1904 — Jan 25, Harwick Coal Mine blast and coal dust Explosion, near Cheswick, PA– 181

— 181 Blanchard. [179 miners and 2 volunteer rescuers (Selwyn Taylor and Daniel Lyle).]

— 184 Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1905. “General Chronology of 1904,” V. XX, 1905, 605.
— 184 New York Times. “Cause of Mine Explosion,” 1-30-1904, p. 2.
— 184 Public Opinion. “News of the World,” Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, 2-4-1904, p. 153.
— 182 Chicago Daily News Almanac & Yearbook 1919, “Great Mining Disasters…,” p. 169.
— 181 Batz, Bob Jr. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The Harwick Mine Explosion,” 12-11-1995, p.12.
— 181 Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. “Carnegie Hero Fund Remembers Victims…”
— 181 PA Historical and Museum Commission. Carnegie Hero Fund Commission plaque.
— 180 Chester Times, PA. “No Hope For Miners.” 1-27-1904, p. 6. (Refers to “entombed” miners.)
— 180 Granite memorial marker, Springdale, PA; in Batz. “The Harwick Mine Explosion,” 1995.
— 179 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 312.
— 179 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.
— 179 PA Dept. of Mines. Report of the Dept. of Mines of [PA], Part II, Bituminous, 1904. P. x.
— 179 NIOSH, CDC. “Coal Mining Disasters: 1839 to Present,” page 2.
— 179 United States Mine Rescue Assoc. Mine Disasters in the United States. “…Harwick…”

Narrative Information

Report of the Mine Inspectors: “In summing up the facts, as given in the former part of this report, we are agreed in the opinion that the cause of this explosion was the result of a blown-out shot in the face of No. 1 monkey entry off No. 3 room, off No. 1 butt entry on the south side of the mine. [p. xlv]

“We hold to the opinion that part of the mine was not ventilated as required by law. We further believe that the sprinkling and the laying of the dust according to Rule 60 had been neglected; we further agree in the opinion that fire-damp existed in a large portion of the advanced workings at the time of the explosion. Our reasons for so believing are due to the fact of our having found that in several parts of the mine the heat had been very intense, coking the coal and dust, and that fire-damp was also found at the point where heat had been the greatest. In our searching examination we failed to find any evidence that would lead us to believe that this explosion took place at any other part of the mine. This being true we can readily see that the explosion could be transmitted from one point to another by the carbonic oxide being produced and other gasses distilled from the coal dust which had been suspended in the atmosphere of the mine by the concussion from the initial explosion and other means, and carbonic oxide being an inflammable gas the flame from which was made to reach every nook and corner of the mine thus exploding the accumulations of fire-damp and dust along the path of the explosion carrying death and destruction into every region of its workings….

“From an analysis of this coal we find that it contains as high as 37.4 per cent. Of volatile matter, which renders the coal dust very inflammable [flammable] and exceedingly dangerous under certain conditions, therefore necessitating very great caution on the part of the management in seeing that every known precaution and every legal requirement is enforced.

“From our observation we are on the opinion that the best method of blasting this seam of coal was not practiced…. [p. xlvi]

“We would further recommend that blasting be discontinued in this mine and in all other gaseous mines where safety lamps are used, except when all the men are out of the mines except it is necessary to perform the work; and that they should not be fired in rapid succession, as such shot may liberate some marsh gas along with carbonic oxide and by the concussion stirring the dust charging the mine atmosphere to a very dangerous condition….” [p. xlvil] (Report of the Mine Inspectors to the Chief of the Department of Mines in Relation to the Harwick Explosion, Pittsburgh, Pa., January 30, 1904; in Annual Report of the Bureau of Mines, Official Document No. 23.)

Verdict of Coroner’s Jury in Harwick Mine Inquest, Pittsburgh, April 16, 1904.

“First – The explosion was caused by blown-out shot, igniting gas and coal dust.

“Second – Insufficiency of ventilation, due to accumulation of ice at the bottom of air shaft.

“Third – It is the duty of mine foremen to have ice removed and have air shaft in proper condition for the safety of the men and property.

“Fourth – We find that Mine Foreman Brown and Fire Boss Gordon, of the Harwick mine, at the time of the explosion, were negligent, and did not comply with the mining law of Pennsylvania.

“Fifth – We find Superintendent Sowden violated the mining law of Pennsylvania in not signing more foremen and fire boss report books, as required by law.

“Sixty – We find by the testimony of Mine Inspector Cunningham that he violated the mining law by not enforcing the requirements of the law, by not having in indicator placed on the fan and for allowing longer time to elapse than the law required in making his official inspection.

“Seventh – We, as jurors, do not consider the November 4, 1903, visit by Inspector Cunningham an official inspection, as required by law.

