Cheswick, PA Harwick Mine Explosion, Jan 1904 - Scores of Coffins

SCORES OF COFFINS FILLED WITH DEAD AWAITING BURIAL.

MINE DISASTER AT CHESWICK IS GROWING IN HORROR AS BODIES ARE FOUND.

NUMBER OF DEAD LIKELY TO EXCEED ALL ESTIMATES.

ONLY EIGHTEEN OF THE MANGLED CORPSES IDENTIFIED BY THEIR RELATIVES.

MANY MORE REMAIN TO BE RECOVERED.

AS FAST AS THEY ARE BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE THEY ARE TAKEN TO THE LITTLE SCHOOL HOUSE AND PREPARED FOR BURIAL BY UNDERTAKERS.

Cheswick, Jan. 23. -- At 2 o'clock this morning, it is said that over 80 more bodies have been found and are being collected at the bottom of the shaft. It is not yet known when they will be brought up. Caskets are still lacking and both the morgue and the school where the undertakers work are still crowded.

Cheswick, Pa., Jan. 28. -- Three days have elapsed since the terrible catastrophe at the Harwick mine of the Allegheny Coal company and at midnight 71 bodies had been recovered and brought to the surface. Only 16 of these have been identified.
The day has been one of horror in the little village on the hill above the pit mouth, but even while the blackened bodies were brought from the top of the shaft and taken on sleds to the school house on the hill above, where the undertakers were ready to receive them, the bereaved once seemed to repress their natural feelings of passionate anxiety and sorrow. With the grim realization that there is still much work to be done the full extent of the catastrophe has been realized.
The Allegheny Coal company in an official statement admits that all of the men who were in the mine when the explosion occurred are dead. There are 171 names on the list, which does not include SELWYN M. TAYLOR or the two men who were on the tipple above the mine shaft when the explosion came. Nor does the list include the name of DANIEL LYSLE of Castle Shannon, whose body was found in the mine this morning. He was one of the men who went down in the mine to work last night, but became separated from the rest and wandered far ahead of the air. His body was found sitting with his back to the wall of one of the rooms. He had evidently been overcome by the afterdamp.
The list of 171 names was made public last night by SHELDON PARKS, treasuror of the company, and C. L. TERRY, the secretary, after a consultation with General Manager SHEETZ. MR. TERRY says that it is possible that one or more of those included may have escaped death, but this is hardly probable. The only man included iin the list who is known to be living is CHRIS GUNIA, who is not yet out of danger. He is the man whose body was found at the bottom of the shaft by the rescue party headed by SELWYN M. TAYLOR.
This brings the official number of known dead up to 174, but the list may still be incomplete, as it is possible that some boys may have gone into the pit to work under their fathers' direction whose names have not yet been ascertained. HUTCHINSON, the custodian of the lamps, says that between 150 and 190 lamps were given out on the fatal Monday morning and no man was given more than one.

The 16 men identified at midnight are:
DAVID KOMATA, Harwick, 29, married.
J. A. McCONAHA, Harwick, 40, married.
JOHN ZENOSKY, Harwick, 18 single.
JESSE HAWKINS, Cheswick, 23, single.
JAMES COCHRAN, Harwick, 35, single.
J. M. MILES, Cheswick, 24, single.
GEO. AMBROSE, Harwick, 41, married.
ALBERT DAVIS, Harwick.
E. CRISPAN, W. Tarentum, 30, single.
J. S. HUDDLESON, Slippery Rock, 32, married.
DANIEL LYSIS, Castle Shannon, 43, married.
J. G. MACE, Parnassus, 50, married.
JOHN SOLCENI, Springdale, 30, single.
JAMES CRAWFORD, Harwick, 35, single.
N. M. TROUTMAN, Harwick, 35, single.
PHILIP NOCEAN, West Tarentum, 25, married.

