Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-02-04
AWFUL CALAMITY.
About 1870 Miners EntOmbed
at CheSwick, Pa.
An Explosion. Caused by FIredRmps
Wrecked Shaft OF Hardyick
Mine-Cages Hurled 200 Feet
Away-Kcscuing Parties
Find Many godIes.


Pittsburg, Jan. 26.-Between $50
and 100 men are lying dead in the
headings and passagcways of the
Iarwick mine of the Allegheny Coal
Co. at Cheswick, the result of ter
rifle explosion Monday. 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 in the morning has
been brought to the surface.
The explosion occurred at $50 a.
M. and the first warning was the sud-
den rumble underground, and then a
sheet of flame followed up the deep
shaft. Both mine cages were hurled
through the tipple, 20 feet above the
landing stage, and the three men on
the tipple were hurled to the ground.
Mr.. ScheetZ, the manager of the
mine, said: The explosion was ter
rifle. Both cages were blown from
the shaft, one of them a distance of
over 200 feet"
All day long there was a jam of
women and children waiting about
the mouth of the pit. There were
calls for assistance and for surgical
aid from the men in charge of the
mine, but it was not until 4 p. IN. that
the first attempt at rescue was made.
Pittsburg, Jan. 27.-Even the ele-
ments seem conspiring to prevent the
work of rescue at the Harwick mine.
Almost zero weather and bitter,
cruel wind late Tuesday afternoon
swept down over the little valley
where the mine is located and nearly
added another list of dead to the long
black table already measured off.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon 16
men went down into the shaft to do
the work of bratticing, bolstering,
tunnelfng and removing the debris
that has so far barred their progress
into the workings where the men
were at labor, when the explosion
came.
Shortly after they were let down,
two at a time in the bucket, a tenn
porary hoist that had been rugged up
to bring up the debris and the dead
was started down the shaft.
Then came the snow and the cold
and the wind again, 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 hours of man
euvering to reach the bottom.
1t was Q o'clock when the first
three men of the party who went
down at 3 o'clock were brought to the
surface. Not one of them was able
to walk, so numbed by the cold, and
then they told of the experience in
the mine below.
Henry Beckert, one of the first
men out of the cage, after 20 min
utes of warmth managed to say:
at was a frightful experience. The
cold and hunger-and no good that
we could do. We were too cold to
work. There is apparently no one to
rescue. We had a hard time to find
many of the dead. \ shred of cloth
ing here and another there, a jacket,
a pair of overalls; but few bodies.
when we left the bottom of the
shaft there were II bodies lying there
ready to be brought up. There are
many others there and the bodies of
many will never be found"
Pittsburg, Jan. 2S.-Three days
have elapsed since the terrible catas-
trophe at the Harwick mine of the
Allegheny Coal Co. and last night at
midnight II bodies had been recover
ed and brought to the surface. Only
IS of these have been identified
The Allegheny Coal Co. last night
in an official statement positively ad-
mitted that all of the men who were
in the mine when the explosion oc-
Cured are dead. There are III names
on the list, which does not include
Sclwyn NJ. Taylor. or either of the
two men who were on the tipple
above the mine shaft when the eXplo- |
sion came. Nor does the list include |
the name of Daniel Lysle, of Castle |
Shannon, whose body was found in
the mine yesterday morning. He was
one of the men who went down i'll |
the mine to work Tuesday night, but |
became separated from the rest and |
wandered far ahead of the air.