The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1911-10-24
twelve MEN DROWN
IN HIBERNIA MINE
Wall Gives Way and Mine
Shaft Flooded By Water.

Twelve men were drowned IN lne
Hibernia mine Thursday night when
supporting timbers gave way and let
water from an abandoned shaft flood
q new working. There were sixty
men in the mine when the accident
happened and all but twelve sue
ceeded in reaching the skip level
and from thence getting above ground
by means of the skip The bodies
of the twelve dead have not yet been
recovered and they are at depth
Of 1900 feet, The dead are:-Joe
Swenty, George Collick, David Slaight,
Andrew Muskoscheck, John Mananista,
Paul Ketra, Joseph Swingidr. Michael
Nojac, Michael Compus, Stephen
Mida, George Kormus and Joseph
, Floskunka,
Inc mine is about four miles from
RooEaway and is owned by the Whar-
top Steel Co. A new shaft was re-
Gently started near an abandoned
working and blast may have loos-
ened the timbers supporting the sides
of the new shaft permitting the water
to pour in from the old NINE
Pumps have been put at work to
remove the water from the shaft SO
that the bodies can be recovered.
The water in the Hibernia mine has
been lowered fourteen feet since Fri
day noon. Pumps are at work IN
both the new shaft and the old mine
and the skip in the new shaft is also
utilized. The skip is steel bucket
approximately three feet square and
eight feet deep, AS there is about
750 feet of water in the shaft it may
take two months to remove the water
instead of two weeks, as prophesied
by the mine officials.
The twelve bodies are down i'll the
sink or bottom of the mlna, 1850
feet below the surface.
Prosecutor Charles A Rathhun has
been conducting an Investigator
through his county detective, Ed
Brennan Mr. Rathbun said that he
would take no official action against
the Wharton Steel Co., owner of the
1:ine, at present. Nothing can be
done, he said, until Coroner Edward
f. Totten has held an inquest and
The jury returned a verdict. AS the
inquest is held up until at least one
of ha bndioc il. racoyprad II NAV he
several weeks before the coroner may
move in the matter.
When asked if the October grand
jury would be reconvened to make an
investigation Mr. Rathbun said no.
A member of the grand jury is
Augustus Munson, the mine superin-
tendent. Mr.. Mnnson has been supe.s
intendent for thirty-three years.
Alexander Grau. Wandmayer, of the
Austro-Hungarian consul-generals of
flee, in New York, visited the scene
of the disaster Monday afternoon. He
said that he had called upon Prosecu-
tor Rathbun but denied having made
any demand for an investigation, as
serting that he was confident the
officials would do all the law permits
III the matter
His visit, he said, was for the pur-
pose of safeguarding the interests of
the widows and orphans left as a re-
suit of the disaster It was the pur-
pose of his government, he asserted,
to see that they were given proper
legal advice and everything done for
them that was possible.
Mr. Wandmayer found that seven of
the dead men had wives and families
in Hungary while the remainder lived
with their families at Hibernia. 1t
will be the duty of his government,
said Mr.. Wandmayer, to notify the
families of the drowned miners in
Hungary of the loss of their husbands
and fathers