Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-11-15
THE PARTICULARS.

One Man Torn and Bleeding Escapes to Tell
the Awful stOry-Vilagers Hasten 10 the
Scene.
ST. LOUIS, Nov. "a special from
Piusbnrg, Kans., 10 the Republican
gives the following account of the coat
mine explosion there this evening;
teri fic explosion that broke the widows
in this little village and spread coreter-
nation among the Inhabitants occurred
tonight. Nhe violence of the shock was 80
great as TO hUrl the dishes from the
shelves and demolisb the chimneys. A
half hour after the explosion the vii
layers who we're preparing TO 20 TO tue
mines were startled by ragged bleed
ing man, who staggered into tbs arms OF
the sesrchers. He said that SHAFT M.
2 at Frontenac, mining suburb OF this
village mad been Destroy d by The expl0
sion and that all the men In the mine at
the time except himself and Dane, who
ne left bleeding at the mouth of the pit
were undoubtedly dead. Horses we're
quickly harnessed 30 wagons and LII a few
minutes the villagers were hurrying
through the fierce snow and sleet storm
which was raging. At the mouth of
the mine the tremendous force of
the explosion was apparent. There
we're huge seams In the earth and
timhers Of the hOisting apparatus were
shivered and burned. Foul gases were
escaping. TheD Ane, Who had esca ped with
the man Who alarmed the llagers, lay in
the mud with his face covered with blood
For a long time it was Thought he was dead,
but he regained consciousness in few
hours and Is now at his home. He can
- i l.
caused the explosion. His clothes were
in ribbons. The man who reached
this village with the first tidngs of
the disaster and who accompanied the
rescuers back 10 the mine, said the men
were about TO quit work for the day when
the explosion occurred. Together with
she Daue he had ridden the car TO the top
of the shaft, when the earth seemed to
snap between him, and the next thing he
realized was the splashiDg of 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
st the time of the EN- plOsion and rs they
were at work 112 feet below the surface,
it Is believed that not one survived
the shock as the ex plo5ion must have de-
stroyed everything in the pit. Big fires
were built near the m outh of the pit and
besides these blazing piles the women of
the entomhed miners placed their chill
dren while they themselves tried
by all kinds of entreaties to induce the
Miners from other shafts to enter the
pit and rescue their relatives. One
Fescuing party started down the shaft
at Z O'Clock but was forced to turn
back owing to foul Hir. Another
attempt was made at o'clock, but the
piucsy resouers again we're forced TO
abandon their work. They could hear
no sound from the chambers bellows and
this leads the old miners to believe that
all the men in the shaft have persisted.
05her attempts will be made
to reach the entombed men be-
fore morning. Those who started
down early In the evening say that the
shock destroyed Whole drifts and that it is
probable that the men in the lower levels
are buried beneath tons of slate. Back
damp is supposed to have caused the ex-
plosion. Most of the miners at these
shat S came originally from the mines of
Pennsy lvania.
ST.. LOUIS, Nov 1O.-A special to the
Post Des pa ch from Pittshurg, Klaus,
gives the de'ails of the horrible hoIo csust
in the shaft of the Plttsburg and Cher
10.
The companv had more ordrs than they
could fill and in their ATTEMPTS TO keep
up had been running an uuu,ually large
force of miners. Yesterday morning 164
men were lowered into the mine. AT $50
the afternoon a terrible rumbllng
noise was heard above and black cloud
of dirt, slate and dust shot iuto the air
from the mouth of the shaft with de
brls. The explosion occurred on the east
side and is attributed to the mex perience
of some of the new men. Before the
men on the outside could recover their
senses, one of the miners appeared at
the air shaft nearly suffocated. He was
followed by large number of others who
escaped. The number is rot known.
About twelve O'Clock the fan house was
repaired and fresh air was pumped into
the mine driving back the poisonous
gases and avertipg suffocation. Atten-
ton was then turned to raising the crio
bling SO that the cages could be lowered.
At q. m. the cage was ready to descend
and the first rescuing party was lowered
into the shaft. Owing to the bad air
there they could not stay very
long. On the first return of the cage 1t
contained a number of uninjured but
boldly demoralized men. The bottom
VI tuS WdS Odoig dohoSSA oho ~
was difficult TO get at the dead. As found
they were piled together at the bottom
while the living and badly wounded were
hoisted to the top. AT La. IA. nine
had been rescued alive. About tins |
time the party struck an entry contain
ing twelve more dead. By two O'Clock |
this afternoon twenty five dead and |
wounded had been found with twenty-five |
missing who are supposed to be dead. A |
large number of the killed are French |
and Italian miners. A temporary hospit-
al was prepared in blacksmith shop |
near by, where the most heart-rendingf
scenes were witnessed as the mangledl
and badly burned were carried in. Two
men died while being carried into the
hes eital. The casualties are now placed ,
1T 81 dead and in jured.
LATEB.-A special from Cherokee, Kas., '