The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-12-23
MINE EXPLOSION BUR|ES
ONE HUNDRED MEN
Accident Near Pittsblrg Followed
Inspection of Model Workings.
VICTIMS BADLY MUTILATED
Great Buckets Filled With Dead Bod.
les Drawn Up From the Agnes
and Rachael Shafts of P~ittsburg-
Buffalo Coal Company's Mine.

Mariana, Pa.-Great buckets filled
with dead bodies, mutilated and dis
membered, are being drawn up from
the bowels of the Agnes and Rachael
shafts of the Pittsburg-Bufalo Coal
Company's mine, in which a terrific
explosion entombed at least 1873 min
ers. Identification is practically i'm
possible, for of thirty-eight bodies, or
what seem to be that number, recov-.
cred on the day after the disaster,
severed heads, arms and legs are SO
mixed that there can be no absolute
surety about a single feature or form.
Just one living man has been
brought from the awful pit alive. He
is Henry Arnold, a track layer, but
so dazed and helpless Is he that he
cannot yet tell the awful tale Of his
escape from the explosion and sufo-
eating fumes that followed
By a strange fate, the one body
that has been positively Identified
Is that of John Iville, Jr., first cousin
of John H. Jones, president OF the
coal company. He was a fayorite
with his millionaire kinsman, al
though employed In the comparative
ly humble task of timekeeping.> He
was aged twenty-three and was mar
ried only two weeks ago. Death came
through suffocation, his body being
the single exception in the way OF
mutflation.
. The rescue of Arnold was dramatic.
It was about 10 O'Clock a. m. when q
shout was heard at the mouth of the
shaft that there was a living man be-
low. There was a rush for the safety
helmets, and with these and a
stretcher a rescue party was lowered
away in the bucket, the men,buckling
on the helmets as they descended.
Z It was nearly nalf an hour before
the party re%appeared with the form
Of a man who proved to be Arnold.
He had been found on his feet In the
mine, and when asked what he was
doing there muttered that he was
Just walking around.
After reaching the mouth of the
: mine he became unconscious, but re-
viyed slightly after he was carried
ON a stretcher to the nearby power
house. e.
How he came to. survive puzzles
old miners. The fact encourages the
hope that others are alive, but of this
the most experienced express doubt.
Several times during the day it was
said about the mouth OF. the Shafts
that another explosion was imminent.
Each time there was a panic rush on.
the part Of the crowd, while others
Historically shouted down the shafts
to warn the rescuers.
Those whofremained longest at the,
pit, despite these alarms were the.
wives, mothers, sisters and children
IF the entombed miners. Some wept;
some screamed, some moaned and
drew as. near the edge as they dared,
hoping and praying, as, the big iron
bucket came up, that 1t would bring
the glad news Of others rescued alive.
All day long the officials and en-
ployes of the company were ~unsparing
In their efforts to search and bring to
the surface every miner dead or alive.
who was known to have been at work
when the xplosion occurred. 1
Near young Iyille's body another
was found. The victim had placed
his face in a pool of water, as all min.
ers are advised to do when an ezplo.'
sion occurs, in the hope of escaping
suffocation until rescued. SIC,
It is estimated that one-fourth OF
the victims were Americans. Z.
Experts from Pennsylvania and
! West Virginia are in charge of the
work of exploration, and they are be.
ing materially assisted by ]. W. Paul
and Clarence Hall, Of the United
States experimental and testing sta.
lion. -.