The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-11-10
Details OF the Disaster.

ST.. LOUIS. Nov. "A special from PittsSrrg,
Kan, TO the Repubioeives the following &C.
count of the coal mine explosion there this
evening:
"a terrific explosion that broke windows In
this little village. and spread CONSERVATION
among its Inhabitants. occurred at dusk to-
night. The violence Of the shock was so great
as to burl dishes from shelves and
deu,olish chimneya half an hour after the
explosion the villagers, who were preparing to
60 to the mine, were startled by ragged. bleed
ing man, who almost staggered into tho arms of
the searchers He said that No 9
shaft at Frontenac, mining suburb
of this village, had been destroyed
by IN explosion. and thst all the in the
mine st the time, except himself and q Dane,
whom he left bleeding a. the mouth Of the pit,
were undou btedly dead. Horses were quickly
harnesssd to wagons, ana in a few minutes the
villagers were hurryig through fierce
snow and elect 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 iimbers of the
hosting apparatus were shivered and burned
Foul gases were escaping The Dane who had
escaped with the man whs alarmed the villagers,
lay in the mud with his f,ce covered with blood
For long time it WAS thought he was dead,
but be regained consciousness in few hours,
and is now a, his home. He Cannot speak, and
does not know what caused the explosion. His
clothes were in ribbons. The men who reached
this village with the ffst tidiucs of the
disaster. and who aecoppanisd the rescuers
back to the mine, said tn. men were about to
Quit work for the day wtsn the explosion oc-
Cured. Together with ilb Dane he had ridden
In the car to the top of tie Shaft. when the
earth seemed to snap bsnalth him, and The next
thing he realized was the splashiug
of the snow and water tpon his face. as hs
lay with his comrade il the wreekage above
the niue.
There were 160 men in The mine at the
time OF the explosion, and they were
st work 1l2 feet belov the surface, IL is
believed that not ono iurvived the shock.
as the explosion must have destroyed everything
in the pit Big fres wersbuili near the mouth
OF the pit, and beside these blazing piles
the women OF the easombed miners
placed their children. While they them
selves tried by all Kinds OF entreatiee
10 induce the miners from the other shafts to
enter the pit aud rescue heir relatives. One
rescuing party started Own the shaft at 7
o'clock, but was forced o tsrn back. owing
TO the foul air. Andher attempt was
made at 9 o'clock, but he plncky rescuers
again wore forced to abandsn their work. They
could hear no sound from as chambers below
and this leads old miners a believe that all the
men in the shaft have pershed. Other at
tempts will be made to resih tre entombsd men
before morning.
''1hose who started dow the shaft early In
the evening say that the hock has destroyed
the whole drift, and II is prdabs that the men 10
she lower levels are buried eneath tons OF slate.
Black damp is supposed TO have caused the ex-
pioslon. Most OF the rnines at the shaft came
originally from Illinois and Pennsylvania"