Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-02-03
MANY MINERS ENTOMBED
BY TERRIFIC EXPLOSION
Nearly Two Hundred Buried in a Pennsyl
vania ColIiery, Most of Whom Are
Thought to Be Dead-Fifteen
Killed in Colorado

Pittsburg, Jan. 28.-Three days have
elapsed since the terrible catastrophe at
the Harwick mine of the Allegheny Coal
company and at midnight II bodies have
been recovered and brought to the sur
face Only 18 of these have been identi-
fed. The Allegheny Coal company in
an official statement positively admitted
that all of the men who were in the mine
when the explosion occurred are dead.
There are III names on the list which
does not include Selwyn M. Taylor, or
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
Wednesday morning.
The Explosion.
The explosion occurred at s: 20 o'clock
Monday morning and the first warning
was the sudden 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
A mule was thrown high above the shaft
and fell dead on the ground. The in
jured men were brought at once to<this
city, where two of them have died since.
All day long there was jam of wait
ing 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 four o'clock this afternoon
that the first attempt at rescue was
made. This was a failure, as the two
men who volunteered were driven back
by the foul air.
Story of u Rescuer.
Shortly after five, Selwyn M. Taylor
and one of his assistants signalled for the
engineer to lower them into the shaft.
Taylor is still down there. Three times
efforts have been made to reach them,
but so far without avail Thomas Wood.
one of the first of the rescue party hauled
to the surface, told his story of his trip
through the mine. He said: Il was with
Taylor and We clambered 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 up and then we took the
mule path into the south level. We
saw two men who were alive and mott
fed those back of us and then went or.
We passed the third, fourth and fifth
heading and then through an overdrift
into the air shaft. began to feel dizzy
and sick, and then saw Taylor stagger
and fall. His lantern fell. We tried to
lift him up, but could not carry him up,
and made my own way to safety"
Little Hope for Men.
The last hope for the lives of any
of the men was given up Tues
| day when George w. Scheetz, man.
ager of the mine, admitted that he
believed that not one of them would
be brought up alive. Now the cry is
for more men to come to the work OF
rescue. Volunteers are needed to
work back through the debris to where
the miners are imprisoned, and where
possibly some may have managed to
survive the explosion that wrecked
the mine Monday morning.
Believes All Are Dead.
F. w. Cunningham, inspector of
| mines for the Fourteenth district, Penn
| sylvania, made this statement as he
came from the mine: Il explored the