The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-24
THIRTY MINERS
FAST IMPRISONED
CONTINUED from Page one.o

air through the workings had been
wrecked by the explosion and the force
of the fan was lost. At o'clock the
cages having been temporarily re-
paired.
BODIES IN A HEAP.
There in heap lay the bodies of
seven men, with their faces blackened
and burned and their bodies distorted.
The rescuers started to clear away the
debris, but it was slow, hard work, as
the force had been titanic.
Pit Boss Thomas and three men went
back 100 feet to ascertain the result of
the explosion other members of the
rescue party hastily rushed men above
ground, where the men were given
brandy and other stimulants. Tonight
Mine INSPECTOR Blick, who reached the
scene. said: II would not like to say
there is no hope for the men in the pit,
but l doubt whether a single one re-
mains alive. The force of the explo-
sion vas something terrific, and it
seemed that it occurred in the main en-
not a great distance from the main
shaft. The main point is whether they
have air. The fan is running, but the
big part of the mine was unventilated,
and is probably still choked with deb
ris.
If the men have not been able to con-
trive to save themselves from the after
damp. fear that they are dead. Just
how the explosion occurred, is not yet
known, but the gas must have risen
to the lamps, thus igniting and caus-
ing the explosion.
SCENE AROUND MINE.
Five mules were killed outright by
of Ae bo
night grew blacker, the scene at the
shaft became more sorrowful The
rain came down in pitiless torrents and
each moment the air was more chill.
Back of the fateful pit rose solid
mass of mountainous darkness. In
front, but far across the railroad
tracks, were the Pickering lights of the
homes of the miners. At one side of
the mouth of the shaft, some huge
Jumps of coal made a blazing campfire,
and around were seated a score of
workers.
Many We're speechless over the ca
lamity, while others talked in whispers
and seemed to meet the affair with
stoicism. On the broad platform that
covered the shaft, grim miners knelt
with ears bent to the faintest call for
succor from the depths. By an upper
window in the house beyond the tracks
could be seen mourning woman, her
head bowed, visible in the light from
a rush-light. 1t was Mrs. Meese, whose
little son was lying in deaths embrace
in the quickly provided morgue, and
the body of her husband, Samuel
Meese, was one Of the seven waiting
transfer to the surface.
She, was watching for the men to
bring UP her husbands body. Beneath
the tipple, weeping women found shell
heads gave them scant protection from
the cold but their blanched faces
showed the intense heart pain they en-
dured. Each had husband, father or
brother cold in death far down in the
mine and yet each tried to cling to some
impossible remnant of hope.
The complete list of the dead cannot
be compiled tonight. The managers of
: the mines have the payroll, but it has
been impossible for them to discover all
the SURVIVES But there is general
agreement that from 30 to 80 men are
entonHbed. About one-ha are Ameri-
cans and the balance are Hungarians
or Slavs The list, as obtained is:
THE DEAD
Joseph wagyror, single has mother
and sister
Joseph Butschme, 40, wife and three
children.
I Peter Oris, SO, has five children.
Meese, Il, died after rescue.
Samuel Meese, father, pit boss.
Henry Hagar 80, wife and children
James Thomas, married.
Among the Il brought out by the res
cuers on thei, first trip were: Joseph
Meese, driver, badly burned on face
and body; Harry Atwood, badly
burned; Thomas Radcliffe, a trapper
boy, was at the shaft, He started to go
down in the mine with the rest at the
morning descent. but his father said
there was a scarcity Of cars His father
is among the lost. Carl Hobidski was
hauled UP from the bottom, the rope
being tied about his wrists. In twenty
minutes after rescue he appeared on
the scene as calm as ever
Soon after the extent of the accident
became known, undertakes were sum-
moned from Brownsville. A new build
ing near the SHAFT. intended for q, black
smith shop, was converted into a
morgue. Here pine boards on trestles
were shaped into areceptacles for the
dead. All is in readiness for the victims
in the mine when brought to the sur
face