The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1904-01-27


= 2n5 vasn r. -cAej home fo1nd
bunch OF telsEraas4 telling me OF
this disaster. The mine was inspect
I'd. think, aboul the LIST Of December.
There was some gas in It then, but
never considered the mine dangerous.
The last inspection blank hanging
on the nail in the mine company's Of
ice is dated July II. 1903, but it IS
o7ident that a later report has been
torn eff Among the rescue party
now in the mine. in addition 10 Inspec'
tor Cunningham, are Jack Mccain.
Fob North. Robert Carney, Henry
Becker, Robert Gibson and William
Walkenerst. An additional party Of
20 has just gone down.
Three Of the rescuers, Becker,
Smith and Walkenerst, when they re.
turned to the surface declared that
all in the mine outside of the rescue
PARTY are dead, including Taylor, the
engineer.
Manager Schuetz has telegraphed
OF Chief Mine Inspector Roderick at
Harrisburg as follows: Two outside
men dead OF injuries. But one brought
cut of shaft who is still living. Res
cuing party in mine, including Mine
Inspector Cunningham, who will adj
wise later
H. F. Hutchinson, who gave out the
lamps te the miners before they went
10 work in the pit. said:
"At tbs o'clock. the time when
every one is supposed to be at work
at the mine. had given out between
$50 and 100 lamps. That was one
lamp TO a man"
did any of these lamps come back?'
Not one"
There is a light in every cottage In
the little hamlet above the pit mouth.
There Is still crowd about the mouth
of the shaft, but 1t will probably be
hours before the full extent OF the
catastrophe is known.
The first attempt at rescue was
made at o'clock by Robert North
and Jack Mccain. one of the en-
gineers employed by the company,
who tried to get into the mine by way
of the stairs through the air shaft.
They managed to grope their way
some distance, but were finally driven
back by the foul air.
The main shaft. into the mine, 220
feet deep, was made useless by the
explosion, which hurled both cages,
one of which was within 80 feet of the
bottom of the shaft, through the tip
-. oh trfa
Shortly after o'clock temporary
rigging had been put in place over the
mouth of the main shaft and small
bucket capable of carrying three men
fastened to the tackle The first try
with the new rig was made by Selwyn
NJ. Taylor, the mining engineer, who
had been summoned from Pittsburg,
and an assistant. J. NJ. Rayburn.
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 en-
CINE began to unro. and the two en-
gineers disappeared.
Still there was no sound from the
depths below except the occasiona!
shout from the men in the bucket to
stop while they tested the air. Then
the cage. reached the bottom. There
was a silence of full 40 minutes and
then came the summons to haul Ut
slowly. When the cage reached the
top Rayburn was there and with him
was Adolph Gunia, still alive, but
gasping for breath and evidently serj.
ously injured.
Again the cage went down into the
darkness, and this time 1t carried with
1t E. Taylor, an assistant of Selwyn
Taylor, and also Robert North and
J. Mccain, who had made the first
attempt.
There was also a call for volunteers
to aid in the work of rescue and a
call for hammers, nails and brattice
cloths to enable the rescuers to brat
tice up the headings so that they can
grope their way back to where the
men were at work.