The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1922-11-07
Coal Mine
W Wrecked by
Fifiy.fiye Of Miners Caught in
Pennsylvania Pit Unac.
counted for: Ia Taken
to Hospitals
Others Believed Alive

Spanglcr. PA. Nov 6--(Ry a Pl--
Fiftylve of the 20 miners who went
down into the Reilly mine Of tho
Reilly Conl company here this morn.
ing. few minutes before the work.
ings were torn by an explosion. were
unaccounted for when the rescue
crews came M the shaft at 9 tonight
twenty-five, they said. probably had
| been killed and IA had been taken to
a hospital.
Hope that some Of the missing men
were stil alive was reflected in re.
ports which came TO the surface that
n brattlce had been built Of old tim.
bers by the miners after the explosion
cut off part OF No 5 heading TO the
left OF the main entry.
| Look behind this wall" had been
burned In a smooth place on timber
by an acetylene lamp Knowing that
experienced miners would take every
means TO help their rescuers. this
startling sentence was taken TO mean
that the men were still alive.
Fear Poison Gas.
But no attempt was made 10 tear
down the bratt!ce for the main en-
tries were filed with gas and United
States bureau OF mine engineers
feared that such a course would send
the deadly poison where the men, al.
ready weakened by hours OF anxiety
and unprecedented by oxygen helmets.
were hidden.
Ii will take O short time TO have
the entries cleared OF gas, and then,
they said, the brattlce would be de.
molished. They determined upon this
course after one Of their canary birds,
taken with them from Pittsburgh, had
died in the foul air
AT another point In the mine q
heavy fall Of slate had completely
clogged the entry. Back OF It, res-
cuers declared, they could hear voices
and they were hopeful that they
would find some OF the entombed men
alive, although they received no an
ewer TO repeated calls.
Rescuers Making Progress.
Rescue forces were made up OF
skilled miners from Spangler and
vicinity in charge Of engineers from
and the mine rescue crew of the Cam
bria Steel company, which arrived
here early this afternoon. They
worked increasingly in short relays.
bratticing the workings so as TO con-
troll the gas and admit the pure air
tint nm
as to when the work would be COM
pleted, but each relay, as it came to
the surface, said they were making
progress.
Other volunteers gathered the dead
and injured which were scattered in
the workings not far from the foot
OF the shaft. The dead were placed in
a subterranean room and the injured,
swathed in blankets, were taken to
the surface There a first aid station
had been established by Spangler
physicians and the American Red
Cross.
Big Crowd Gathers.
The crowd which assembled almost
Immediately after the explosion, con-
tinued to grow until at nightfall al
most the entire population of SpanEler
and of the surrounding mining vii.
lagos had assembled.
The drizZling rain which fell
throughout the day had no effect upon
the crowd. which included the wives
and children OF many Of the entombed
miners. Some OF them wept. but
others stood in stelid silence. closely
the cage each time II came
up tho shaft and occasionally think
ing they recognized the outlines of
familiar form They were 50 far
away. however. and the bodies We're
so carefully covered that recognition
was impossible
Mingling Ia the crowd We're the min.
sters from all tho churches OF Span
glsr and number from nearby
towns. Conspicuous were two Roman
Catholic priests, Father james pauld-
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