Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-21
PERILS OF A MINING TOWN
Pennsylvania Burg Sliding Into Absn-
doned Coal Mines.
SECTIONS HAVE TAKEN A TUMBLE
sample Instances Of the BOttom Drop
ping out Here and There and
Expense Of DodginE the
Hole.

veins, on which Scranton ana netghbor-
ing Pennsylvania towns are built, is in
a constant state Of disturbance. over
an area of hundreds Of square miles this
crust is only from ten to forty feet
thick, supported only by slender columns
of earth, coal, or wooden beams, too far
apart to make a substantial foundation.
The huge cavern beneath is never less
than twelve feet deep-but a downward
jolt Of twelve feet or a sidewise and
downward tumble Of twice that distance
is enough to demolish any building In ox-
istence.
Every time a building breaks through
the shock farther weakens the crust in
all directions.
The bottoms Of graves in Scranton
cemeteries have dropped out. Many of the
wells are dry, their contents having es-
capped downward into the deserted mines.
Is Scranton, oremost city OF the great
anthracite coal fields OF Pennsylvania in
point OF population, wealth and influ-
ence, doomed to destruction as a result
Of the anthracite coal operations?
The doom Of Scranton has long been
written, but never was the handwriting
on the wall seen standing out so boldly
as at the present moment. The city Is
in the throes Of unbeatable fear-a fear
paralleling the fear Of Frisco when shaken
to ruins by its quake-of collapsing and
topping to pieces at any moment from
end to end.
The warning Of what is coming was
sounded distinctly a few days ago, when
blocks of property valued at hundreds
Of thousands Of dollars in the most thickly
populated district sagged and broke in
an utter wreck which wiped out homes,
destroyed streets, and carried in its wake
woe to hundreds.
Cemetery Bottom Dropping out.
Fissures large enough to drive a team
of horses through zigzag the earth for
blocks leading from the school. The
homes have been abandoned. The school
building has been condemned. Four hun
dred children were attending the school,.
1t is easy to conceive what would have
happened had the cavern come during
class hours.
In a suburb of Scranton is a beautiful
cemetery, the largest burying ground in
the northeast corner of Pennsylvania.
Almost daily the stroke of the miners
picks against the mine roof cut through
and collins by the dozen drop into mine
workings.
More collins protrude into the mines to
drop through at the slightest jolt. Miners
who have worked under the cemetery say
there is no support left, and that soon the
whole of the graveyard will fall into the
about to be abandoned workings. Twelve
collins is the record for one fall, while 1t
is common for a single coffin to fall and
break open, scattering the bones of the
dead at the feet of a miner. A $50, 900 chapel
built for a receiving vault by Bishop Hoban
has required rebuilding as a result of un-
derground disturbances. 1t is again crack
ing.
In this cemetery is the tomb of John H..
Pallas, once park commissioner Of New
York City. Pallas' boyhood home was
Scranton, and there his body was shipped
to rest with those OF his kin gone before.
A magnificent marble mausoleum was
erected to his memory by subscriptions Of
New York friends, most Of them Pallas'
admirers in the ranks of labor which he
once led. On the dedication of the mauso-
leum excursion trains carried hundreds of
union labor men from New York TO the
cemetery.
The tomb is marked for early destruction.
Within a half hundred feet of it's base a
dozen assures have appeared in less than
two years. In each instance the assures
have more closely approached the mauso-
leum, and the next break in the surface,
or at latest the one after that, is bound to
wreck the beautiful marble monument All
coal directly under the tomb has been
removed, and nothing now supports it but
a twenty-two-foot layer Of earth, without
even a seam Of rock.
Women Drop From Sight.
st. Patrick's orphange, which gives shell
ter u 800 homeless children, is held to-
gether by iron strlngers and large bolts.
st. Patrick's church is sustained by SINH
lar bolts and rods. No. 80 school rests
on a few feet Of surface. This building,
too, has been held whole by iron bands.
Apparently Scranton is as solid as the
proverbial Muldoon, but almost daily
damage either slight or destructive. visits
some portion OF the city.
A family is at table. From the floor
comes a rumbling noise. The family knows
what this thunder means, The home is
doomed, They flee, and the house sinks
into a great hole.
Mrs. Harry Krigbaum left her home a
few days ago to visit a neighbor, Mrs.
Finch. Mrs. Krigbaum lives on Chestnut
avenue, near the wrecked school building.
AS she walked over the street, she stepped
close to a fissure. The ground opened
under Mrs. Krigbaum. She sank out of
sight. Neighbors fished her from the cave
and found she had a broken leg.
A few miles out Of the city the ground
caved at night along a railroad track.
A locomotive sped over the rails and
dropped into the opening. The engineer
went down with his engine. He was res.
cued from death from scalding steam, but
was permanently hurt. The engine was
hauled out, and the hole filled up. Rur
slow" signals were posted during the prop.
ping up Of the affected tract.
The disappearing well has been forgotten
as a once standard joke. All families one,
owned wells. There are no wells sine,
the miners pick pierced the roofs and lie
Nbe water into the mine. Wells went dry
while you waited. While you lowered
bucket the bottom had fallen out of IN,
well; but all this is old,
Real estate sharpers i'm collision with {
land agent OF a coal company, a few year,
ago. got hold OF hundreds Of acres Of fla.
land, which was plotted out and sold fI
home sites. The entire tract was under
mined. The sites were sold at fancy prices
and by the time the last of the lots haC
been marketed, great pot holes began [,
appear in the ground. Houses twisted OF
their foundations. Kitchen additions dis
appeared. leaving only the roofs exposed
Telegraph poles were brought into play 70