The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-07

cite region occurred Saturday at the
Exeter CollierY OF the Lehigh Valley
Coal company, in Exeter borough.
Three loaded mine cars plunged down
the shaft and struck a descending car
riage containing ten men. killing seven
outright, iniuring one so badly that he
has since died, and infiiCting on the
other two possibly fatal injuries The
victims are all foreigners;
LIST or THE KILLED.
JOSEPH ANDROUSKIS, Exeter Pole,
aged &c. miner; wife and child in Po-
land.
MICHAEL SMITH Pittston. Russian,
aged 40, miner; married, three chill
dren.
ANDREW PINCHO, Exeter. Hungarian,
aged 40; married, two children.
JOSEPH CULOCK, Exeter Austrian,
aged 81, miner; married.
MICHAEL PODISALANNY, Exeter,
Austrian, aged 40, miner; wife and
children In Austria.
MICHAEL WASLOWSKT, Exeter. Aus
tran, aged 2S miner: unmarried.
MICHAEL BRADAZUKA. Exeter, Aus
trian, aged 3S, laborer; unmarried.
FATALLY INJURED.
JOSEPH WINSLOW, Sturmervire, Hun
garian, aged 3S, lar orer: wifo ana six
children. tDied at l o'clock yesterday
morning at the Pittston hosptaD.
INJURED.
| WILLIAM FUKAS. Pittston. Pole, aged
2G laborer; unmarried; body fright
fully laccrated.
PAUL ALEXANDRCS. Sturmerville,
Pole, aged 40. miner; married; skull
fractured and lacerated all over the
body.
CAUSE OF ACCIDENT.
The accident was due to a misplaced
| switch. A trip of six cars was being
! run from the Red Ash mine, quarter of
| a mile away, to the Exeter breaker
| whore the coal from the Red Ash is
| prepared for market. 4 small locomo-
| tive is used to haul the cars between
! the Red Ash and the Exeter. En-
| Eineer David Price and one assistant
! Clinton Anthony, a 17-ycar-old boy
| We're running n trip Saturday morn
! ing a quarter past 6 o'clock. Instead
| of keeping coupled to the trip they cut
| the engine loose, several rods from
the shaft, and ran it into a switch ''or
| the fly" allowing the cars to pass by
and on toward the breaker without
any one attending to them.
The track to the breaker crosses the
net work of tracks leading into the
Exeter shaft. and then passes around
| the shaft and into the breaker switch
| In some unaCCountable manner The
| switch, which is ordinarily set for th'
breaker track. was thrown for the
track leading to the shaft. Instead oI
turning and taking a course around the
| head house, the trip kept straight
! ahead and into the mouth of the shaft
In making the flying switch" TIL,
cars had been given considerable mo
| mentum, as was usual, and when they
struck the 6X4 wooden bar that served
| as a safety gate at the head of tho
shaft, they broke it as if it was made
of glass.
THAT AWFUL AVALANCHE.
The first three cars plunged down tn,
shaft The coupling broke betweel
the third and fourth cars and it wa
halted on the edge of the shaft will
it's forward wheels i'm the opening.
The shaft is $40 feet deep and tn,
! carriage was within ten feet of tn
bottom, it is estimated, when the awfu
avalanche came down upon it. Tn
carriage. cars, coal and the dead, dy
ing and wounded men were WedgeC
in a solid mass that blocked the open
ing into the workings and reached fo
some distance up the shaft.
Jacob Gates and David Harris fir
bosses; Joseph Carr. a driver: NJ. j
Carey inside blacksmith, and JET
Booth, stable boss, were near the foo
of the shaft when the accident oc
| Cured They proceeded at once to tn
work Of eXtriCating the victims. Th
| three wounded men We're first takel
ont and then attention was directed
to the removal of the bodies of tn
| Ce5 q. superintendent w. d. Owen
and Inside Foreman Thomas Thomas
heading rescuing party, which de
sccnded by way of the air shaft, ar
rived shortly after the accident oc
CURED, and took charge of the worl
of getting the bodies out.
1t was S o'clock when the wounded
we've brought to the surface. The,
were sent in ambulances to the Pitts
ton hospital. The dead We're gottel
out an hour later. The bodies wer
wrapped in blankets and taken il
charge by undertakers.
During the time that the rescuer
We're at work scenes battling descrip
ton were occurring at the mouth O
the shaft. The immense crowd tina
quickly collected was unable to lear
any of the particulars of the accident
and the suspense was in consequenc
most dreadful. A sight that was pa
thetic in the extreme was beheld Whe
the LCdies were brought to the sur
| face The lamentations of the grief