St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-10
HORROR UPON HORROR
Frightful Results Of an Ex-
plosion in a Mine in
Kansas.
It Skaters q Shaft and En-
tornbS One Hundred and
Sixty Men.
Retween Fifty and Sixty Per-
sons Cre1nated in a Fac
tory Fire.
Sixteen Others Seriously In
jured, Many of Whom
Will Die.

PITTsBURG, Kan, Nov. 9.-Thes most
dreadful disaster in the history OF Kan
sas occurred at > O'Clock this evening.
When the men were pfeparing to leave
off their work at shaft No. 9, at From
tenac. a suburb Of PittSburg, terrible
explosion was heard that shook the
earth for great distance and complete
ly shattered the shaft. Upon investiga-
ton it was found that 100 men were
within the mine at the time of the eX-
plosion. Being liz feet below the
surface, ii is almost certain that all are
dead at this writing. The only eXcep-
tons we're two men in car coming up,
and being neal the top of the shaft
managed to escape. Pittsburg is in the
center of the coal mines of Southeastern
Kansas and is about 100 miles south of
Kansas City on the Fort Scott & Gulf
road.
DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.
from PittSburg. Kans.. gives the follow
there this evening: "A terrific explo-
sion that broke windows in this little
village, and spread CONSERVATION
among its inhabitants occurred
at dusk tonight. The violence
of the shock was SO great as
to hurl dishes from Shelves and demol7s
ish chimneys. Half an hour after the
explosion 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 search
ers. He said that Shaft No. at
Frontenac, a mining suburb of this
village, had been destroyed by an
explosion, and that all the men in the
Dane, whom he left bleeding at the
mouth of the pit, were undoubtedly
dead. Horses were quickly harnessed
to wagons, and in a few miDuteS the
villagers were hurrying through fierce
snow and sleet storm which was raging.
At the mouth of the mine the trenen-
douS force of the explosion was appar-
ent. There We're
HUGE SEAMS IN THE EARTH.
and the timberS of the hosting appara-
tus were shivered and burned. Foul
gases were escaping. The Dane, who
had escaped with the man who had
dldIUf6u Juc NllldSClS. lay III tuC lluu
with his face covered with blood. For
long time it was thought he
was dead, but he regained conscious
ness in a few hours and is now at
his home. He cannot speak and does
not know what caused the explosion.
His clothes were in ribbons. The man
who reached this village with the first
tidings of the disaster, and who accom-
panied the rescuers back to the mine,
said the men were about to quit work
for the day when the explosion
occurred. Together 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, the splashing of the SHOW and
water upon his face as he lay with his
eemrade in the Wreckage above the
mine. There were 100 men in the mine
at the time of the explosion, and. as
they were at work LIZ feet below
the surface, it is believed that not one
survived the shock. as the explosion
must have destroyed everything in the
pit. Big fires were built near the
mouth of the pit and beside these blaz-
ing piles the women of the ell
ton1bed miners placed their children
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 rescuing party
started down the shaft at 7 o'clock, but
was
FORCED TO TURN BACK,
owing to foul air. Another attempt
was made at 8 o'clock. but the plucky
rescuerS were again forced to abandon
their work. They could hear no sound
from the chambers below, and this
leads old miners to believe that
all the men in the shaft have
persisted. Other attempts will be
made to reach the enrombed men
before morning. Those who started
down the shaft early in the evening saw
that the shock has destroyed whole
drifts, and that it is probable that the
men in the lower levels are buried be-
meath tons of slate. Black damp is sup
posed to have caused the explosion.
Most of the miners at these shafts came
originally from Illinois and Pennsylva-
mia.