Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-21
COAL MINE DISASTER.

EXPLOSION of Firc-Damp In u Mine Neal
Uniontown, Pa.-rwo Dead and several
Ini--ed Norkae an Recovered from the
Fata; That Fifteen Other
Lives Had Been Sacrificed.
UNIoSTowS, Pa, Oct. Yesterday aft
ernoon about four O'Clock a terrible eXplo
sion of gas occurred in the coal-mine of the
Youngstown Coke Company, situated three
and a half miles north of here. The men OF
the day turn had left the mine, and a night
turn, consisting of twentv-four men, had
only been in a short time when thea accident
occurred. At the PRESENT writing-2:30 a,
m.-but six of the men have been found
Two are so badly burned and cut tina
they can not recover; one is Slightly
burned and has an arm broken,
and two We're killed outright
The accident happened on the sixth plat on
the right of the entrance on a slope half q
mile from the mouth Of the mine. Supcrin.
tendent Refs and James Cole, pit boss, had
been in the mine examining the workings
Just where the explosion happened, and had
returned to the Office to examine the plat of
the mine. Ten minu:as after they left the
explosion happened. There were two eX
plosions, the second occurring a few minutes
after the first. Both were very loud and
We're heard a mile away. The names of the
killed and injured as far as known are as
follows:
Killed-James Zeblcy. pnmpcr. aged eight
cen: John Lapc, ropcridcr, aged thirty.
Iniurcd-Jacob Cole, aged tiity-thrcc; not
expected to recover. David Cole, aged thirty,
son of the above; terribly burnt rnd can not
live. C%haunccy Wilson, aged tittccn; arm
broken.
A large force of men are searching the
mine, but no others have been found. Wash
ketfer, a miner, was working somesdistance
from where the explosion took place, and
saved himself by lying in a pool of water
and waiting for the after-damp to pass. A
mountain of smoke and flame poured out of
the plymouth Immediately after the eN-
| plosion, and continued to do SO for a full
hour.
The only way in which it is possible tc
get at the men in the mine is By means OF
the air-shaft, as all the other entrances arc
filled with the poisonous after-damp. III
many of the rooms where the men where
working the roofs have fallen. and the mcr
can not be found. The supposition is that
they are buried beneath the fallen roofs. Il
is believed that about Gfteen men We're
/ killed.
The mine IS inspected regularly every
morning by a man employed for that pur-
pose, and for ovur a month no gas has beer
found in it. 1t is supposed that a slight fall
from the roof opened a vein of gas which
came in contact With a miners lsslp. The
weather Sunday and yesterday was exactly
similar to that at the time of the disastrous
explosion in the West L~eisenring mine
here last March, when nineteen mer
were killed. The mine is operated by
a slope, and although well managed, there
| 1nC hnnp, ,n-n ave lr.~ - So, "a e.. A., J~-I
eight months. The works are among the
largest and best in the coke region. Nearly
all the men employed there are natives.
The mine inspector for this dist5ct arrived
here from Bedford County yesterday morn.
ing, and had not left when the accident oc
cured. He says the mine has given him a
good deal Of trouble.