The Penn's Grove record., 1907-05-03
MINERS SAVED FROM
FLOODED COAL SHAFT
Starving ToIIers Rescued After
Hundred Hours of Agony.
FOUND BY HEROIC COMRADES
Tell Their Observation-Disclosures
on Food in Lunch Baskets and
Kept Only One Lamp Burning
In Exhausted Condition.

Johnstown, Pa.-The eve miners
who for five days have been impris-
oned in the innermost depths of the
flooded Berwind-White coal mine at
Foustwell were reached by two he
roic rescuers at 10 o'clock in the
night of the fifth day. All seven
were found alive and well, but suf-
fering terribly from thirst and the
darkness.
In the morning when the last of
the water had been pumped from
the mile of flooded tunnel that
blocked their way to safety, they
were led to the mouth of the shaft.
The names of the two men who
reached the entombed even will go
down in the history of mine heroism
as the "bravest of the brave" These
Ream. After one rescue party had
given up in despair they swan fifty
feet through the pitch-black tortuous
tunnel and dragged themselves upon
the ledge where the entombed min
ers sat. The rescuers were more
dead than the men to whom they
brought the hope of life.
When, two hours after the first he
roic swim, Ream, half conscious and
exhausted, staggered back to the
head of the shaft to bring news of
the rescue, such a roar of joy and
welcome went up from the anxious
crowd in waiting that the ground
trembled and the echoes carried for
miles.
Earlier in the day a first attempt
at reaching the entombed men had
been made by a party of four, head
ed by John Bolya, brother of Fore
man Bolya, one of the sever within
the mine. But the water was still
too high, and though Bolya, frenzied
with grief as he thought of his
brothers starvation, had desperately
dived in az attempt to swim beyond
the high water mark, his compan-
ions were forced to pull him back by
the rope they had tied around his
waist as a precaution, and return.
At that time the surface of the flood
reached the dome of the narrow shaft
in many spots along the mile of wind
ing length between the mouth and
the little eminence whereon the
seven imprisoned men sat waiting.
The return of this party empty
handed drove the thousands outside
half wild with grief and disappoint-
ment.
Efforts at pumping were then re-
doubled. At 10 o'clock the water
had so far gone down that it was re-
solved to make n more attempt to
break through to the overcast, where
it was believed the unfortunate men
were still alive.
Rodon and Ream volunteered for
the service. They made a dash
through fifty feet of water filled
heading. reached the starving men.
All sever were not only alive, but
well, though greatly exhausted from
their long confinement. They were
cheerful, too, despite the danger of
mental breakdown. In fact, it was
to ward off the phantoms threatening
them in the unfathomed gloom be-
yond the small space lighted by their
lamp that they kept up their spirits.
The rescuers swan under water for
many feet to get to them, and when
they arrived in the air chamber
where the captives waited for help,
they for the moment were in worse
plight than the men they had braved
all to save. For the were
half drowned by their protracted sub
mersion, whereas the other men were
singing with forced gayety when the
dramatic reunion under ground oc-
Cured.
The entombed miners were sup
piled with abundance of food for
days through the forethought of their
leader, Michael Bolya, the contractor
in charge of the heading swept by
the flood. When the water surged
around the seven, mounting from
knees to hips and reaching for their
Threats, Bolya shouted to his COM
panions to save their luncheon bas-
kets. Half consciously they obeyed
him. They needed no admonition
from him to keep their lights dry.
That they did automatically, with the
instinct of their kind.
The rescued men are: Michael
Boyla, John Howard, John Cones,
Stephen Ballard, George and John
Meka and Michael Petre.