Tank's Poetry
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united states mine rescue association
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Tank's Poetry |
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Others killed, according to a casualty list released last night by company officials after the mine was ordered sealed as the only means of extinguishing the fire, are:
Thirty horses used to haul pit wagons underground were suffocated by the smoke and gas fumes which spread throughout the shafts. Brendel's survivors include his widow, who was not told of the tragedy until yesterday afternoon when orders came to seal the mine, and their five children, William, Richard, Dolores, Merian and Dorothy. They reside on the new Federal Housing project near Clarksville. Laboring to save the lives of their fellow workmen were members of the Chartiers rescue team, captained by Ben Bradley who were given commendable assistance by the team from Tower Hill and the crack crews of Clyde's No. 1 and 3 of Republic Steel. East Bethlehem and Jefferson Volunteer fire departments each sent two trucks to the scene, the former arriving at 7:30 o'clock Wednesday night, shortly after the alarm was sounded. They remained on the job until after 4:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Directed by Assistant Fire Chief Albie Tinelli, four volunteers of the East Bethlehem Company donned masks and lowered in the cage to man more than 3,000 feet of hose extended from the surface in an effort to combat the blaze. The firemen who entered the workings, to find it an inferno, were Robert McClellan, George Haley and Charles Chalena, all of Fredericktown, and Henry Neill, Vestaburg. All except Chalena, a salesman, were veteran miners. Rushing to the scene to lend all assistance possible to Superintendent Lamb were the following:
Troopers A. H. Krull and Sam Orlosky, from the Washington, Pa., state police headquarters, guarded the premises to prevent the crowd from milling near the points where workers were engaged in sealing the mine at the four entrances -- Clyde No. 3 seven flat, left four west; the Lippencott air shaft where the 151 men escaped to safety, the shaft at the main plant and the slope further up the hill. Until the fire is extinguished by lack of air circulation, the bodies will remain in the mine. The particular area of the mine is such that it will be some time before the fire will consume all the combustible gases from the air. Estimates have been given from 90 days to one year before the bodies may be recovered. In the meantime, the mine will be out of production throwing 640 employees into idleness. Because of their proximity to the burning mine, three other mines were closed today as a safety precaution. They are the Republic Steel Corporation's Clyde No. 1 and Clyde No. 3, and Emerald's Clyde No. 2. The mines will be inspected during the weekend and if state mine inspectors decide they are safe, work will be resumed on Monday. Meanwhile, a total of 1,900 men were idle in the four mines. |
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