“Eighth – We, as jurors, recommend that the Allegheny Coal Company see that no friction exists between the officers of the Harwick mine for the safety of life and property.

“Ninth – We find from the evidence that Inspector Cunningham and Superintendent Sowden be held for the action of the grand jury on the charge of murder.

“Tenth – And we further censure the Allegheny Coal Company for not attending to the said Harwick mine according to law.

“Eleventh – And we further recommend that the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania enact laws that are more specific in governing mines.” (Annual Report of the Bureau of Mines, Official Document No. 23., pp. liii-liv.)

Newspapers

Jan 25: “Pittsburg, Jan. 25. – About 8:20 o’clock this morning an explosion occurred in a shaft of the Harwick Coal company, near Cheswick, along the West Penn railroad. At least 125 men were at work in the mines at the time, and so far these are cut off from escape. Three of the tipple men were burned, one of them so badly that he will likely die. Superintendent George Sheets stated at 10 o’clock that he could not estimate the extent of damage or how the men in the mine fared. A messenger was hurriedly sent to Cheswick and Springdale for physicians. The shaft is about a mile back of the Cheswick station.

“A later report states that two hundred men were employed and that 180 were inside and the others outside workers. At noon none of the entombed were rescued or heard from and their fate is unknown. The tipple buildings and lining of the shaft were wrecked, thus choking the shaft with timbers, rocks and earth. Whether the explosion occurred in the far extremity or nearer the shaft is unknown. If any escaped alive, the fact that the shaft is completely choked, thus shutting off the air, will make their death a certainty from suffocation within a few hours. The largest possible force of rescuers are working and every possible effort to reach the entombed men is being made. The mine is operated by Cleveland capitalists and has never experienced any serious trouble before. The injured tipplemen were brought to the Allegheny hospital on a special train. One of them, whose name is unknown, died just as the train arrived in Allegheny.” (Altoona Mirror, PA. “Coal Mine Explosion. 180 Miners Imprisoned.” 1-25-1904, p. 1.)

Jan 25: “Pittsburg, Jan. 25. – By an explosion in the Harwick mine of the Allegheny Coal Co. at Cheswick, 16 miles from Pittsburg, Western Pennsylvania promises to add one of the greatest tragedies of years to the already long list of mine fatalities. Even the officials of the Allegheny Coal Co., the owners of the mine, do not know at this time the number of men still entombed in the chambers of the mine, 220 feet below the surface, but a conservative estimate places the number at 184. Even General Manager Geo. Sheets of the coal company, who is in charge of the mine, gives little hope that many of the men will be brought to the surface.

“The first ray of hope that any of the men had escaped the tremendous concussion of the explosion, came at 6 o’clock to-night when Adolph Gorgie [Gunia] was brought to the surface still living.

“The explosion occurred at 8:20 o’clock this morning at the bottom of one of the shafts, presumably caused by fire damp. It was 4 o’clock this afternoon before it was possible to make the first attempt at rescue. Robert North and Jack McCann, one of the engineers employed by the Allegheny Coal Company, tried to get into the mine by way of the stairs through the air shaft. They managed to grope their way some distance, but were finally driven back by the foul air. The main shaft into the mine, 220 feet deep, was made useless by the explosion, which hurled both cages, one of which was within 30 feet of the bottom of the shaft, through the tipple, 30 feet above the surface. Shortly after 5 o’clock a temporary rigging had been put in place over the mouth of the main shaft and a small bucket, capable of carrying three men, fastened to the tackle. The first effort with the new rig was made by Selwyn M. Taylor, the mining engineer who had been summoned from Pittsburg, and an assistant, J. M. Rayburn. A crowd of anxious young men and women were gathered at the pit mouth as the two men were lowered into the black shaft on the work of rescue.

A Perilous Descent.

“Slowly the rope on the big drums of the engine began to unroll and the two engineers disappeared. Still there was no sound from the depths below except the occasional shouting of men in the bucket to stop while they tested the air. Then the cage reached the bottom. There was a silence of fully 40 minutes, and then came the summons to haul up slowly. When the cage reached to top Rayburn was there and with him was Adolph Gorgie [Gunia], still alive but gasping for breath and evidently seriously injured. Again the cage sent down into the darkness, and this time it carried with it E. Taylor, as assistant of Selwyn Taylor and also Robert Worth and J. McCann who had made the first attempt. There was a call for volunteers to aid in the work of rescue and a call for hammers, nails and brattice cloths to enable the rescuers to brace up the workings so that they can grope their way back to where the 40 men were at work when the crash came.

