The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-29

notified those back Of US and then
went N. We passed the third, fourth
and fifth headings and then through
an overdrift into the other shaft. I
began to feel dizzy and sick, and
then / saw Taylor stagger and fall.
His lantern fell. We tried to lift him.
but could not carry him up and 1
made my own way to safety"
F. w. Cunningham, the mine in
spector of the fourteenth district.
reached Hardwick about 1880. When
seen by an Associated Press reporter
just after his arrival he said:
Il went to Greensburg to inspect
a mine this afternoon and when I
reached home this afternoon I found
a bunch of kilograms telling me OF
this disaster. The mine where the
explosion took place was inspected.
1 think about the first of December.
There was some gas in there then,
but l never considered the mine
dangerous"
The last inspection blank hanging
on the nail in the mine company's
office is dated July 18th, 1908, but it
is evident that a later report has
been torn off.
Rescue Party i'm the Mine.
Among the rescue party now in
the mine, in addition to Inspector
Cunningham, are Jack McCann, Bob
North, Robert Carney, Henry Becker,
Robert Gibson, William Walkenerst.
An additional party of twenty has
just o M down.. Three of the res
cuers, Becker, Smith, and Walkenerst
when they returned to the surface
declared that in their opinion all in
the mine outside of the rescue party
are dead, including Taylor, the en-
gineer.
Late tonight Manager Sheetz tele-
graphed to Chief Mine Inspector J.
A. Roderfck at Harrisburg as fol-
lows:
Two outside men died of injuries
of shaft who is still living. Rescu-
ing party in mine, including Nine
Inspector Cunningham, who will ad-
wise later"
II. F. Hutchinson who gave out
the lamps to the miners before they
went to work in the pit this morning
said:
AT 7:15 o'clock, the time when
the whistles blew and when every
one is supposed to be at work at the
mine. I had given out between $50
and 100 lamps"
Yes"
Did any Of those lamps come
back
Not one"
There Is a light in every cottage in
the little hamlet above the pit mouth.
There is still a crowd about the
mouth of the shaft, but it will prob
ably be hours before the full extent
of the catastrophe is known
One of Greatest Tragedies in Years.
By an explosion in the Hardwick
mine of h Allegheny Coal Company
at Cheswick, Is miles from Pittsburg.
Western Pennsylvania, promises to
add one of h greatest tragedies of
years to the already long list OF mine
fatalities. Even the officials Of the
Allegheny Coal Company, the owners
OF the mine, do o know at this
time the number of men still en-
tombed in the chambers of the mine,
220 feet below the surface, ut a
conservative estimate places the num-
Der at 1874.
Even General Manager George
Scheetz of the coal company who is
in charge of the mine gives little
hope that many of the men will h.
brought to the surface. The first ray
Of hope that any of the men had es-
capped the tremendous conclusion of
the explosion. came at 6 o'clock to-
night when Adolph Gunia was
brought to the surface still living.
The explosion occurred at 500
o'clock this morning at the bottom
Of one of the shafts and was pre-
sumably caused by fire damp.
1t was 4 o'clock this afternoon be-
fore It was possible to make the
first attempt at rescue. Robert North.
Jack and Mccain one of the en-
gineers employed by the Allegheny
Coal Company tried to get into the
mine by way of the stairs through
the airshaft. They managed to grope
their way some distance, but were
finally driven back by the foul 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 tipple, thirty feet above the sur
face
The First Descent I'm The Shaft.
Shortly after 5 o'clock a
rigging had been put in place over
the mouth of the shaft, and a small
bucket. capable of carrying three
men fastened to the tackle. The first
try with the new rig was made by
SeiwYn Nj. Taylor. the mining en-
gineer. who had been
from Pittsburg and an assistant. J..
M. Rayhurn. a crowd of anxious
n2en 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