Saturday, October 14, 1905

CLYDE MINE IS STILL ABLAZE

Fate of the Six Entombed Men Is Not Known—Smoke and Bad Air

RESCUE WORK CONTINUES

Special to the Reporter.
Brownsville, Pa., Oct. 14, 1905

The fire in the Clyde mine at Fredericktown is still burning furiously. Whether any of the six entombed men survive is not known. Rescue parties worked in short shifts throughout the night. The smoke is dense and the air bad. The entombed men are 1,500 feet back in the mine. All efforts are making to brattice off the burning portion and cut a way around to reach the men.

Fredericktown, Oct. 14,1905

The coal mine at this place operated by the Clyde Coal company, is on fire and back in the mine fully half a mile six men are imprisoned by the flames that are raging between them and liberty. Rescue parties are exhausting every effort to reach the entombed men, but only a slight hope is held out to the friends of the imprisoned men that they will be found living should the rescuers succeed in reaching them. It is the general opinion that the six men are already dead.

The entombed men are:
George Kelly, driver, married.
Homer Harvey, driver, married.
Richard March, miner, married.
Richard Moffy, miner, married.
Ponal Lorenzo, miner, married.
Cesto Benardini, miner, single.

The fire started Friday afternoon at 1:30 and although the origin is not definitely known, it is believed to have started from a short circuited electric wire setting fire to a brattice cloth which is placed in the entries throughout the mine to change the air currents. The fire was soon discovered and a general alarm was at once given. At the time there were between 150 and 200 men in the mine but with the exception of the six entombed miners all were brought to the surface without serious injury.

Six Men Missing.

When the men were mustered at the mouth of the mine it was then discovered that six were missing and the pit boss bethought himself of six men who were at work to a room in the furthermost part of the mine, fully a half mile from the shaft. It was too late to give them warning but hardy miners willingly exposed themselves in attempting to save their comrades. Several of them attempted to get back through the entry, but were driven back by the deadly gases, which had already generated and as a portion of the entry where the fire had originated was a seething furnace. By lying flat keeping his head close to the bottom of the entry one of the rescuers gave George Kelly the warning as he was bringing a car toward the pit entrance. When given the warning he stated he would bring his horse with him but by the time he had unhitched the animal the only means of escape was cut off and it is feared Kelly also met the horrible fate of his companions because of his affection for a faithful brute with which he had worked for weeks.

Two Men Injured.

As soon as it was learned that the six men were entombed steps were taken toward supplying them with pure air, if possible, until a rescue party would be enabled to reach them. The large fan above ground, used in force air into the mine, was reversed and used to draw the smoke out of the mine, as deadly gases were generating and a portion of the mine was rapidly becoming a veritable hell. Two men were operating the fan and looking after the machinery at the powerhouse and in attempting to enter the fan house were badly burned by an explosion.

They were:
Robert Virgin, Millsboro, digger, badly burned about the face and abdomen, will die.
L.D. Wood, Millsboro, married, burned about the face and back, will recover.

About 4 o’clock in the afternoon something went wrong with the fan and the two men opened the door to the fan room to adjust it, one of them carrying a torch. The room was filled with the smoke and sulphurous gases, which were being drawn out of the mine, and no sooner had the man with the torch entered than a terrific explosion occurred, caused by the gases being ignited. The two were hurled across the room by the explosion and soon the whole interior was a mass of flames and before the miners could escape they sustained severe burns. Others came to their rescue and soon the fire was extinguished, but the fan was wrecked.

(From the Pennsylvania Dept. of Mines Report, 1905.)

Clyde Mine Disaster,
October 13, 1905
Fredericktown, Washington Co., PA
6 Coal Miners Killed.

October 13, 1905, about 1:15 p.m. a fire was discovered by an electrician, in the pump house situated in a breakthrough between No. 1 and No. 2 right main, about 1,800 feet from the entrance of the mine.  All the employees, with the exception of six men who were missing, had safely made their exist from the mine when warned of the damger.  About 4 p.m., while making an official visit in No. 5 Mine of Vesta Coal  Company, I received a message that the Clyde Mine  was on fire.  I at once proceeded to the mine, arriving there at 10:50 p.m.  The mine foreman, with a rescuing party, returned from the mine at 10:50 p.m., and reported that they had made two attempts to reach the place where the fire was first discovered and had been driven back by dense volumes of smoke.  They said it was impossible to proceed further in that direction.

I learned that since the fire had been discovered the engineer in charge of fan, and a miner, had entered the fan house during the afternoon, to examine the fan, and that an explosion had taken place at that point, seriously burning both men.

I held a consulation with the mine official and after examining the map of the mine produced and carefully considering the pump house location, in which the fire was supposed to have originated, and the report of the mine foreman and rescuing party, I decided to confine myself to the information received, together with report of the explosion in the fan house.  The latter impressed me with the belief that if an explosive mixture was being carried on the return to the fan house in such quantities as had been so recently demonstrated, there was a possibility, at any moment, of a repetition of the explosion by the  mixture coming in contact with the fire that was raging in Nos. 1, 2 and 3 mines.

I was fully aware that wooden stoppings had been the prevailing method of conducting the air along the main entries prior to this date, and that being the case it would give the fire additional power to spread from one main to another.

With the above in view and the evidence given by the rescuing party, that there was not a possibility of a living person inside of the mine, we decided to postpone another inside exploration until morning.  I gave strict orders that no open lights should be allowed at or near the fan house or main entrance to the mine, that the fan should be kept ruynning at the same speed, and a strict watch kept over its behavior and should any disturbance be noticed to notify me at once. Early in the morning I found that nothing unusual had taken place, I then decided to make another examination of the mine and ascertain what course to pursue, with a view of recovering the bodies, and to prevent the fire from speading into other parts of the mine.  With a rescuing party I proceedes to the point that had been reached by previous rescuing parties, and then decided that, owing to the dense volume of smoke at the point, it was impossible to proceed any farther in that direction of the main.

We examined the main map, inspected the fan, air ways, and entrance and then ordered more stoppings to be built with slide door attachment.  After thestoppings had been completed we entered the mine by opening the slide door, closing it when through. We then opened the next one on the inside, and upon examination we found large quantities of smoke and gas, sufficient, if ignited, to cause serious results.  We suggested that every precaution should be exercised and outlined a method for fighting the fire by forcing water into the mine, thus leaving it in the hands of the mine officials.  I continued to make frequent visits to the mine, keeping everything under close observation.  November 29, we again entered the mine, proeeded along the main, and upon the examination of No. 11 butt we discovered the six miners, lying side by side, apparently asleep. I would say, that owing to the position of the bodies and the peaceful contenances of the men they had lain down to rest, and the products of combustion had done their deadly work while the victims peacefully awaiting relief from the rescuing party that had made three attempts to reach them.
(Pennsylvania State Mine Inspectors Report, 1905.)

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