Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1903-01-03
Abandoned Mine Workings in
the Very Heart of Oily
plant Cave In.
FOUR BUILDINGS ARE ENGULFED
Two More Structures Projecting Over
Edge Of Chasm, Which Covers ar
Aggregate Ground Space of Eigh.
Thousand Feet-No Lives Lost.

workings of the Eddy Creek colliery
of the Delaware and Hudson COM
pany, beneath the very heart of tho
town of Olyphant,, caved in yesterday
afternoon and engulfed four frame
buildings, covering an aggregate
ground space of 5000 square feet.
The settling was gradual, like the
falling Of the hands of an hour glass,
and people in the affected territory
escaped without being Immediately
endangered. A gang of men and boys.
who were at work in the mine beyond
the fall encountered flooded dip, :"
or depression in vein, in making
their way out by a eircuitous route,
and had to swim from one side to the
other. Most remarkable to say, no
one, either above or below ground,
sustained as much as scratch in the
awful disturbance.
At o'clock the settling began. At
$3.50 it was no longer perceptible. In
the intervening half hour O'Brien' j
three-story 40x60 hotel, Mrs. Ann
Evans double dwelling adjoining it;
building, across the street, and one
story barber shop, next to it, were a
mound of debris in the yawning pit,
with the uppermost part of the mound
40 feet below the surface. O'Brien. 5
hotel, which plunged first into the
opening, has entirely disappeared. A
stove that was in the hotel kitchen
was seen in the mine by a party of
mine officials, who went to the edge
of the fall to observe its extent. The
vein that caved is lis feet below the
surface.
Pavement Seen to Be Working.
The settling started in the street,
just in front of the hotel property,
corner of LackaWanna and River
streets. 1t was first noticed by parties
standing on the hotel porch. The
brick street pavement was seen to be
working and the telegraph pole AMI
trees along the curb were noticed to
be wobbling The cause was at once
apparent and the alarm given to all
the neighborhood. Two sick guests
were removed from the hotel and
taken two blocks away to a private
house. Some attempt was made at
saving the contents of the building,
but the rapidly increasing size of the
opening in the street put stop 10
this and everyone fed from the neigh
borhood.
Twenty minutes after the disturb
ance was first noticed the opening
had widened until it reached all the
way across the street and half way
beneath the O'Brien hotel. Then
with terrific crash, the big hotel
pitched forward, turned completely
about, and landed on its roof in the
bottom of the abyss.
Fell on Ruins of Hotel.
An immense amount of earth from
all about the edge of the hotel went
down with it, and moment later the
adjoining double dwelling of Mrs
Evans fell over the edge and demol
ished itself On the ruins Of the hotel
The Ackerly double store building ami
the Evans barber shop property slid
into the chasm about the same time
aho pAlSu buouSelNGS, broken ana
twisted, on the other debris.
The widening ceased before under
mining any other buildings, but one
on either side of the street, a doubl5
dwelling belonging to the Evans es
tate and store building owned by
Robert Jones, are projecting over the
edge OF the pit.
When the noise of the working had
ceased and those who stood at short
distances saw that the ground was
again motionless the terrible con
sternation abated.
The property damage is estimated
at 100000, not counting the loss of tho
lots on which the engulfed buildings
stood nor the expenditure that will be
required to fill up the sunken street
The cavity over all is 1870 feet long
100 feet wide and 40 feet deep to the
top OF the debris. It's sides are al
most perpendicular.
Up to midnight no further disturb
/ ance had been reported.