The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-01-26
FATE IN THE
BALANCE
Two Hundred Men Entombed
in Harwick Mine.
ONLY ONE RESCUED.
Brave Attempts at Rescue FOiIcd
by Deadly Gases and
Driven Back.
ONLY ONE RESCUED.

PITTSBURG. Jan. 26.-From a.. that
can be gathered at this hour between
$50 and 100 men are lying dead in the
headings and passageways Of the Har-
wick mine of the Allegheny Coal COM
pany at Chaswick, the result of a ter
rife explosion. 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 has been
brought to the surface. The rescued
man is Adolph Gunia and he is still in
a semiconscious condition at the tenn
porary hospital at the rude schoolhouse
on the hillside above the mine.
Selwyn Taylor, a well known expert
mining engineer Of this city, who plot
ted the mine and who headed the first
rescuing party to enter the mine, was
overcome by gas while cropping his way
through the tunnels and is dead. His
body was brought to the surface three
or four hours afterward. The men
with him barely escaped with their
lives. Three tihes efforts were made
to rescue Mr.. Taylor, but without avail.
When the explosion occurred the first
warning was a sudden rumble under
ground, and then a sheet Of fame fol-
lowed up the deep shaft. Both mine
cages were hurled through the tipple.
twenty 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 injured men
were brought at once to this city, where
two of them have since died
AS soon as the rumble OF the explo-
sion 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 encouragement 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 demol-
isbed
The explosion occurred at $40 O'Clock
In the morning Mt the bottom of one of
the shafts, presumably caused by fire
damp. 1t was 4 o'clock in the after
noon before It was possible to make
the first attempt at rescue. Robert
North. and Jack Mccain, one Of the
engineers 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, 220
feet deep, was made useless by the ex-
plosion, which hurled both cages, one
of which was within thirty feet of the
bottom Of the shaft, through the tipple,
thirty feet above the surface.
Shortly after o'clock a temporary
rigging had been put in place over the
mouth Of the main shaft and a small
bucket capable OF carrying three men
fastened to the tackle The first try
with the new rig was made by Selwyn
Taylor, the mining engineer who had
been summoned from Pittsburg, and
an assistant. j. NJ. Rayburn.
There was a call for volunteers to aid
in the work of rescue and call for
hammers, nails and brattice cloths TO
enable the rescuers to brace up the
so that they can grope their
way back to where the men were at
work when the Srash came. The little
village of Harwick that surrounds the
mining workings, two miles back from
the West Pennsylvania railroad, had
been horror stricken all day. The wives
and relatives of the entombed men
have crowded about the entrance to the
pit, beseeching for news of the loved
ones below, but only to meet with the
same answer, ave do not know yet; If
we find him. we will send him home"
Shortly after this Selwyn NJ. Taylor
and one Of his assistants slgnaled for
the engineer to lower away. 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:
"I was with Taylor, and we clam
bered over three or four falls. Tay- |
lor 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 |