The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-11-08
n I {! !l.! Il IS
IN REILLY ZINE
Shaft Cleared by Rescuers
After Hours OF Horror.
81 A1E l.! HOSPITAL
Last of Dead Found Near End of
Main Heading 1900 Feet From Foot
of Shaft.

of Shaft.
Spangler, Pa. Nov. S.-The last of
the men who We're in the Reilly mine
When blast of the lethal fire damp"
sent death stalking through the corri-
doris below ground. has been brought
forth to the light Of day, the last of
those who lived through the awful
experience has been rescued, and the
casualty list Of one Of Pennsylvania
worst mine catastrophes stands com
pleted.
Seventy-five dead.
Twenty-six miners, brought forth
alive. but still receiving treatment in
the hospital here from the effects of
the asphyXiatirg white damp or the
soaring flames.
Eight of the half 4 thousand WHO
fastened to the work Of rescue, them
selves in the hospital, recovering from
the fumes.
John +. Reilly, one of the owners
Of the mines, issued the list of the
casualties to TIE miners. The hes
pital LISTS include these of the eight
reScUerS
Mr.. Heil!y's figures show there were
101 men in The mine when the eXplo-
son occurred. OF these, almost eE-
actiy one-quarter were brought oGt
alive, and none died in the hospital.
lil the rest were dead when they
EIere found by lie l~scg;ers braTin2
lie @:ses, th2 possibility of another
explosion and the .ncEace of the ever
rising waters as the pumps ceased
working.
The recovery Of the bodies of the
last score was most difficult, for they
were nearly 1905 feet from the foot
Of the HinetE-eight foot shaft of the
mine. in the furtleSt "cross-headings"
10 the left Of Tie long main head"
. which burrows lo-cat3I 4 noun: ain
But there was always the possibility
! some of those vet Cnf0und might still
be living i'll IL =" far chambers. and
! the courageous men in their ponder
Gus thirty-siX pound oxygen helmets,
working where there was no air that
! man can breathe and live, never abat-
ed their haste.
One by one the dark-stained masses
that had once hoe,. men came Jerking
upwards III H. {. c cage Tat
bounced up and down in the well of
death. Shorter and shorter grew the
lists of those unaccounted for until
the last of the bodies rose.
Until this bitter end the crowd at
the mines mouth waited, that crowd
of hooded, handkerchiefed women and
grimy men in rough boots and shaggy
caps which had begun its death-watch
, so soon after the whistle blew for the
days start Monday
All day long the crowd had Shud-
| dered and drawn back after the sharp
| surge forward that marked the APP
pearance ! of the rising cage, as the
| Shrill wall of some watcher told that
she had ceased to be a watcher. and
| become a mOurner.
| Now, when the word went round
| that Mr.. Reilly, the Big Boss, had an
| nounced there was no more hope and
| no more death in the ground beneath
! their feet, the crowd broke up. The
| units Of lamentation. plodding over
! the rugged half mile of ground to the
| little hamlet of Spangler, there to
weep with children, and brothers and
sisters within their snacks.
Most of the dead brought forth per-
iShed painlessly, in the silent suffocat-
ing grasp Of the deadly white damp
1 - 4l,o
explosion, probably around the second
or fourth cr0ss-headings, were burned
or hurled to death against the rock.
Some were drowned when the pumps
ceased to work and tie water rose in
| the hollOwS of the mine.
| During the night, little effort was
; made to bring forth the dead. The
I dead can wait, is the grim philosophy
of the mines, while yet there is a
! chance to save the possibly living. So
bodies lay piled like cordwood about
the foot of the ninety-eight foot shaft
, as the two 'cages" sped up and down,
| carrying down rescuers, carrying up
the rescued.
The charred and blackened bodies
! came up in stretcherS hung in brack-
Il cts on the coal cages. Handled, per-
! force, like sacks of Scoal, they were
| wrapped in burlap, tossed in the back
of truck, and jolted half a mile over
| muddy roads to the Miners Hall.
A little distance off in Spangler
Hospital, most of the thirty-four who
| We're brought up living from the hell
that was underground, lie painting
upon cots as nurses with oxygen in
halators labor to fan back to full
strength the spark of life that was SO
| nearly Quenched as the afterdamp
rolled through the dark corridors be-
! low.