The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-11-16
TERRIBLE CALAMITY.

TERRIBLE CALAMITY.
Frightful Coal Mine Explosion at
Pittsburgh. Kan.
Nearly Two Hundred Men Entombed Will,
but Little Hope Of Rescue - Frantic
Women and Children yainly Seek
ing for Lost Ones.
PITTSBURGH, Kan, Nov. 10-At 5:15
O'Clock last evening an explosion awful in
the horror of its results, occurred at the
Cherokee and Pittsburgh Company's coal
shaft No. at Frontenac, three miles north
of this city, and the report was distinctly
heard here. The working level of the
shaft is sixty-five feet below the surface
and at the time of the explosion 164 men
were down in the awful traps of death.
A few minutes later one man escaped by
the air shaft and since then twenty -four
have reached the surface bv the same
means.
There can be little doubt that the re-
mainder have persisted. as the main en-
trance to the shaft Is piled full of debris
and dead mules, aud those escaping re-
port crawling over dead men at every step
in the depths below. At least two thou
sand excited men, women and children are
gathered round the mouth of the shaft and
the cries of those whose husbands or
fathers are known to be below are heart
rending. Men are driven to desperation
by pitiful appeals from weeping women
and girls to get ''the boys out before they
all die"
Entrance to the mine is being achieved
as fast as within human power, but the
main entrance is absolutely blocked and
imminent danger attends every attempt
by the air shaft. Among the anxious
crowds at the mouth Of the shaft are
crowded every doctor from this city and
many from Girard, Litchfield and. other
places in the county. Snow and rain have
been falling since the accident and the
shiverng crowd of half dressed women
pleading for some one to give them tidings
of loved ones it pitiful.
The cause of the explosion can not be
now determined. A blast had just been
put in and good deal of powder is known
to have been I'm the mine, but whether this
or flame from the lamps iguited the gas
and did the deadly work no one yet knows.
No such horror has ever shocked the peo-
pie of Southern Kansas and a thorough
explanation of it will be demanded. At
least 1877 men are now lying dead in the
fatal shaft.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
ST. LOUIS, Nov. 16.-A special from
Pittsburgh, Kan, to the Republic gives the
following account of the coal mine explo-
sion there last evening: A terrible explo-
sion that broke windows in this little viii
lage and spread CONSERVATION among it's
inhabitants occurred at dusk tonight.
The violence of the shock was SO great as
to hurl dishes from shelves and demolish
chimneys. Half an hour after the ex-
plosion the villagers, who were pre-
pairing to go to the mines, were
startled by a ragged, bleeding man
who almost staggered into the arms
of the searchers. He said that No. shaft
at Frontenac. q mining suburb Of this
village, had been destroyed by an ex-
pIosion and that all the men in the mine
at the time, except himself and Dane,
whom he left bleeding at the mouth of the
pit, were undoubtedly dead. Horses were
quickly harnessed to wagons and in a few
minutes the villagers were hurrying
through a fierce snow and sleet storm
which was raging.
At the mouth Of the mine the tremendous
force of the explosion was apparent. There
were huge seams in the earth, and the
timbers of the hosting apparatus were
shivered and burned. Foul gases were
escaping. The Dane who had escaped
xs-ifh thn -tn oil In
villagers lay in the mud with his
face covered with blood. For long
time it was thought he was dead, but
he regained consciousness in q few hours
and is now at his home. He can not speak
and does not know what caused the explo-
sion. His clothes were in ribbons.
The man who reached this village with
the first tidings of the disaster and who
accompanied the rescuers back to the mine,
said the men were about to quit work for
the day when the explosion occurred. To-
gether with the Dane he had ridden in the
car to the top of the shaft when the earth
seemed to snap beneath him and the next
thing he realized was the splashing of the
snow and water upon his face as he lay
with his comrade in the wreckage above
the mine. There were 100 men in the mine
dt tic tihc VI tue eApiOstOiis anu tuey
were at work liz feet below the surface. it
is believed that no one survived the shock,
as the explosion must have destroyed
every thing in the pit.
Big fires were built near the mouth of
the pit and beside these blazing piles the
women of the entombed miners placed
their children, while they themselves tried
by all means of entreaties to induce the
miners from the other shafts to enter the
pit and rescue their relatives. One
rescuing party started down the shaft
at seven o'clock, but was forced to
turn back owing to the foul
air. Another attempt was made Mt nine
O'Clock, but the plucky rescuers again
were forced to abandon their work. They
could hear no sound from the chambers
below, and this leads old miners to be-
lieve that all the men in the shaft have
persisted. Other attempts will be made to
reach the entombed men before morning.
Those who started down the shaft early
in the evening say that the shock has de-
stroyed whole drifts and that it is possible
that the men in the lower levels are buried
beneath tons of slate. Black damp is
supposed to have caused the explosion.
Most of the miners at these shafts came
originally from Illinois and Pennsylvania.
~
Democrats Concede California.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 9.-The count of
1855 precincts in the city out Of 1E6 give