There are many harrowing sights in the little hamlet -- sights that are not good to see -- and the prospect is that many more will be presented here before the endhas come.
Last night there were strange contrasts to be seen. The village was quiet. It was a moonlight night and zero weather. At the shaft mouth huge fires were built and groups of men gathered there trying to keep warm. In the blacksmith shop about 100 feet from the mouth of the shaft 27 coffins, each containing its burden are lined up in double rows awaiting a claimant.
About 300 yards up a winding road in the midst of the little hamlet on the hillside is the school house. The desks and chairs have been removed. On the floor in rows growing slowly in length lie 21 bodies just as they came from the shaft. It is here that the little corps of undertakers do their work. This work has temporarily ceased, for all the caskets that have arrived -- 50 in all -- are occupied.
At the shaft the temporary cage is constantly in motion between the top and bottom. It dare not stop, for the bitter cold would freeze it fast to the slides in a few minutes' time.
The men at work below go down in shifts to work three hours at a time. Below are six stretchers, each manned by six men. As fast as the bodies are recovered they are brought to the bottom of the shaft. Far in the mine interior, directed by two inspectors constantly on duty, the work of bratticing and pushing slowly forward, careful always of the gas or other hidden dangers that may lie beyond, is constantly going on, as yet not half of the mine has been explored. Three triple sets of rooms on the west side of the south main level have been thoroughly explored. There are still many more to get into before the work is complete.
As the bodies are brought to the surface they are carried to a sled, waiting to receive them and taken up the hill to the school house. When the undertaker's work is done the bodies are taken down the hill again to the blacksmith shop below.
STEPHEN HEZZEROASL, who organized the foreigners in this field for the United Mine Workers, made a tour of the village, visiting the home of every Italian family. He learned that 57 Italians are among the dead, including six boarding bosses. Five of the dead men leave wives who are seriously ill and unable to care for their children. At the first house visited, that of CHARLES ANGONHEFFLE, he found a widow and two children. The mother was unable to leave her bed and the children were crying for food.
The fact that nearly all of the families in the stricken mining community have been rendered practically helpless by the disaster seems already impressed upon the surrounding towns. A message from Pittsburg offers, 1,000 loaves of bread to be used at the discretion of the company officials or the keep of the store at Harwick. Another of the same kind was received from another source and offerings of money to be used in the work of relief are beginning to come in.

The full list of the men who were in the mine as given out by the company is as follows:
L. WARGO; C. BOWSER; R. PANAZA; THOMAS PHILLIPS; J. COQUARTILA; H. CHOACHAM; J. SEMINLE; D. ARTONIA; J. BOYERS; L. ANDERSON; J. STEWART; M. ZENOSKY and Son; J. CARLSON; J. HAYES; S. KOSIKAVOCH; A. JONES; C. H. RUTZER; P. GORMAN; A. HAY; A. GUNIA; J. SALGA; L. NETTRY; J. DAVIDSON; D. FLENNIN; L. LUCAS; G. ORBAN; T. POTASKVICH; W. SHAW; F. FRITZ; W. TRENTIN; W. JARRETT; JOHN S. ALCENI; J. ZINOSKY; J. HILL; J. MIKE; E. SADESKY; J. CHAMBERS; R. LEE; JOE SALSONI; F. ROSS; S. ORIASKY; F. ANTIL; I. KIRKWOOD; T. MIDDLEMASS; A. FLENNER; J. YEAGER; J. BONGHMAN; A. BOECHAM; GEORGE GREGOR; JAMES GREGOR; C. ANGANALD; HARRY FLEMMER; JAMES PARRY; M. MYERS; P. BROWN; F. B. MILES; J. A. McCONNAUGHERY; J. DONNELLY; R. DOVE, colored; P. PISAL; H. SIMMONS; W. TAPASH; GEORGE BIGLEY; E. HUTMIRE; P. GOODMAN; J. HOCKNEY; C. L. FABIAN; C. CENTER; C. CONJA and Son; T. GYURKO; I SHILLING; S. CINTLER; M. BORDNAR; J. PISKA; JOHN HAY; P. NOCLAN; F. KONESKO; F. HAY; C. CRISPIN; T. OSTRELA; S. HUDDLESTON; I. COCHRAN, colored; GEORGE AMBROSE; M. HORVATH; P. LEMICK; F. STACKINAN; T. NOBLE; W. H. THOMAS; B. DAVIS; J. CRAWFORD; C. W. FLETCHER; M. OPPEAIR; F. DAVIS; S. LAYLAIRD; C. DEPRA; A. BALOG; H. GLOVER; C. G. JAGLY; S. HONE; M. STEUGART; W. RAYCHEL; J. LOPOSKI; J. RETUNA; S. TATE; W. WADE; A. TIMPIR; M. BURGO; J. PULONGE; G. REISHOK; T. KOSTA; J. BISTO; C. TUCKACH; J. HIDE; V. BERNOT; C. CHAMPO; J. L. ADAMS; P. MANGIL; P. RUSSELL; A. SHANOR; D. S. MORRIS; J. KALTISCH; GEORGE BROWN; G. A. GORDON; T. Q. KIRKWOOD; A. V. JACOBS, A. OELBUEKAL; J. ZACCONE; A. DAVIS, colored; J. LICE; G. E. HOUSE and Son; JOHN ANGONOLFI; J. KOVOCH; A. LAMBROSKI; S. KOVACH; D. NEMIT; H. NAGE; F. ARCUFE; J. HARRANGO; D. AICULE; F. TIMI; S. JENOSKY; F. PEULLIRGI; D. CRISTO; B. BERONCO; J. YEGA; L MATTIE; J. WHITE; PETER MANGIL; G. KUKORELLA; PHIL MANGIL; L. GORDA; J. ROBOSKY; G. RICCO; F. GIREDI; F. GECY; J. SEANDALIA; D. GALLELLI; P. BROWN; S. WEDGE; M. CORINE; H. PHILLIPS; J. BELLA; A. HOWARTH; J. FLOAT; A. JACOB; A. PARRY.

The Courier Connellsville Pennsylvania 1904-01-28