e bodies of John Waldman and Henry Mayhugh, two of the victims of the Cheswick mine disaster, who were brought to the top immediately after the explosion yesterday and succumbed to their injuries during the afternoon.
Try Rescue Again.
At 10 o'clock a volunteer rescue party of eight, accompanied by an inspector, swung down the shaft. An hour later another volunteer eight and another experienced inspector entered the cave of death while women, children and aged men, together with the anxious throng wait at the pit mouth tramping in the six inches of fresh fallen snow. The creaking of a cable pulley about the shaft is the signal for a rush towards the shaft but although the mine bucket has made many trips not one of the imprisoned miners have come out today. Bodies will soon come, however, rescue volunteers are now coming to the front fast enough. A squad of Pittsburg policemen now suround[sic] the pit mouth and they find a hard task in restraining the almost crazed relatives of the imprisoned miners upon whose countenances is deeply furrowed with agony born of love and suspense.
Last Hope Has Fled.
The last vestage of hope has fled and there will be no hurry now. Brattice the mine, close up the entries; protect the life that seeks the remains of the dead. These are the latest orders of the inspectors. The air in the mine is now pure; there shall be no more sacrifices. Word came from Inspector BELL who was in the mine at noon. The men are dead. They are piled against the north shaft. The explosion occurred near the south shaft. The north shaft is stuffed as solidly as if rammed with a mammoth ramrod, and human bodies form a large part of the wadding. There is no need of haste. The mine must be bratticed. The air must be kept pure. The rescuers must string out for when the barricks to the north shaft is broken through there will be an inrush of after damp.
Some time will be consumed in introducing the necessary precautions but it will not be long now until the heroic efforts led by intelligent and experienced men will gain its reward. It is possible that other rescuers will soon join those already in the mine. It is now reported that twenty bodies were found between the shaft bottom and the sixth entry; that many others have been located near the bottom of the shaft. A report also has it that none of the bodies will be brought to the surface until after night fall.
(from "The Fort Wayne News," Fort Wayne, Indiana Jan. 26, 1904.)
BRING BODIES TO SURFACE
Awful Scenes Are Enacted Today at the Mouth of the Hardwick Mine.
WORK OF RESCUE DIFFICULT
Ice and Water, Foul Air and After Damp Unite to Hinder the Workers.
REMAINS TERRIBLY MANGLED
Forms of the Loved Ones Waited for Are in Condition That Is Revolting.
CHESWICK, Pa., Jan. 27. -- We have sighted fifty-seven bodies in the mine, said inspector Cunningham, as he stepped from the cage at 7 o'clock this morning. Of this number, we have succeeded in getting twenty-two bodies to the bottom of the shaft. Our men are pushing forward as rapidly as possible, locating the bodies and removing the debris obstructing their way. Searchers coming from the mine this morning state that the conditions withing the mine are fast becoming unendurable. The air, poor at best, is now heavily laden with the odor of decomposing bodies. A car load of burial caskets arrived this morning and are being carted to the improvised morgue, where, after the bodies have been prepared for interment, the families will be admitted to identify them.
Hard to Enter the Shaft.
The bodies which are lying at the bottom of the shaft are ready to be brought to the surface, but the shaft has become so encrusted with ice that it is now impossible to drop the cage to the bottom. Until the accumulation is picked away the bodies must remain in the mine. The work of removing this obstruction is progressing as rapidly as possible. This is the information given by the tired workers who came from the pit at 7 o'clock this morning. The cheerless dawn had brought little news and no comfort to the band of thoroughly chilled and weary w