Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-03-31
RICH Hull EXPLOSION.
LATER REPORTS SHOW THE LOSS OF:
LIFE LESS THAN FIRST SUPPOSED.
Description of the Hsart-rending Scsnsr
Attending the Cslamity-Hersism Of
Mine Superintendent swesney-siow
work In RsscuinE the Impsriled
Misers-List OF Killed and Injured.

RICH HILL, Mo, March Silt is good
news to report that the first rumors as &c
Me loss Of life in the mine explosion is fal
In excess of the actual number of killed
But the exact number can hardly be sscer'
tanned for SONG time. 81 the extreme parts
sf the mine, where many were employed
cannot be reached without much labor
II wss shortly after noon Thursday when
low, rumblirg noise was heard in mine
Ne. 6. owned by Keith & Perry Coal Com
psny, four miles from Rich Hill. 1t wa.
quickly followed by fearful report which
shock die earth for many miles.
Ehere ars about eighty-five miners en-
pleyed in the mine, mostly negroes, who
came from Springfield about year ago
whom the mine was opened. At the time
of the explosion about half the miner,
were In the mine.
Had the explosion occurred few min.
ates sooner, il would have imperiled the
lives Of over . hundred, instead of thirty
Eve, who were in the shaft. The excite
ment was as nothing compared with the
suspense which prevailed. Immediate step,
were taken TO rescue the miners who were
imprisoned by the e I plosion. and as soon as
it was safe to do SO, and the fire resulting
from the explosion had been subdued, n
rescuing party descended into the shaft
They had scarcely got 10 work when an
other explosion occurred, and the would-be
rsscusrs narrowly escaped with their lives.
One of these was George W. Sweeney,
Superintendent Of the mines and he was
badly burned about the hands and face.
The work of rescuing was thus delayed
for many hours. The cries of the impris-
oned men could be heard but they grew
fainter and fainter and by nine O'Clock
ceased altogether.
The following statement of Superintend-
ent Sweeny gives complete description of
the sad accident and the attending scenes:
AT Just seven minutes after noon | was
telephoned that an explosion had occurred
al No. 6, which is four miles northwest OF
town. | went out a. soon as 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.
i went down on tub lowered with ropes
and found them all badly burned and IN q
frenzy, in fact they were crazy, some shout.
ing and Others singing. | found il impossi-
Bile to have this cage hoisted, as the timbers
were all blown outof position. We finally
managed to be hoisted by means of ropes
and pulleys in fainting condition, and it
YVES then ascertsined that the north cage
could be worked by clearing some timbsrs
which had been driven through from the
south shaft. This was done by saving them
short off
Il then called for volunteer, to 90 down
with me to see if any of the poor fellows at
the bottom could be got out. Robert Brick,
George Henry, Charles Smallwood and
Matt Dulehand responded. When we
reached the bottom I looked through into
The entry and saw a light and ! asked who
was there and 4 voice responded Gray,
and told him TO put out his light. ] then
asked him 10 crawl to me, but he was So
exhausted that he could not do 50. and
reached through the small aperature and
dragged him on to the cage Just as
this was done, wind rushed. with
the velocity of a cyclone up the entr v. put
ting out all our lights but one This was
followed by two loud reports and seeth-
ing fame of IRE. which came with . deaf
sning roar, completely elveloping us for =
length of time which seemed like an age,
and shot out of the mouth of the shaft two
hundred and forty feet above our heads,
and we were all horribly burned and
thought our time had come, and the flames
recedsd a. suddenly as they had come, and
We had to abandon the attempt TO save the
others.
Il yelled to the men on the top to hoist
away, but 1t was some time before they got
the signal or understood my meaning. The
moments thus spent were q living death |
though,they could not hear me and conclud-
ed We would have TO crawl through into
the south shaft and undertake to climb out
that way. l was just in the act of doing 50
when felt the cage move, and we ascended
about thirty feet, when the cage began de-
scending. | thought the machinery had
broken and that We were falling to an aw-
full and certain death. The wall that went
up from those men was hesrtrending and |
shall never forget it The knowledge that
at the top we're their wives extending their
arms ready 70 clasp and shield them from
further danger was maddening enough to
destroy reason. All At once. however, the
cage came TO sudden stop and again began
responding 70 the pressure of ropes and pull
leys and We were soon at the top"
Many of those in the mine at the time
of the explosion are thought 10 be dead.
Those who were rescued have suffered in
tensely from the fire and suffocation.
So far the dead taken out are: Charles
Smith, George NJ. Nav. c. Mcpherson,
iured are: Joshua Strickle. c. J. Neptune,
William Taylor, c. W. Young, r. Mason.
Frank Jackson, W. Richards, J. L. Will
liams r. Fernando, John Roberts. c.
W. Roberts Arch Marshall. John Lucas. d,
c. Jones, Matt Dulehand, George Henry.
Robert Deck, Charles Smallwood, Ed
Brown, Henry Brown. Tom Gidls, (coloredl
John Crawford tcoloredl, Ed Reed tcoI-
oredl Newman Gray, Butler Gray, Bob
Dick and John Henry. The men are alive
but all seriously and many fatally burned.