The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1899-11-10

INQUEST.
Result of Inquiry Into the Lawrenc,
COlliery Accident.
SEVERAL WITNESSES EXAMINED
The Evidence Showed That Extra Precau-
tions Had Been Taken to Prevent the
Kind Of an Accident That Hap
pened, Which is Pronounced
as an Unusual One.

An inquest was held at Mahanoy Plane
yesterday afternoon on the deaths Of George
Boxas. Constautaitis Smnkawicz. Michael
Dabig and George Lusksha the men who
were smothered TO death by rush Of culm
into the workings Of the Lawrence cvlliery.
The investigation was an exhaustive one. II
was conducted by Deputy Coroner J. d.
Lawlor. Mine Inspector Stein was in at
tendance aud took part in tho examination
Of the witnesses Among the witnesses
were T. X. Edwards, Of town, Mine Inspec-
tor for the Gilbert and lSheafer
Estates, and w. G. Gregory. Of town,
Mining Engineer for Sheafer estate These
two gentleman, with William J. Miller the
superintend, mt Of the colliery, aud Robert
Coxson, che inside foreman, gave testimony
as to the method Of operating in the breast of
the colliery how much coal is left to uphold
the everything strata, and the general precau-
tions taken to prevent accidents Of the kind
that happened
In this connection Mr.. Gregory testified
that the only reason he could assign for the
accident was that the Hslmes vein, in which
the accident occurred, crops out about the
the center of the valley in which the colliery
is located, and the basin, and the wash from
both sides had attained depth which was
not determined There certainly was a
great weight there and the rains had
saturated the earth and made it very heavy.
There was also on the surface culm of a
depth Of from 20 to 80 feet. The length of
the breast in which the accident occurred
was 225 feet from the Rangway to the face.
1t was yards wide the coal is about feet
thick aud about 351 ears of coal had been
taken out. About 249 cars of coal were still
In ba oaet rha ,h L..
trouble is about 175 feet from creek and it
was to guard against the water Of this creek,
as well as the culm accumulated on the
surface breaking into the mine that large
body of coal was left in the breast Thi:
body of solid coal measured 1874 feet from the
face of the breast to the outcrop. The
vertical height from this body of coal to the
surface was 1O4 feet. Almost half of the
coal that was originally in the breast wa,
allowed to remain in it as q support of the
surface and as a guard against the kind O
accident that happened
From other testimony adduced it appeared
that the breast had not been worked sine,
last June. The seven men who were in th,
place had been sent there to clear away
previous fall. There was a fall in the morn
J ing that filled part of the breast with cum
The inside foreman and fire boss, William
Purnell, held a consultation in the Afternoon
which resulted in the night shift undertak
S ing to remove the fall. The foremen, as wei
5 as the surviving miners and laborers ex
amined, stated that they had NJ idea that
second fall would OCCUR They also agreed
} that the deaths of the four victims were du,
Q to them not taking the proper avenue of es
cape as two of the men did. The trap doc
of an airwsy next to that in which the mel
worked had been left open as a means 70
travel back and forth Had the victims raj
along the monkey" to this manway, the!
would have escaped alive. Instead of doin
this they jumped into the nearest chute, an,
in line with the culm that rushed behint
them.
The mine officials were asked il the ira
door in the adjoining manway had not bee
left open in anticipation that there would b
: another fall. This they denied and the.
" stated that the trap had been left open 5
that the men would not be obliged to trave
through the manway into which the culr
!, was being shOveled,
- When asked if it was not unusual for tn
!, surface to break through as it did in this cas-
Inspector Edwards said he never knew G
such thing to occur before. At the Gilbel
ton colliery they work the breasts up t
# within 25 feet of the surface dirt, and n
a such thing has happened.
!. After short deliberation the jury rel
v dered a verdict that the victims came I
n their deaths by a sudden rush of dilt an
II coal in breast 27"