Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1904-01-26
Explosion in a Pennsylvania
Colliery Entombs Many
Miners.
HEROIC RESCUE WORK
At Risk of Their Lives Brave Men
Descend SHAFT in Which
Death Turks.
Near Two Hundred Miners Trapped,
Most of Whom are Thought
to be Dead.

P:ttsburg, Jan. 26.-From all that
can be gathered between $50 and 100
men are lying dead in the headings
and passageways of the Harwick mine
of the Allegheny Coal company at
Cheswick, the result of a terrific ex-
plosion. Cage after cage has gone
down into the mine and come up
again, but only one miner of all those
that went down to work has been
brought to the surface The rescued
man is still in a semi-conscious con-
dition at the temporary hospital at
the rude schoolhouse on the hillside
above the mine.
In addition to the miners who were
at work when the explosion occurred
it is now believed by practically all of
the men of the rescue party who have
come up the 220-foot vertical shaft for
a breathing spell, that Selwin M. Tay-
Tor, the Pittsburg mining engineer who
plotted the mine and who was the
first to reach the bottom after the ex-
plosion happened. is also now among
the list OF dead OF those in the mine
ell are probably dead.
The first warning of the explosion
was the sudden rumble underground,
and then 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 this city, where
two of them have since died.
AS soon as the rumble of the ex-
plosion and the crash at the pit mouth
startled the little village, the wives
and children of the men below rushed
to the scene of the disturbance, but to
gain no encouragement. There was
no way to get into the deep workings
The cages that let the men into the
mines and brought them out again
when the days work was done were
both demolished. There were calls for
assistance and for surgical aid from
the men in charge of the mine, and
some hours later the first attempt at
rescue was made. This was a failure,
as the two men who volunteered were
driven back by the foul air.
Selwln M. Taylor and one of his
uooASIcAIo t11Oh LUZ Tie cuSE
neer to lower them into the shaft
Taylor is still down there. Three
times efforts have been made to reach
him, but so far without avail. Thomas
Wood, one of the first of the rescue
party hauled to the surface. said that
Taylor was overcome by gas and fell
and that he was compelled to fee for
his life.
After further efforts to reach the en-
tombed miners Robert North and
Michael Cain of the rescue party came
to the surface and reported that Sell
wyn Taylor had been found alive, and
that seventy-fve of the miners had
been located, the majority of them, it
is believed. alive.
The report of the rescuers to the
effect that many were alive was rudeiy
shattered wher the body of Selwin
Taylor was later brought to the sur
face. He had evidently been dead for
several hours and now hopes for the
other imprisoned men have been aban-
doned. The rescuers 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 of ice and max
ing the work of rescue almost impos-
sible. After damp is collecting in
quantities.