Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-01-26
I'D As ~ ea@ - tts k1 - ~ ~
NEARLY 200 VICTIMS OF THE MI NE
EXPLOSION AT CHES-
WICK, PA.
Those Whto Went Into the Mine as
Rescuers Are Brought Out Cow
cred With Ice.
RESCUE WORK is VERY SLOW

Pittsburg, Pa, Jan 26-At late
hour last night between $50 and 1870
men We're in the headings and passage
ways of the Herwick mine of the Allie
gheny Coal company at Cheswiek, and
many CT them are dead, the result Of
terrific explosion yesterday.
Cage after cage has gone into the
mine and come up again, but only
three miners Of all those that went
down to WORK have been brought to the
surface. One man is Adclphe Gunia.
and he is still alive but in semi-con-
scious condition at the temporary hos
pital at the rude school house en the
hillside above the mine. Henry May
hew, check weigher, and Geo. Walt
man. tippleman, died of their injuries.
In addition to the miners who were
at work when the explosion occurred,
It is believed By practically all of the
men Of the rescue party who have come
TIP the 220-fcot vertical shaft for q
warming and a breathing spell, that
eer, who plotted the mine and who
was the first to reach the bottom after
the explosion happened, is also now
among the list Of dead.
The explosion occurred at $50 o.
clock yesterday merning. and the first
warning was the sudden rumble under
the ground. and then a sheet of flame
followed up the deep shaft. Both
mine cages were hurled through the
tipple twenty feet above the landing
stage, and the three men on the tipple
were hurled to the ground A mule
was thrown high above the shaft and
fell dead on the ground. The injured
men were brought at once to tbs
city. where twc Of tnem have since
died.
AS soon as the rumble of the eX-
plcsion and the crash at the pit mouth
startled the little village, the wives
and children Of the r,en below rushed
tc the scene of the disaster, but TO
gain no encOurage There was
ne way to get into the deep workings.
mines and brcught them out again
When the days work was done were
hotb 1prno1icha1
The report of the rescEers an hour
ago report that many We're alive was
rudely shattered when the dead
body of Selwyn Taylor was brought 10
the surface. He had evidently been
dead for several hours, and now hopes
fer the other imprisoned men have
been abandoned.
The rescuers ere being brought out
coated with ice d"enchel to the skin
and unable to walk They report that
dead are scattered one above the other
as thick as pine needles. Water is
fast pouring into the mine, covering
the corpses with a shroud CT ice and
making the work Of rescue almost i'm
possible Afterdamp is collecting in
quantities. At 8 o'clock physicians
have gone to the bottom of the shaft
70 examine the ffty-fve miners there
to determine whether, if alive, they are
in conullon tC bring to the open air.
DR.. w. B. Mccullough of Cheswick,
who has been in the mine for two
hours. has just come to the surface,
and told the Associated Press reporter
that in his opinion not one of the min
ers who were in the shaft at the time
CT the explosion is alive. He thinks
it will be several hours before any OF
tha bodies can be brought to the sur
fGce. This means that nearly goo men
We're killed by the explosion.