The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-06-29
EIGHTY MINERS ENT0MBED

tne houses ana afOuSlnS people from
their sleep. There was also an almost
constant succession of smaller falls,
which kept the whistle of the speaking
tube in the engine room blowing at in
tervals for several hours.
FIRST FALL AT 2.55 A. NJ.
The first fall occurred at 255 a. m., the
| second and third following in rapid sue
cession. Then the small falls set in and
continued almost increasingly until
, daylight. when the force of the work
ing" seemed to have spent itself.
| "Squeezes' have continued ever since.
and were still continuing at nlghtfall.
| Men We're at work in what Is undoubt-
edly the very center of the fall as they
We're attacking the workings which
We're the most active and consequently
which must have been the most affected
by the cave-in. This point Is about
2,250 feet from tn foot of the shaft and
is figured to be directly beneath Camp
bells Ledge.
| at L. reached by a Zig-Zas road. two
stretches of which are steep slopes and
is i34 feet from the surface, 1t was
about GOO feet down the third and last
slope that the men We're working.
There IN split I'm the vein and the
rock that has fallen forms the roof of the
lower part Of the vein and the floor of
the upper portion. The bottom. 1t might
be said has dropped out of the top vein
known as No. i. into the working of the
lower vein No 6. where the men wsre
at work.. The rock between the two
/
feet in thickness and the men who
have pushed their way to the region of
the settling say that this whole twelve
foot deck rock has gone down. The
first fall started the second. the second
caused a third and so 1t kept on until
now the whole vein is supposed to have
caved in. The disturbance begins at II
point one hundred feet from the foot of
the shaft and extended over region
that can only ,bc surmised. but which
is not less than thirty acres.
ITS THE LOWEST VEIN.
The Red Ash Is the lowest vein
worked, and there are only two veins
worked out above it. Neither of these
nor the surface show any effects of the
| cave-in.
The work of rescue, although a SEEM
ingly hopeless task is being pushed
with all the vigor that is possible.
| Immediately after the calamity oc-
CURED the men on the outside of the
mine caused fire alarm to be sounded
in order to bring asst .ance and soon
the mouth of the sha was surrounded
by large crowd.
Four of the first .en to arrive on the
scene, Michael Finnan, John McCor-
mick John Doyle and John Daley. des-
cended the dust-choked d shaft but could
not venture far owing to the fact that
they were not provided with good safety
lamps. They saw enough. however, to
convince them that there was not a
living soul within the mine.
Upon reaching the surface they with
Sheridan, the water boy, and Kicker.
the driver, told what they knew of the
situation below and plans were made
accordingly. 1t was out of the question
to attempt to reach the men then
through the present workings.-so it was
decided to push along an old gangway
through the abandoned part of the mine
and then cut off through the worked out
chambers to the rear of where the fall
occurred. 1t being thought it was pos
sible that the fall to the rear of the men
might have no: been as heavy as in
front and the rescuers could therefore
get nearer to them. There was also the
faint glimmer of hope that the men
or some of them might not have been
caught in the fall and We're working
their way out from the rear along the
face of the mine and through the old
workings by which the rescuers would
approach.
LEADERS ALL GONE.
There was no leader to show them tht
way as every man who was competent
to direct them was entombed. So with
only an intricate map and their owr
vague knowledge of the mine these
daring men began their danger fraugh
journey. But it was all in vain. The,
had proceeded only a short distance ir
the old workings when they encountered
gas Of such density that it was suicida
to attempt to pass through it. They
retraced their steps and resolved to face
the fall and dig their way to the en-
tombed men.
, This work Is now going on, TIL,
, operations had to begin at point abou
| one hundred feet from the foot of tn,
shaft as the fall begins at that point
Large pieces of rock are falling con.
tinually about them but they are moi
| deferred in their heroic work by any
| thought of self. All they seem to re-
. alize is that seventy or eighty Of theil
, brothers are emboweled in the eartt
and must be rescued If alive and II dea
= their bodies must be recovered
1 They are making slow progress ow
:. ing to the difficulties which only super
t human effort can overcome and 1t car
r not even be conjectured when, If ever
e the men will be reached
n One cannot repress the emotion which
\ arises from a contemplation of tn,
|, work of these rescuers. Nothing coult
e be more heroic. nothing more self-sac
rificing. 1t Is even chances that deatl
or serious injury will be the lot of an!
man who enters the mine in its presen
e condition but, despite this, all day loni
d little bands of miners could be seei
!, tramping along the railroads or across
$ the fields dressed in their workin,
: clothes and armed with their tool
!; bound for the Inflated shaft to volun
: teer their services in the noble work
e And not infrequently at the company
= office can be heard "Some more MAJ
# you want? Me and my butty, we come
y You tella us when"
= NUMEROUS VOLUNTEERS.
e So many have already volunteered
d that there are names enough on the lis
), to keep up regular reinforcements TO
n several days. The rescuing party Il
8 divided into several squads Of six, eacl
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