News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-02-28
Death Under the Earth.


The little village of West Lessen
ring, four miles north of Uniontown,
Pa, was the scene of the most terrif-
ic explosion ever known in that region
OF the morning of the goth instant.
The Connellsville Coal and Iron Com
pany, of which Judge Leisenring, of
Mauch Chunk, is President, has 200
coke ovens there which give employ
ment to about 100 men, and quite
town has sprung up, named after the
President of the company. The coal
is obtained by means of a shaft,
which reaches the mine, a distance OF
400 feet from the surface. Last We'd
nesday morning part of the force
who had worked during the night, lett
the mine little after three O'Clock
and 20 others took their places, max
ing the usual morning shift. About
80 o'clock, while the men were dig
ging, suddenly, and without warning,
there occurred an explosion that
shook the mine in every apartment
and threw the men into the utmost
CONSERVATION. The scene OF the ex-
plosion was in an apartment fully
800 feet from the bottom OF the shaft,
and therefore about 1900 feet from
the opening at the surface, yet the re-
port was heard outside for consider
able distance, and the conclusion was
so great that the top of the derrick,
100 feet high, was knocked of. Two
mules were standing at the bottom OF
the shaft, 500 feet from where the ex-
plosion occurred, and the rush of air
was so great that one of them was
blown through a wooden cage, shat
tering it. The other mule died from
suffocation.
The awful scene that ensued among
the terrier stricken miners cannot be
described. All their lamps were
blown out and they were left in dark
ness and confusion. They had not
time to recover from the shock before
they found themselves unable to
breathe. The explosion, which was
caused by fire-damp, left the mine
filled with after-damp, which contains
no oxygen and renders it impossible
for life to be sustained for any time.
The after-damp is densest in the upper
part of mines, and the men therefore
congregated near the bottom. But
even there they did not long find re-
lief. Of all the men who were in the
heading where the explosion occurred,
Dick Balsley alone escaped to tell the
awful story. Balsley was just chang
ing his clothes. He at once wound
part of the clothing tightly around
his face and mouth to keep the foul
Fair from checking him, and gave the
rest of his garments to his compan-
ions. with instructions to take the
same precautions. He then started
for the main entrance, bidding his
companions to follow. Balsley's es-
cape is regarded by experienced min
ers as one of the most marvellous on
record. He says that some OF the
men kept their heads under water as
long as they could, and would change
from water to after-damp, until finally
they succumbed. When the eXplo-
sion became known the families of the
miner. gathered about the shaft and
awaited developments in breathless
suspense. Balsley's story gave them
little ground to hope that any of them
would be got out alive. So danger
Gus was the after-damp that it was
fully two hours before any volunteers
could enter the mines. 1t was about
8 o'clock when the first body was
brought out. The work of rescuing
the bodies went on rapidly, and at
noon 10 bodies had been carried out
of the shaft. The company's books
were then examined and the rol
! called. 1t was found that all the mer
: were accounted for. The work pro
ceeded with quietness and order, amt
the subdued sobs and wringing o.
hands, of the grief stricken families
The bodies were taken to their homes
near by and laid out.