The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-22
"A MIRACULOUS RESCUE How An Imprisoned Miner Was Fed, Clothed
 And Saved

The complere story of the rescue of Thomas Trsncsky, the miner whose was imprisoned for nearly eight days by a fall of coal in the mammoth Ve;n c= the Continental Coihery Of the Ae- high Valley Coal company at cen tralia, Pa, has not yet been toIo. Al one time, two days after he was inn prisoned, he had a clear way, twenty feet from liberty, but his courage failed In the course of the work ir favor of which al; other work Wh5 naturally suspended, a blacksmith shop was set up to sharpen the DICKS d telephone line was extended a mile and a half to the breach from which the miners were tunneltn5. and a oe- terrnined attempt was made to install an air compressor and an oil engine in the rocky bottom Of the breach The progress of the work, the 1ngen- ious devices by means of which all of Toshesky's necessities, even to dry clothing and a carpet for the wet floor, were supplied through two inch pipe, and the talk of the man himself with his rescuers all com bine to make thrilling story. It Is twenty-five years since a man has thus been. rescued alive after so long an Imprisonment in the darkness of a mine.
 How Anthracite Coal Is Mined
 For the sake of the safety of the mine workers 1t is possible to extract only about forty per cent of the coal now in the ground. The method uni versally in vogue is to run gang ways, or tunnels. through the veins, and then extract the coal from cham bers branching off from. the gang ways. Between the chambers solid spaces of coal, called pillars, are left to sustain the roofs of the gangways and chambers, which are also sup ported by timbers wherever necessary. After as much coal has been extracted as the miners assisted by ordinary .1aborers can safely take away, the work of taking a little more, or rob bing the pillars is taken up by ex- perienced miners who know how to take every precaution to protect them selves
 This work is not as easy as it sounds, as the chambers often pitch at acute angles to the gangWays- When the chambers are being ex- cavated the work is done inward at thief ace, or breast, of the chamber. When the pillars are being robbed the work Is done from the extreme end next to the breast of the chamber out ward. and the coal robbed from the pillars falls into the chamber. A small space at one side of the cham ber Is always timbered in as far as the breast in order to furnish the miner a safe road for ingress and egress- The wisdom of this is ob- vious when one considers that the chambers may pitch at an angle of as much as 75 degrees, and the coal blown away from the pillars comes rumbling down toward the gangway.
 How The Accident Happened
 On the morning of Friday, Sep tember 26, Thomas Toshesky, 3S years old, and Thomas Mckinley, his '."sbud- die" both experienced miners, were robbing pillars in the mammoth vein of the Continental Co11iery at Centra- Ha. Pa The vein is four feet thick, and pitches at an agle of 45 degrees, to the gangway whic his 200 feet be- low ground The two men lit the fuse to fire a "shot'' or charge of dynamite, and crawIed rapidly down the manway to stand at safe dis tance in the gangway until 1t had ex- ploded. Immediately after the exp1o- sion Toshesky, contrary to rules, went up the manway to tumble the loosen ed coal out into the, chamber. His more prudent and better disciplined companion refused to accompany him until the prescribed period of time ac- cording to mine rules had elapsed No sooner had Toshesky traversed the 70 or TO feet to the top of the chamber when there was a groan and a rum ble of the coal, and the adjacent pill lar. loosened by the shot, moved over and filled up the chamber and also
 
 side. and Toshesky was cut off in a small space left at the top. McGin- ley ran wildly to summon aid.
 The Rescue
 The first effort of the hastily sum- moned rescue squad was to clear the manway. All that day and the fol- lowing day men worked frantica11y passing timbers up the narrow way to strengthen it as they cleared away the 1oosened coal By Sunday morn ing they were near enough for Tos- hesl<y to comed own little way and actually talk to his rescuers. Even as did so the pillar moved and groaned again and he fled back to the top of the manway. His intrepid fellows, taking their lives in their hands, con- tnued to burrow up the manway un- til the way was actually clear! They summoned him to come down, begged, entreated. impIored, even threatend, but his nerve broken by the two pre- vious movements of the pillar To- shesky refused to leave the eompara- tive safety of the top. Eager voIun- teers urged the officials to let them go up and drag him out, but the latter to further endanger addition al lives. At this crisis the coal in the pillar groaned and moved again. The chance was gone, and Toshe es1y was once more shut in- If he had seized the moment he would have been spar ed the ensuing week of agonized sus- pense.
 All that night a man was kept l climbing up and down, up and down l the remaining free space in the man way while another patrol cease1essIy | walked the gangway, both listening | with trained attention for the first | sound of a fresh movement of the 1 pitching coal It came, and l during the night the whole manway was closed up again, leaving Toshes- ky in a space by 15 feet. Further | efforts in this direction were obvious l Iy futile and dangerous. The at- | tack must be made from the outside 1
 The next chamber to that in which | Toshesky was imprisoned had caved | In from the top near the surface, 1eav- I,r,