The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-26
SWALLOWED IN
ONE VAST GRAVE
Voices Hoarse With Agony Call for Nearly Two
Hundred Men Entombed in Mines
Dread Depths.

the men will be brought to the surface
The first ray of hope that any of the men
had escaped the tremendous conclusion OF
the explosion, came at six o'clock tonight,
when Adolph Gorgie was brought to the
surface still living
The explosion occurred at $40 O'Clock
this morning at the bottom OF one of the
shafts and was presumably caused by
Are damp. 1t was four O'Clock this after
noon before it was possible to make the
first attempt at rescue. Robert North
and Jack McCann. one OF the engineers.
employed by the Allegheny Coal Com
pany, tried to get into the mine by way
of the stairs through the airshaft. They
managed to grope their way some dist
ance. but were finally driven back by the
four air.
The main shaft into the mine. 22O feet
deep. was made useless by the explosion,
which hurled both cages, one of which
was within thirty feet of the bottom OF
the shaft through the triple, thirty feet
above the surface.
Shortly after FIVE o'clock a temporary
rigging had been put in place over the
mouth of the saft, and a small bucket,
capable of carrying three men fastened to
the tackle The first try with the new
rig was made by s. Elwayne Taylor, the
mining engineer, who had been summoned
from Pittsburg, and Assistant j. NJ Ray
burn.
a crowd of anxious men and women
were gathered at the pit mouth as the
two men were lowered into the black
shaft on the work OF rescue. Slowly the
rope on the big drums of the engine be-
gan to unroll and the two engineers dis
appeared.
Still thee was no sound from the depths
below, except the occasional shout from
the men in the bucket to stop while they
tested the air.
Then the cage reached the bottom.
There was silence of full forty minutes
and then came the summons to haul up
slowly. When the cage reached the top
Rayburn was there and with him was
Adolph Georgia, still alibe but gasping
for breath and evidently seriously in
jured.
Again the cage went down into the
darkness and this time it carried with it
T. Taylor, an assistant of S. Elwayne
Taylor and also Robert North and j.
Mccain, who had made the first attempt.
There was call for volunteers to aid in
the work of rescue, and call for ham
mers. nails and bIattice timbers to en-
able rescuers to brace up the workings so
that they can grope their way back to
where the men were at work, when the
crash came.
The little village Of Harwick that sur
rounds the mining works two miles back
from the West Pennsylvania Railroad
wives and relatives of the entombed
have crowded about the entrance to the
pit, beseeching for news of loved ones be-
low, but only to meet with the same ans
wer: 'We do not know yet, if we find
him we will send him home
The little school house has already been
prepared as a morgue and hospital. The
benches and seats have ali been removed
and eight girls from the highest class at
the school have been impressed as nurses.
Doctors have been summoned from sur
rounding towns of Springfield and Denny,
and also from Pittsburg, but nothing can
be done until further details come from
the mine.
Mr.. Scheetze, the manager Of the mine,
said tonight to a representative of the
Associated Press:
The explosion this morning was ter
rifle. Both cages were blown from the
shaft, one of them a distance of over 200
feet. Three men at work on the tipple
were blown to the ground and one of
them is already dead. The other two are
badly hurt, but am told they are rest
ing easily and may recover.
There are at least $50 men in the mine
and | am afraid that theer are number
more, although there are several men on
the pay roll who did not report this morn
ing