Horrible Mine Accident
Two Greek miners met a horrible death in the Beaver Carbonate mine Wednesday night. Explosions of shots fired by their own bands blew their bodies to fragments and buried them beneath the earth and debris upheaved by the explosions.

Louie Skouras and Louie Andros were shift partners. The men were hard workers and had been making some record runs during their shifts.  They had stated that they intended to put in thirteen shots and fire with short fuses that night. They were told by the management not to do so From the 700-foot level the men were digging a sump hole as the mine is very wet, and a depth of twenty-three feet had been reached in the hole. The shaft is a large one, about 10x14. The engineer says that about midnight he got a signal which he took to be the regular sign that the men were ready to fire their shots. He further says that he responded with the usual sign by raising the bucket a few fee and then lowering it. He felt the line shake and the bell rang again and he thought the signal had been given to pull the men in the bucket out of the mine after the fuses arc lighted. He started the bucket up and seemed to get more signals. He hardly knew what was wanted, and then the bucket stuck. It is thought by some that the signs which the engineer took for signals were caused by premature explosion of shots and that perhaps no signals were given. The exact truth about the matter can never be known, for the only men in the mine were the two that were killed, perhaps instantaneously. The engineer notified the management as soon as he discovered that something was radically wrong. The would-be rescuers descended to the 300 and 700-foot levels and searched the tunnels there but of course found no trace of the men. Going on down to the sump hole workings they discovered that an unusually heavy explosion or several of them had been set off, for great quantities of ore had been loosened and the pump was a wreck.  No sign of the men was found until 3 o'clock a. m., when the knees of Andros were seen protruding from the loosened rock and dirt. The body of Skouras was not discovered until the following night at about 9 o'clock . Both bodies were horribly mutilated.

Coroner Ingols, County Attorney Parsons, Officer Hedges, Undertaker Jorgensen and Mr. McAlister with Mrs. John McKeon as stenographer went to the scene of the accident as soon as possible after being notified and an inquest was held, Lou Williams, Tom Morris and a Mr. Mobius forming the jury. Verdict, accidental death.

The remains were brought to Milford and prepared for interment. So far as can be learned no blame is attached to any one excepting to the men themselves. They had been repeatedly warned to refrain from exceeding the regular number of shots and from using shorter than 9-ft fuses. Beaver County News January 11, 1918

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