent; |
j. IL. Linott, inside foreman; Alex Nc
Cormick, fire boss; Robert Haston,
machinist; Thomas Murphy, driver
boss; Michael Costello, J. III. Kelley,
Michael Gaudhan, Jonn Hart, James
DALEY, Michael Connell. Daniel Ward,
trank kehoe, James Cleary, Edward
buckley, John Casey, Edward Rogers,
James Kehoe, James Mcdonald, Ed
ward Delaney, Cornelius Mcclure,
James Gordon, NJ. O'Brien, Michael
Hughes, Edward Kilday, James Burk,
Patrick Ruane, Thomas Tenpenny, NJ.
K. Gaffney, Thomas Doing, Anthony
Kane, j. w. Murphy, owen Lee, An
thony Gordon, James Wall, - Wall,
Dominick O'Malley, Peter Martin, NJ.
Ford, Timothy Durbrick. Thomas
Dempsey, Thomas Carlin, Patrick
Gibbons, John O'Boyle. Peter Joyce.
Many Leave Families.
Aside from these, there may be 9TH
er English-speaking miners among the
unf~ortunates. Thirty pOlanders and
H~ungarians were entombed, and it is
thought the total number of bodies in
the mine will reach 100. The men were
at work propping up the roof when the
fall occurred. The alarm was immedi-
ately given by the ringing Of the fire
bells, and rescuerS were put to work
without delay. 1t was several hours
before the first bodies were found in
the slope, some distance from the
| plane where the men had been work
ing. More than twO-thirds Of the vic
tins were married men and leave fam
lilies. Among them Were Acting May
or Langan, who was inside superin-
| tendent of the mine, and j. III. LinOtt,
q ward councilman.
About two weeks ago the surveyors
reported TO General superintendent
| Law that the mine was squeezing"
| and that unless steps We're immediate
ly taken To timber it il cave-in or fall
might be looked for. Supt. Law lost
no time but at once put a number of
men at work to brace the falling roof.
The squeeze" continued, however, and
yesterday the situation became alarm
ing. In the afternoon a slight fall oc-
Cured, and the men who were at work
had to retreat before it. A c%onSulta-
ton of mine officials was then held
and it was decided that heroic meas
ures would have to be resorted to to
prevent heavy damage to the mine
Inside Superintendent Langan gave
instructions that the most experienced
miners should be secured. Expert
timber men put in an appearance at
that hour and We're soon lowered into
the workings. They made their way
to Red Ash vein, 1900 feet down the
slope. The work Of propping proceed
ed rapidly until IL o'clock when anoth-
err fall occurred. 1t made a low, rum
bling noise, and the flying coal and
| debris drove the men back. Then the
squeeze" ceased again, and the men
| thought it was safe to resume work.
They labored on until 800 o'clock
when, so it is presumed, the roof fell
in without warning,
Making a Tremendous rash.
It is supposed, however, that the
men were not all together, but some
near the slope, and these probably ran
up the incline when the fall occurred.
| This is the only way the finding Of
| Mayor Langan's body in the slope can
| be accounted for. If the men received
any warning they had to run up the
! slope, but not to any great distance.
| The falling rock and coal filed up the
| slope and the adjoining ~gangwayS,
| completely shutting off all venue of
| escape.
1t was at first supposed that the men
| might have escaped being caught in
| the fall and that they were imprisoned
behind the debris, but the finding OF
the two bodies would go to disprove
this. 1t is still possible, however, that
living men may still be behind the fall,
although it is extremely improbable.
Even If they escaped being crushed by
the falling roof, the possibility of their
! being alive for any length of time in a
gaseous mine is remote. The alarm
was frs given by. Water Carrier John
Sheridan. who, with William Richard
and Thomas Gill, were the only ones
TO escape of the whole party who en-
tered the mine last hight. Crowds of
people gathered about the mouth of
the shaft and numbered thousands by
| da ybrpak. Stalwart men stood APP
nailed and frantic women, who had
husbands or sons in the doomed mine,
| waited in despair. One mother cried
! out that she had two sons below. An
| other was the wife of n of the UNI
f%ortunates, and had nine helpless chill
dren ut home. Many knelt on the
ground and in voices broken with sobs
implored Divine Providence to restore
their loved ones alive. When it was
| given out that there was little or no
| hone of ~rescuing the me- alive, women
and girls tainted and were borne away
| senseless.
The report that two bodies had been
found i'm the mine was proved to have
been premature. No bodies have yet
been found, and all hope of finding any
person alive has been abandoned.
Supt. Lathrop, of the Lehigh Valley
Coal company, who is an a~utnority,
saws it will be ten days before the
bodies are reached.
Peculiar Fatality.