Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1888-11-16
a TERRIBLE FATE!
Eighty Lives believed TO Have Bccn Lsss
In tho Mine Explosion mt Pittsburg,
Kan.-Thirty-NIno Bodies Recovered
pIfcnua gronNa.


pltcous Scenes.
PtrTsDuRa, Kan, Nov 1e.-Thrce more
bodies Worc taken from tho wrecked
Frontenac mine Sunday, making thirty
nine altogether recovered. There aro
probably fifty more in the mine. Most
OF tho victims were shoCklnRly
mutllntcd. There was nothing loft of the
first man brought up from tho dreadful
holo but bleeding, pulpy trunk. The
hoad and arms and legs had been blown
on Many of the searchors tainted at their
work Some of the victims were
found buried beneath immense weights
of slate whilo others worc discov.
cred in groups and in all kinds of posi-
I ons Two men, who have not been iden
| tihod, were so tightly locked in each
| others arms that 1T was with great DIM.
Guilty they were toru apart Their eyes
had been blown out by the explosion and
thor faces so horribly crushed that the
bones were ground into the flesh.
| PITTsBuRd, Kan, Nov. 12--The explo-
sion in shaft No. . of the Cherokee a. Pitts
burg Coal Company's mine at Fronteuat,
Kan. Friday night proved to be the most
appalling that has ever occurred in this
country and brought death TO the homes of
dozens of families in Pittsburg, Frontenac
and Girard. Tho explosion occurred
at $3.50 o'clock, when the usual dai-
ly blast was fired. Ono of the
blasts proved 10 Zoe defective and
shot stream of flame into the air, lgnit-
ing the gas and fine particles of the coal
dust stirred up by two previous blasts
and in an instant vast, terrific explosion
took place which knocked all of the miners
on their faces, hurled masses of coal upon
them and shook every part OF tho mine.
One hundred and siXty-four men
were in the mine, and of that num-
ber abo at half were uninjurcd and found
their way to tho mir shaft and escaped.
The explosion was heard in every part of
Frontcnac and Pttsburg, and in n incrcdi-
bly, short time the road Leading to the m ne
was thronged with wives, mothers and
daughters of the miners with locks of ter
ror depicted upon their faces fastening to
the scene.
Hundreds of citizens and miners Joined
the throng of anxious relatives about the
shaft and as fortunate miner emerged
from the air shaft in safety he was seized
by the wife, mother or daughter
aud carried off home On account OF
the air fan being damaged and the
shaft blockaded by the debris the work
of rescuing could not be begun un-
til after midnight, when rescuing party
descended the shaft and began Sc rching
for the living. The most horrible sight
every entry on the north and west sides,
while the possageways were strewn
with dead men, mules and wrecked
carts. Tho air was bad, and num- |
Der of the rescuing party were
Frustrated and had TO be carried out, but |
their places were supplied with ready vol |
unteers. In some entries every man was /
dead ana mangled and burned in the most .
horrible manner. Here and there in pro-
tected spots man was found yet alive, !
and he was quick V carried to the surface, |
where a large force of physicians had been |
organized TO receive him.
Only fourteen of such were found, but |
the last one was not rescued until after
daylight yesterday morning They were |
all terribly burned and the greater part of |
them will yet die. Arrangements were .
then made to bring up the dead and at .
noon that work was begun and carried on
rapidly. Thirty-siX bodies were found in
three entries on the north and west sides,
where the work had TO be stopped
until other parts of the mine could be Sc
cured so that it could be explored and the
dead recovered. 1t will require three days
to get all the bodies, and, as many are
burned and mangled beyond recognition,
the names of all the dead will never be
learned. The portions not explored con-
tain large number of bodies, which VIII
swell the number lost to nearly eighty.
Various causes are assigned for the ac-
cident, but the best informed of the
miners agree that it was the result of an
overcharGe of powder imperfcctly put in
by an unskilled miner in the third entry on
the north side, where French and Italians
were employed. In that part of
the mine the damage of the explosion was
greatest and not a single person in the en-
tries near escaped death and their bodies
were horribly mangled. lhe desolation in
Frontenac is complete and general. One
half of the homes in that little village have
lost their bread winner, and the piteous
cries of the stricken ones are a sad Incl
dent of the calamity Many of the families
are destitute, and subscription for their
benefit was started and 400 subscribed in
u few moments by employees in shafts Nos.
and 3.
One of the men who escaped said that he
ran through the main way to the air shaft.
The miners had gathered in lunches, aud
all were engaged in prayer, not evep try
ing to escape. Shaft No. . was opened
about two years ago, and is l20 feet in
depth and employed full force of about
200 miners, and is the largest of the three
owned by the company at FrOntenac
The miners ccusured the company for
employing incompetent miners, which
they say made the operation of the mine
so dangerous that many of the best min
ers had quit it aud gone to other mines at
Wear City and Esenhere. About week
ago defective blast was fired, and il was
only an accident that an explosion did not
occur then. A number of the miners pro-
tested, and several refused to go into the
mines again.