Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1904 — ENTOMBED IN A MINE. [ARTICLE]

ENTOMBED IN A MINE.

I'ixplosion Causes Disaster in Pennsylvania Coal Shaft. Between 125 mid 150 men were entombed Monday by mi explosion in the shaft of the Harwick Coni Company near Cheswick, Pn. Many were killed by the explosion or suffocated by gas. About 200 men are employed at the mine, 150 working inside and the remainder on the tipple. The men on the tipple were badly burned by the explosion. With a loud report mid an upheaval like an earthquake the woodwork of the tipple was destroyed. The walls of the shaft wore tilled with debris, rocks and earth, shutting off nil menus of escape for those in the mine. . The mine is one mile from Cheswick mid was opened about two years ago. The company is allied with the Allegheny Coni Company, mid it is said was operated by Cleveland capitalists. Superintendent Sheets telephoned to J. It. Morris, iimnuger of the I’ittsbfirg'Tool uml Drop Forge Company nt Cheswick, for assistance, mid the works there were closed and the entire force <Yf men, numbering seventy-live, was sent to the scene. The shaft was 220 feet deep. In the inside of the mils' the headings had not been made more than half a mile. The scene at the mouth of the pit was pitiable. Htllidreds of wives and children surrounded the shaft, crazed .with grief, awaiting the entombed men. •', Whether the explosion occurred at the far extremity of the mine mid the concussion killed the men or whether it occurred nearer the shaft ami imprisoned them wns not known. Half a dozen men working near the nviuth of the pit on the tipple were caught iu the wreckage As soon ns ho heard of the accident Superintendent George Sheets telephoned to Cheswick ’nnd Springdale for assistnnec. Gangs of workmen were sent in response and physicians hurried to the scene to take .care of the lijitred. Cheswick is a small town about fifteen miles north of Pittsburg