The Red Cloud chief., 1888-04-06
mn HILL gfiAifrf4
Keith g. Perry's SHAFT No. 9 the
Scene OF q Terrible Loss Of
Life.
Powder or Gas Expl0des While Over
Thirty Men Are at Work
Twenty-one Dead.

IWeuty.Ouc Oe0u.
Fourteen Taken Out Wounded Fifteen
Others Imprisoned and Thought to
be Killed.
RIcn Hill, Mo-, March 30.-An explosion
Of natural gas occurred in mine No. 8 Of
the Keith & Perry Coal Company, located
about three miles west of the city, near the
Rich Hill Gas C~ompany's natural gas well,
shortly after twelve O'Clock noon yester-
day. There arc about 100 men employed in
this mine, but at the time Of the explosion
only about thirty were below. Attempts
were at once made to rescue the unfOrtu-
ate men, and eight miners had been
brought to the surface alive when q second
explosion occurred at $3.50 O'Clock, at which
five miners were in the shaft at work, all
but none dangerously.
The scene about the mouth Of the shaft
where the wives. mothers and relatives Of
the miners, wild with the agony Of sus-
pense over the unknown fate Of their loved
OO00 WCI0 VVAxOOO00 W00 uC01 = 0kA0A0Ae
The mines were examined about two weeks
ego BY Mine Inspector Wolfe and pro
n0unced ATE.
At two O'Clock this morning . telephone
message was received from the mine to tho
effect that fifteen mon had been taken out
the mine, fourteen Of them alive. NJ.
Nanville, who is alert and dong all possi-
bic, is Of the opinion that 50 long - the
-AM toknn 0a,t ora MT all AoaA II N0s,0A AAH
have been due TO gas but TO powder. He
and no n could live under such circum-
stances.
A reporter called ct the residence Of the
and found him pr0pped in Q chair with his
face and hands bandaged and scarcely sbl6
to tall. but he made the following stats!
ment: "
At just seven minutes after moon I was
telephoned that an explosion had occurred
ct No. 9. which is four miles northwest Of
town. I went out g soon Al possible and
found the south cage On which the men al.
ways ascend, stuck in the shaft about half
way from the bottom with eight men on it.
went down in q tub lowered with ropes
and found them all badly burned and in .
frenzy. In fact, they were crazy, some
ha9ooing and others singing. l found 1t
impossible to have this cage hoisted a. the
Nmbers were all blown out Of position. We
fifaily managed to be hoisted by e Of
ropes and pulley, in a fainting condition,
.andft was then a~scertained that the north
cage could be worked by clearing away
some timbeVs which had beer driven
through from the south shaft. This was
An~n hr cov,snu <harn obnvt IN than
called for volunteers to go down with me
to see if any Of the poor fellows at the bot
tom could be got ont. Robert Blck, George
Henry, Charles SmallwoOd and Nat Dule-
hand responded.
When We reached The bottom I looked
through into the entry, and say q light,
and ! asked who was there, and a voice re.
sponded: 'Gray," and I told him to put
out his light. ] then asked him to crawl to
me, but he was so exhausted that he could
not do SO, and l reached through the small
aperture and dragged him on to the cage.
Just - this was done q wind rushed with
the velocity Of q cyclone up the entry,
putting out all u lights but one. This
was followed by two loud reports and'a
seething fame of lire. which came with
a deadeninR roar, completely enveloping
rs for . length of time which seemed
like an age, and shot out the
mouth Of the shaft, two hundred and 1orty
feet above our heads, and we wcre al
horribly burned, and thought our time had
come, but the flames receded as suddenly
Is they had come, and We had to abandon
the attempt to a the others. l yelled to
the men on top to hoist away, but 1t was
some time before they got the signal Or
understood my meaning. The moneuffl
thus c were o living death. I thought
could not hear me and concluded we
would have to crawl through the south
shaft and undertake to climb out that way.
I was just in the act OF doing so whenI felt
the cage move n we assembled
about thirty feet. when the age began de-
sccnding. thought the machinery broken !
and that we were falling to an awful and
certain death. Obi the wall that vent up |
from those men was heartrending and !
shall never forget it. The knowledge that |
1t the top was their wives extending their |
arms ready to clasp ant shield them from
danger was ~maddeniny and enough |
70 destroy reason. All at once, however, |
the age can to q sudden stop and again
began responding to the pressure Of rope
and pulley and we were soon ut the top.
4 LATER ACCOUNT |
Rich Hill. No., March SIT was just
lilo O'Clock when IL low rumbling noise
vas heard ia mlne No. q owned by the
T. Perry Coal Company, four miles
Ricl. Hill. 1t was quickly followed
~ "a fearful report which shook the earth
'or many miles. Had the explosion '0c-
few minutes sooner it would have
mpcriled the lives of over . hundred IN
'tcad Of t%hirty-five, who were in the shaft
che excitement was as nothing compared
With the suspense which prevailed.
Immediate steps were taken to rescue
he miners who were imprisoned by the
and rs soon a. 1t was safe to do
70, and the fire resulting from the expl0-
had beea subdued, u rescuing party
descended into the shaft. They had scarce
= got to work when another explosion oc-
urred and the wOuld-be rescuers narrowly
scaped with their lives. Ono OF these
vas George W. Sweeney, superintendent
the mine, and he wal badly burned about
he hands and face.
The work OF rescuing was thus delayed
or many hours. The cries Of the impris-
ned men could be heard, but they grew
aintcr aud fainter, aud by nine O'clock
eased altogether. Thus far five have been
AIKEN out dcAd and fifteen alive. Most q
he latter have suffered intensely from the