The little village of Harwick that surrounds the mine workings, two miles back from the West Penn railroad, has been horror stricken all day. The wives and relatives of the entombed men have crowded about the entrance of the pit, beseeching for news of the loved ones below, but only to meet the same sad answer: ‘We do not know yet; if we find him we will send him home.’ The little school house has already been prepared as a morgue and hospital. The benches and seats have all been removed and eight girls from the highest class at the school have been impressed as nurses.

“….Mr. Scheetz, the manager of the mine, said to night to a representative of the Associated Press: ‘The explosion this morning was terrific. Both cages were blown from the shaft, one of them a distance of over 200 feet. Three men at work on the Tipple, were blown to the ground, and one of them is already dead. The other two are badly hurt, but I am told they are resting easily and may recover. There are at least 150 men in the mine and I am afraid that there are a number more, although there are several men on the pay-roll who did not report this morning.’

“….The explosion occurred at 8:20 this morning and the first warning was the sudden rumble underground, and then a sheet of flame followed up the deep shaft. Both mine cages were hurled through the tipple, 20 feet above the landing stage and the three men on the tipple were hurled to the ground. A mule was thrown high above the shaft and fell dead to the ground. The injured men were brought at once to this city where two of them, Henry Mayhew, checkweighman, and George Waltman, tippleman, have since died….” (Bradford Era, PA. “A Most Terrific Explosion and Its Appalling Consequences.” 1-26-1904, p. 1.)

Jan 26: “Pittsburg, Jan. 26. – At 12:15 this morning, Robert North and Michael Cain, of the rescue party, came to the surface and reported that Mr. Selwyn Taylor had been found alive and that 75 of the miners had been located, the majority of them, it is believed, alive.

Great Rejoicing.

“Pittsburg, Jan. 26. – There was great rejoicing among the crowd of about 700 or 800 who surrounded the mine at 12:15 this morning when the rescuers came to the surface and announced that Selwyn Taylor and from 50 to 75 miners had been found. Mr. Taylor was unconscious when found. Rescuer Wood, who went down with Mr. Taylor on the first trip, and came back with young Gunia, remembered on his second trip the route Taylor had planned to take, and following this he discovered the engineer in room B near the south entrance and with him the 50 or 75 others, all unconscious but alive. The supposition is that Taylor, knowing the mine so well, gathered the others to the room where they were found to await rescue. George Horwath, who was with Taylor and Wood when Taylor fell, was brought to the surface at 1:30 unconscious and with a slight chance for recovery. He is the second man to be taken from the mine. The rescue party is now bratticing the mine as they go forward and have hopes of getting the imprisoned men out before death overtakes them.
The Brave Engineer Dead.

“Pittsburg, Jan. 26. – The body of Selwyn M. Taylor was brought to the surface at 2:25 a.m. He had evidently been dead several hours.

Hope Abandoned.

“Pittsburg, Jan. 26. – 2:30 a.m. – The report of the rescuers an hour ago, to the effect that many were alive, was rudely shattered at 2:25, when the body of Selwyn Taylor was brought to the surface. He had evidently been dead for several hours, and now hopes for the other imprisoned men have been abandoned.

“The rescuers are being brought out, coated with ice, drenched to the skin and unable to walk. They report that the dead are scattered one above the other as thick as pine needles. Water is fast pouring into the mine, covering the corpses with a shroud of ice and making the work of rescue almost impossible. Afterdamp is collecting in quantities.

Believes All Are Dead.

“Pittsburg, Jan. 26 – 3:15 a.m. – Dr. W. B. McCullough of Cheswick, who has been in the mine for two hours, has just come to the surface and told the Associated Press that in his opinion not one of the miners who were in the shaft at the time of the explosion is alive. He thinks it will be several hours before any of the bodies can be brought to the surface.” (Bradford Era, PA. “Disaster In A Mine! Between 180 and 190 Men Entombed.” 1-26-1904, p.1.)

Jan 27: “Pittsburg, Jan. 27. – Even the elements seem to be conspiring to prevent the work of rescue at the Harwick mine at Cheswick. Almost zero weather and a bitter, biting, cruel wind swept down over the little valley where the mine is located, and nearly added another list of dead to the long black table already measured off. Not only was the work of search for the dead and living, if any are still alive, rudely interrupted, but cold and ice and wind combined nearly cost the lives of 16 more good men. There is now ho hope of rescuing any of the 180 entombed men alive.

“During the afternoon 16 men went down into the shaft to do the work of bratticing, bolstering, tunneling and removing the debris that has so far barred their progress into the workings where the men were at labor when the explosion came. Their shift was supposed to be of three hours only. Even at that it was a hard task. Even before the bucket reached the bottom they were drenched with water, which the cold draught through the shaft soon turned to ice.

