Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-06-28
PERlLS OF THE MINES.
THE GREATEST DREAD OF THE
ANTHRACITE COAL REGION.

THE GREATEST DREAD OF THE
ANTHRACITE COAL REGION.
Deadly Nature of the Cave-in-IIeroic At
teInpts to Rescue Entombed Comrades
Some Extraordinary Instances OF En-
durance-why Hope Endures So Long.
x CCOUNTS of the terrible ex-
"A plosion in Utah coal mine
NJ have brought to mind forci-
bly, the precarious existence
that the miner leads beneath the
earth. But Of all the accidents which
threaten the life of the anthracite
coal miner, none is more feared than
the deadly cave-in. 1t is far more
liable to cause death than explosions
or floods, runaway cars, or falls down
the shaft. Dozens and dozens of
men are crushed to death every year
by it, and the reports of the mine in
spectors show that a large majority of
the fatal accidents of the year are due
to it. Witness the great accident at
the twin shaft, Pittston, Penn, few
years ago, when fifty-nine men were
shut in or crushed to death; and the
fall at No. IL, Plymouth, Penn, when
thirteen men were killed. None of
these victims were ever found, nor is
there much probability of any trace of
them being discovered.
Suddenly and horribly fatal as they
are, the caves give warning of their
approach. A short time ago the
writer was in an affected gangway.
noise, which is almost irftlescrib-
able. 1t was like the distant mur-
muir of thunder storm or the deep
rumble of far-away breakers. For
hundreds of feet above and around,
the rock and coal was working"
BURIED ALIVE.
But with all the warning it gives,
the cave too often proves the death
bed and grave of the miner who is
rash enough to try to save for his
company what nature is reclaiming as
her own. So it was in the two great
accidents previously mentioned. Val
liable chambers of the mine threat
ened to cave, and thousands of tons
of coal would be lost. At Pittston
Superintendent Langan started on
Sunday night with sixty-fve men to
place massive timbers under the af.
fected roof, topping to avert the threat
ened destruction. So awful was the
noise and so near did death appear in
those trembling passages that seven
men, Superintendent Langan's son
among them, refused to- work and
went back. The Superintendent and
the fifty-eight labored for an hour or
so, then suddenly many tons OF rock
and coal fell, and in an instant ma
ture had constructed fer them an i'm.
penetrable sepulchre. Whether they
were instantly crushed to death, shut
in and suffocated, or slowly starved,
will probably never be known.
For weeks men as brave as the fif-
ty-nine labored at the work OF rescue,
great, but unavailins struggle.
Torn, shaken and trembling from the
shock of the first fall, which dragged
upon the other portions of the mine
like massive chains drawn by a mon
ster, working after working collapsed,
hour after hour, for some days, before
it all settled quietly, and the dangers
of the rescuers were fully as great as
those tEe entombed men had confront
ed. There was but one practicable way
of getting at the victims. and that was
down long slope at the foot of which
it was expected the unfortunates would
be found. Four hondred feet was
clear space; the remaining four hun
dred was blocked to within a few
inches of the 1oof by the fallen masses
of rock. 1t was through these four
hundred feet that the rescuers had to
force their way. Volunteers were
numerous, the most able mining ex-
perts in the region directed the oper-
ations, and the work went on day and
night. At first good progress was
made, and then, as they advanced
foot by foot, the danger and the diff
culties increased. Some days they
would gain twenty or thirty feet, and
then be driven back some distance,
only to attack the living mass again
with magnificent courage and en-
durance.
FUTILE EFFORTS AT RESCUE.
1t was in the midst of this work
that the writer saw them. Some
ninety feet had been gained through
the fall. The whole slope, some nine
feet in width, had not been cleared,
but narrow passage four feet wide
had been driven through the centre of
it. This was ,propped and strength
ened by great timbers, for there was
constant danger of the roof coming
down. The gas was heavy and safety
lamps had to be used, so the light was
dim and uncertain. The moaning of
the mine was still to be heard and
had a most weird effect, as if breasts
and gangways were mourning for their
victims. The men worked in shifts
of half-a-dozen each, three hacking
and pecking at the "face" of the fall
with their picks and three shoveling
, back the debris to others behind
them, who passed it out in q line
e. Il. L. l.