Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-01-29
LIVES ARE LOST
IN A COLL|ERY
Awful Result Of Explosion In q
Pennsylvania Mine.

e~A ANSeoAs Va 0AkAVoAvA ~
Pennsylvania Mine.
SCORES OF MEN ENT0MBED
1eseuing Parties Fail In Their Eff
1erts to Save-It Is Feared That
Between $50 and 400
Are Dead.
Pittsburg, Pa, Jan. 26.-From all that
can be gathered at this hour between $50
and 1870 men are lying dead in the head
ings and passageway Of the Harwick
mine of the Allegheny Coal company at
Cheswick, the result Of terrific explo-
sion 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 this morning has been
brought to the surface. The rescued
man 10 Adolph Gunia and he is still in q
semi-conscious condition at the tenn
porary hospital at the rude school house
on the hillside above the mine. In adj
dition to the miners who were at 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 a warming
and a breathing spell, that Selwyn M.
Taylor. the Pittsburg mining engineer,
who plotted the mine and who was the
ilrst to reach the bottom after the ex-
plosion happened, is also now among the
list Of dead. OF those in the mine all are
probably dead.
The Explosions.
The explosion occurred at s: 20 o'clock
Monday morning and the first warning
was the sudden rumble underground,
and then q 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
1ured men were brought at once to this
city, where two Of them have died since.
As soon as the rumble Of the explosion
and the crash at the pit mouth startled
the little village, the wives and children
of the men below rushed to the scene
Of the disaster, but to gain no encourage
ment. 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 demolished.
All day long there was a jam of wait
ing women and children waiting about
the mouth Of the pit There were calls
Tor assistance and for surgical aid from
the men in charge OF the mine, but 1t was
not until four o'clock this afternoon
that the first attempt at rescue was
made. This was failure, as the two
men who volunteered were driven back
by the foul air.
Tayler Probably Dead.
Shortly after I'VE. Selwyn M. Taylor
and one OF his assistants signalled for the
engineer to lever them into the shaft.
Taylor 10 still down there. Three times
Efforts have been made to reach them.
but 30 far without avail. Thomas Wood,
one Of the first OF the rescue party hauled
10 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 nou-
fed those back Of US and then went on.
We passed the third. fourth and nftn
heading and then through an overdrift
into the air shaft. Ibegan 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"
All Dead.
Three Of the rescuers, Becker, Smith
and Walkernerst. when they returned to
i the surface declared that, In their opin-
ion. all in the mine outside Of the rescue
! party are dead, including Taylor, the en-
gineer. H. F. Hutchinson. who gave out
the lamps tothe miners before they went
to work In the pit this morning. said:
TAT 1880 o'clock, the time when the
whistles blew and when everyone IL
supposed to be at work at the mine,
had given out between $50 and 100 lamps.
THAT was one lamp to mani"
Eyes"
"Did any Of those lamps come backi'
mot one"
There ID 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 be-
fore the full extent Of the catastrophe ID
/, known.