Milford chronicle., 1904-01-29
so MEN ENTOMBED
IN COAL NINE
plOsiOn in Harwick Workings at
Cheswick, Pa
ARE PROBABLY DEAD


TO- fnes and passageways of the Harwick
mine of the Allegheny Coal company
at Cheswick, the result of terrific ex-
piosion. Cage after cage has gone down
into the mine and come to go up again,
AL Bit only one miner Of all those that
vent down to work has been brought 10
's5 tfe surface. The rescued man is
al. Adolph Gunis, and he is still in a semi
conscious condition at the temporary
~ fespitaI at the rude school mouse on
'E the hillside above the mine
In addition to the miners who were
ct 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
warming and breathing spell, that
selwyn NJ. Taylor, the Pittsburg min
ing engineer, who plotted the mine,
IN snd who was the first to reach the bot
tom after the explosion happened, is
ii also now among the list Of dead.
" OF those in the mine all are prob
ably dead.
The explosion occurred early in the
, morning, and the first warning was
the sudden rumble underground, and
= then a sheet of fame followed up the
deep shaft. Both mine cages were hurl-
ed through the tipple, 90 feet above the
landing stage, and the three men on
> The tipple were hurled To the ground
Al mule was thrown high above the
Al shaft and fell dead on the ground, The
injured men were brought at once to
fhis city, where two of them have died
. since.
AS soon as the rumble of the rexplo-
d sion and the crash at the pit mouth
Startled the little Vil2age, the wives and
children Of the men below rushed to
n the scene of the disaster 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 de-
moished.
All day long there was "a jam of
wailing women and children waiting
about the mouth of the pit There
were calls for assistance and for. sur
gical aid from the men in charge Of
the mine. but it was not until eight
hours after the explosion that the first
attempt at rescue was made. This was
q failure, as the two men who volun-
teered were driven back by the foul
air.
Sewyn NJ Taylor and enc of his IS
sistants then signaled for the enei-
neer to lower them into the shaft Mr..
Wood, one Of the first of the rescue
party hauled to the surface, told his
story of the "trip through the mine.
He said:
q was with Taylor, and we clam
hered over three or four falls. Taylor
laid out the mine and seemed to know
the way. There was one man alive at
the foot of the shaft He was sent mp. !
and then we tnOk the mule path on in
to the south lEVel, where we saw two |
men who we've alive, and notified those |
back Of US and then went on We |
passed the third fourth and fifth head
ing, and then through an overdrift in
to the air shaft l began to feel dizzy !
and sick and then / saw Taylor stagger |
and fall. His lantern fell. l tried to |
lift him up. bBt could not carry him. !
and l made my own way TO safety"
Early this morning the res
cuers came to the surface and an
nounced that Selwyn Taylor and from
30 to IS miners had been found. Mr.
Taylor, who WIS dead, was brought
up in the frst bucket Rescuer
North, Who went down with Mr.. Taylor
on the first trip and came back with
young Gunia, remembered on his sec
Ond trip the route Taylor had planned
to take. He followed this, and dis
covered the engineer in room "B, D." near
the south entrance. and with him. the
80 or 75 others, all dead
During this afternoon 16 men went
down into the shaft to do the work OF
bratticing bolstering, tunneling and
removing the debris that has so far
barred their progress into the workings
where the men were at labor when the
explosion came. Their shift was sup
posed to be of three hours only. Even
at that it was a hard task. Even be-
fore the bucket reached the bottom
they were drenched with water, which
the cold draught through the shaft
soon turned to ice.
Shortly after they were let down,
two at a time, in the bucket tenn
porary hoist that had been rugged up
to bring the debris and the dead, was
started down the shaft Then came
the snow and the cold and the wind, ,
and again efforts were made to reach
the living men at the bottom of the
shaft. but the wooden sides of the ,
hoist. swollen by the water, stuck to
the iron guide slide. and then came s
hours of manOeuvering to reach the
bottom. The men below had no 2
means of warmth and many of them ,
were standing in deep water Every {
effort was made to lower the cage, and {
finally it was loosened and got within I
12 feet of the bottom. A timber,
blown across the way by the explosion
was in the path. The men were with
in easy reach of a rope, but their fin
gers, numbed and almost frozen by The
cold, were unable to grasp the offered