The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-03
EARTH GAVE WAY
BIG BUILDINGS TUMBLED INTO THE
YAWNING PIT.
VERY HEART OF A TOWN
SANK INTO RUINS WHERE THE
CHASM YAWNED.

Abandoned Workings of the Della
ware and Hudson Company Gave
Way Beneath Building in Oily
plant, Pa.-Cave-in Covered 5000
Square Feet-FOur Houses TOppIed
Into 1t and Became Debris-Set-
Ting Lasted for Nearly an Hour.
Loss Amounted TO About $50, 1000.
Scranton, Pa. Jan. abandoned
workings of the Eddy Creek colliery
of the Delaware and Hudson Com
pany, beneath the very heart of the
town of ELEPHANT, caved in this after
noon and engulfed four frame build
ings, covering an aggregate ground
space of 5000 square feet.
The settling was gradual, and people
in the affected territory escaped with
out being Immediately endangered. A
gang of men and boys who were at
work in the mine beyond the fall en-
countered a flooded dip" or depres-
sion in a vein in making their way
out by a circuitous route and had to
swim from one rise to the other. No
one either above or below ground,
however, sustained any injury.
At o'clock the settling began. At
30 it was no longer perceptible. In
the intervening half hour, O'Brien's
three-story hotel, Miss Ann Evans
double dwelling, Mrs. Jane Ackerly's
double store building and a one-story
barber shop were a mound of debris
in the yawning pile. with the upper
most part of the mound forty feet be-
| low the surface.
O'Brien's hotel, which plunged first
into the opening, has entirely disap-
peared. A few houses are projecting
over the edge of the pit. The vein
| that caved in is lis feet below the
| surface.
Its start Was Gradual.
The settling started in the street just
in front of the hotel property. The
| brick street pavement was seen to be
working and the telegraph poles and
! trees along the curb were noticed to
be webbing. The cause was at once
apparent, and the alarm was given &c
| all the neighborhood. Two sick guests
were removed from the hotel and takeT
| two blocks away to a private house
| Some attempt was made at saving th'
| contents of the building, but the rapid
| ly increasing size of the opening il
the street put stop to this, and every
one fed from the neighborhood.
Twenty minutes after the disturbance
was first noticed the opening had wild
ened until it reached all the way
| across the street and halfway be-
meath the OBrien hotel. Then, witt
a terrific crash. the hotel pitched for
ward, turned completely about and
| landed on it's roof in the bottom OF
| the abyss.
A moment later the adjoining double
dwelling of Mrs. Evans fell over the
| edge and demolished itself on the ruins
of the hotel. The Ackerly double store
building and the Evans barber shop
property slid into the chasm about the
same time and piled themselves, broken
and twisted. on the other debris.
No Further Settling Expected.
1t is believed there will be no fur
ther settling, but no one went to bed
tonight in any building within fifty
yards of the disturbed area.
The property damage is estimated at
$50 900.
District Superintendent Bennett of
the Delaware and Hudson Company
went into the mine with a party of
other officials and made an examina-
ton about o'clock. They came out
and reported that the settling had
ceased. The workings which had set
tied were in the uppermost of the work.
ed out veins.
The timbers, it is explained by the
company officials, supported a thin roof
of rock, which in turn supported
stratas of quicksand and gravel ex-
tending to the surface. The timbers
rotted, the roof gave way and all above
then sank into the pit
UP to midnight no further disturb
ance had been reported.