The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-02-24
BOSS
THE VICTIM.
One Man SuffOcated in the Mt. Carmel
Fire.
HIS FATE WAS KEPT SECRET
Efforts to Get the Body From the Burning
Girard Colliery Have Failed-The
Fire More Serious Than the
officials Admitted-Still
Raging.

Mt. Carmel, Feb. 24.-The fire in the
Girard colliery, which is located about half a
mile from this town, has proved more serious
than was reported yesterday. The officials
Of the Colliery kept the grave features of the
case from the public. They stated that no
men were missing and that the fire would be
extinguished before night.
The truth is one man, John Grifiths, the
fire boss, is missing and the fire is still rag
ing. All efforts to find Grifiths have failed
and it is now quite certain that his dead body
will be found in the mine.
The fire originated in the pump house at
the bottom of the slope, on the west side,
which connects with the fan way. All the
timbers were burned out at the bottom of
the slope. The coal is very friable and
shelly at this place and when the timbers
were burned a cave-in occurred. This took
place yesterday afternoon. The pitch of the
slope is about 81 degrees and the coal rushed
from the top Of the timbers for some distance
up the slope when the cave-in occurred. The
coal continued to fall, making it necessary
for the men to be very cautious in approach
ing the fire with the hose and interfering
considerably with their work.
Repeated attempts were made to get to the
N 1@S NA N'N eANBNf DhA VIZ olllDhN WIS So
dense that it was impossible to get further
than sixty feet from the slope and efforts
made to get Grifliths' body were abandoned.
All efforts were then turned to e1tinguish
the fire and renew the timbering at the
bottom of the slope.
Men were down on top of the fallen coal
as far as the garways leading east and west,
but the smoke was SO dense there that they
could not proceed further. Last night some
time was lost on account of the men being
compelled to retreat by reason of
the coal falling, still their work is
progressing very satisfactorily and
it is not believed that the fire has reached a
magnitude that will require d flooding of the
mine. The work of extinguishing the fire
may take three or four days. If the fire on
the west side Should reach above its present
point it may be necessary to raise the water
as high as the gangway collars, and prepare
tons have be0n made to do so should the
emergency arise.
The origin of the fire is still a mystery,
but it is known that it started in the slope
pump house. Speculations are rife that the
pumpsman, in trimming his lamp, must of
set fire to some oily cotton waste, or some of
the sparks from the lamp must have smoul-
dered in the dry timber.
There were seven men, including the fire
boss, John Gritliths, and David Morris, the
pumpsman. At 4:30 yesterday morning all
but the fire boss assembled the slope.
Gritiths remained in the mine after the
night shift to see that the places were all
right for the day shift. Morris remained at
the top Of the slope only long enough to pro-
cure a few supplies and then started down
the slope. When nearing the bottom he was
obliged to retreat on account of the smoke.
The mine officials agree that Gritiths is
dead. The supposition is that he was making
his customary early morning rounds and
detected the smoke coming behind him with
the air current. He was probably making
his way through the breasts towards the
slope. He may have made an attempt to get
back, but that way would be cut off by the
smoke and it is not probable that
he did so. His next avenue of escape was
to make his way to the gangway,
westward, and then after travelling as fast as
he could he probably reached the smoke-flled
main avenue, or gangway and no man could
survive there long. The current of air was
travelling from 300 to 400 feet a minute and
at that rate it would only AXE about five
minutes for the smoke to reach the extreme
eastern limits of the colliery q, 200 feet dis
tant) and the fire boss had very little time in
which to escape. Grifliths was about a.
years of age and leaves a family.
LATER.
Mt. Carmel, Feb. "a, a p. m.-The work
of fighting the fire in the Girard ~colliery pro
crossed to-day with much better results thar
anticipated. Mine Inspector William Stein,
of Shenandoah, was in full charge this
morning. Mine Inspector Brennan, OF
ShamOkin, was unable to lend assistance un.
til this afternoon on account Of other i'm.
portant engagements.
The fire is almost out and will be com.
pletely eItinguished within three or fouI
hours. Some men succeeded in passins
through the monkey about 80 yards Abov,
the bottom Of the slope, on the east side, anC
made their way down to tho gangway. They
are now about 200 feet east of the puml
house and the recovery of Grifiths' body BY
tonight is promised.