“Shortly after they were let down, two at a time, in the bucket, a temporary hoist, that had been rigged up to bring the debris and the dead, was started down the shaft. Then came the snow and the cold and the wind, and again efforts were made to reach the living men at the bottom of the shaft, but the wooden sides of the hoist, swollen by the water, stuck to the iron guide slide, and then came hours of manoeuvering to reach the bottom. The men below had no means of warmth and many of them were standing in deep water. Every effort was made to lower the cage and finally it was loosened and tot within 12 feet of the bottom. A timber, blown across the way by the explosion was in the path. The men were within easy reach of a rope, but their fingers, number and almost frozen by the cold, were unable to grasp the offered help.

“It was six hours later when the first three men of the party who went down in the afternoon were brought to the surface. Not one of them was able to walk, so numbed were they by the cold, and then they told of their experience in the mine below.

“Henry Deckert was one of the men out of the cage. He was carried to the boiler house, and after 20 minutes of warmth managed to straighten himself up and say: ‘It was a frightful experience. The cold and hunger – and no good that we could do. We were too cold to work. There is apparently no one to rescue. We had a hard time to find many of the dead. A shred of clothing here and another there, a jacket, a pair of overalls, but few bodies. When we left the bottom of the shaft there were 12 bodies lying there ready to be brought up. There are many others there, and the bodies of many will never be found. The south main drift, in which we worked, gives little hope that many bodies recovered there will be recognizable. In the north main drift the way has been cleared for some distance, but we could not tell what was found there.’

“An hour later the last of the rescuers was brought to the surface, and as the last man was helped to the cage, Mine Inspector Tom Adams turned to the new party – three men – ready to go down and said: ‘Have you got your saws?’ Yes, sir. ‘See that the timber that holds the cage from reaching the bottom is out of the way before you come up.’ The signal was given, and they went down again into the water and the ice and the dead companions below….” (Chester Times, PA. “No Hope For Miners.” 1-27-1904, p. 6.)

Jan 29, NYT: “Pittsburg, Jan. 29. – Mine Inspector Cunningham is satisfied he has discovered the cause of the explosion at the Harwick Mine. It has been the theory of the Inspectors that the gas was lighted by a defective blast, one that was not properly tamped and that threw a bit of burning paper from the hole drilled in the coal. This was confirmed in a room in the south left entry where a hole was found in the coal showing that the tamping had been blown out and that the blast was ineffective. Near this point was found the lamp of Fire Boss J. A. Gordon, who was also the head blaster in the mine.

“The mine has now given up 150 bodies. The company expects to start work again in two weeks. An appeal for funds for the benefit of the families of the 184 miners killed a few days ago in the Harwick Mines was received yesterday by Mayor McClellan. The telegram to the Mayor was dated from Cheswick, Penn., and said:

One hundred and eighty-four miners’ killed and families destitute. The committee urges immediate and generous aid.” (NYT. “Cause of Mine Explosion,” Jan 30, 1904, p. 2.)

Apr 21, Public Opinion: “A coroner’s jury investigating the Harwick mine disas¬ter at Harwick, Pennsylvania, in which 178 lives were lost, brought in a verdict holding State Mine In¬spector Cunningham and Mine Super¬intendent Sowden responsible.” (Public Opinion. “News of the World,” Vol. XXXVI, No, 16, April 21, 1904, p. 505.)

Sources

Altoona Mirror, PA. “Coal Mine Explosion. 180 Miners Imprisoned.” 1-25-1904, p. 1. Accessed 5-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/altoona-mirror-jan-25-1904-p-1/

Batz, Bob Jr. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The Harwick Mine Explosion,” 12-11-1995, p.12. Accessed 5-23-2020 at: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19951211&id=PackAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pG8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4654,4481104&hl=en

Bradford Era, PA. “A Most Terrific Explosion and Its Appalling Consequences.” 1-26-1904, p. 1. Accessed 5-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bradford-era-jan-26-1904-p-1/

Bradford Era, PA. “Disaster In A Mine! Between 180 and 190 Men Entombed.” 1-26-1904, p. 1. Accessed 5-22-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bradford-era-jan-26-1904-p-1/

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Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. “Carnegie Hero Fund Remembers Victims of Harwick Mine Disaster 113 Yeats Later.” Accessed 5-23-2020 at: https://www.carnegiehero.org/harwick-mine-disaster-victims/

Chester Times, PA. “No Hope For Miners.” 1-27-1904, p. 6. Accessed 5-23-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chester-times-jan-27-1904-p-6/

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Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Department of Mines of Pennsylvania. Report of the Department of Mines of Pennsylvania, Part II, Bituminous, 1904. Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., State Printers, 1905. Accessed 5-23-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2868870&view=2up&seq=4&size=125

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and http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/content/allminingdisasters.html
Also: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/content/coaldisasters.html

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Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Carnegie Hero Fund Commission plaque. Accessed 5-23-2020 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/harwick_marker.jpg

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