Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-28
IN A TOMB OF FLAMES.
One Hundred and Fifty Mon Lose Their
Lives by an Explosion of Flre-DanP IN
a Coal Mine at Pocahontas, Va.

N
One Hundred and Fifty Mon Lose Their
Lives by an Explosion of Flre-DanAP In
a Coal Mine at Pocahontas, Va.
PETERSBURG, Va, March IA tele'
gram from Pocahontas is as follows: 'Ihe
night relief went into the mines at tho usual
hour Wednesday night, one hundred and
fifty strong. A little after midnight the
town was startled from its sleep by u report
that sounded like the runlbling of an EARTH
quake, followed by a clap of hunder. Soon
q messenger came from the mines, three
quarters of a milo away, with information
to the Superintendent that there had been a
terrible explosion there. The S~uperlntend-
ent and others went to the mines at once,
and the scenes there were indescribable.
Words could not convey the slightest idea
of the destruction wrought in a few short
seconds. Signs of it were plainly visible
Oh every hand.
The entrance to the main draft had been
entirely torn out and scattered pell-mell for
hundreds of feet. The little train track
was torn and twisted. and the shapeless TIM
bers and ties were mixed in confusion all
around. The cars were taken up bodily,
torn in twain, and their iron wheels broken
and shivered. They were thrown three
hundred and four hundred feet away. The
ridge and the timber on the ridge opposite
this draft were blackened to the summit,
six hundred feet away. A searching party
found a pair of shoes that had been blown
to tie summit of The ridge, and a mule was
found at the same place twisted into an i'll
describable mass.
The second entrance to the mine pre-
scnted a similar appearance to the first. At
this point lived a Hungarian family named
Glassee, whose house was shivered almost
to atoms, but, wonderful to relate, the i'll
mates escaped without serious injury.
At the entrance of the fan tunnel stood
the company's large elevator, which, with a
house around it, was swept entirely away,
leaving the engine standing OIL the founda-
ton and all shattered and broken, with the
pipes twisted and forced. The force of the
explosion must have been terrific. Rocks
were thrown through the workshops,
and every object that stood i'll
the direct course of the forced
air was demolished. Several work.
men in the shops were seriously injured,
and the shops, as well as the LOCOMOTIVES
house, were leveled with the ground.
OF the one hundred and fifty men in the
mine at the time Of the explosion, not one
has returned to the surface to tell the story
Of the calamity. There is no probability
that a single soul survives. Parties who
yentured into the mine yesterday morning
found several mangled bodies, one of which
was identified as that of M. l.. Hampton,
night foreman, who leaves a wife and large
family. About thirty-iive Hungarians are
coored men and white miners of
this State and Pennsylvania. 1t is
pretty well concluded that the explosion
was caused by tire-damp, though it is mex
plicable how the horizontal coal vein above
the water level contained SO much explosive
gas. The churches and houses at Poca-
hontas are draped in mourning, and busi-
ness is entirely suspended. Flat Top Mount
ain, over the mine, is rent by the convulsion.
The hill under which the mine is dug was
rent in several places by the caving-in of
the tunnelling beneath.
The six bodies recovered have not vet
been recognized, as they are too badly dis
figured. From the position in which they
lay it was evident that the explosion did not
take them unawares, but that some premon-
itory warning was given, and they were at
tempting to make their escape when the
fiery blast overlook them.
Last night at seven o'clock it was thought
M, Arkr .,nN Ao,,1.1 L. Id
showed signs of decreasing. A party of men
attempted to get in, and had gone below
ground, when a volume OF flame shot up.
and they were hurriedly assisted to the sur
face. One of their number, All Italian
named Carlo Franchi, was missing, and had
evidently dropped from the cage. All of
the party were badly burned, and this
showed how fruitless were any hopes at
rescue. The Shaft at eight p. H.. was a
roaring funnel of flame. All the
outbuildings i'll the vicinity ignited.
and the farmhouse, which had been
looked to as the salvation Of any of
the men who might be alive below, caught
also. A shrek of despair went up again
at this catastrophe, which was regarded as
fatal to all hopes of rescue. The men
fought manfully to save the building from
destruction, but without avail, and it was
soon a mass Of cinders. 1t became evident
at this hour that the whole mine was ablaze.
and it is doubtful whether it can be ex-
tingushed for weeks, if at all. This settles
the fate of the unfortunates below the
ground and they have absolutely no chance
for life.
Not the least distressing of phases of the
calamity is the fact that all the families Of
the dead will be left utterly homeless in the
wild mountain rapinn
Such a perfect scene of destruction is hard
to picture. The passages in the mine have
been entirely destroyed, and the entire hill
VIII have to be excavated to got to some Of
the chambers.
Ihe mine in which the disaster occurred
Is known as the Flat-top Mine, and is sit
uated In the northeast portion of TaZewelI
County, at the base of the Flat-top Mount
aims, which divide that section Of Virginia
from West Virginia. The company work.
ing inc mine is known as the Southwest
Virginia Improvement Company, but
the mines are really under tho control Of
the Norfolk Il Western Railroad COMPANY.
who have a branch read, the New River Di-
vision, running from New River to Poca-
hOntas, about sixty miles. J.. c. Iisey. Of
Pennsylvania, is President of the Improves
ment Company, and William A. Lathron.
Superintendent. The mines are comna,;a-
lively new. having been in active operation
but a little over a year. From five hundred
to Six hundred hands were employed, and a
large quantity of coal was being taken out.