Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-04-05
A MISSOURI NINE HORROR
Terrible Explosion in q Coal Mine
at Rich Fill.

Over Seventy Miners Buried I'm Pit
Heartrending Scenes-Daring Eff
forts of Those Engaged
in the Rescue.
RICH HILL, No., March pa disastrous
mine explosion took place here to-day IN
mine No. of The Keith g. Perry Coal
Company. About seventy men were at
work in the mine this forenoon. The first
explosion took place at 1910 p. M,
as the men were leaving the works for
dinner, and after about fifteen had come
up. The explosion was terrific, the flames
shooting out the top of the 270-foot SHAFT.
After the first explosion superintendent
Sweeney and assistants rescued one
miner, and were still at work when a sec
ond explosion took place as ter
| rife as the first, severely 1nJur-
ing Superintendent Sweeney and
the others. Superintendent Revealy OF
the Rich Hill Mining Company is now IN
charge of the works and is doing all he can
to assist the men in the mines, but there Is
little hope of saving their lives. Another
explosion is expected, as it is feared the
| three hundred or four hundred kegs or
| powder in the magazine in the mines may
become ignited. The scene about the
mouth of the shaft, where the wives,
mothers and relatives of the miners, wild
with the agony of suspense over the I'M
known fate of their loved ones, are coll
| lected, is heartrending. The mines were
examined about two weeks ago by Mine
Inspector Wolfe, and pronounced safe.
1t can not be ascertained tonight just
how many men are yet in the mine, but at
| eleven O'Clock one man had been taken
out dead. The work of removing the debris
and clearing the shaft has been going on
| all the afternoon, but it will be several
/ hours before much can be done toward en-
tering the mine proper. A reporter called
at the residence of the superintendent at
eleven o'clock and found him propped i'll
! chair with his face and hands bandaged
and scarcely able to talk, but he made the
| following statement:
CAT just 1907 was telephoned that an
explosion had occurred at No. 6, which is
| four miles northwest of town. I went out
as soon as possible and found the south
| cage, on which the men always ascend,
stuck in the shaft about half way from the
bottom with eight men on it. l went down
on a tub, lowered with ropes, and found
them all badly burned and in a frenzy; in
| fact, they were crazy, some shouting and
others singing. found it impossible to
have the cage hoisted, as the timbers
were all blown out of position.
We finally managed to be hoisted
by means of ropes and pullies, in faint
ing condition, and it was then ascer-
| tanned that the north cave could be worked
by clearing some timbers which had been
driven through from the south shaft. This
was done by saving them short Off
| then called for volunteers to go down
with me to see if any of the poor fellows
OF hot he ont
ssRobert Bick, Geo. Henry, Charles
Snallwood and Mat Dulehand responded.
When we reached the bottom I looked
through into the entry and saw light,
and ] asked who was there and
a voice responded, Gray and
told him to put out his light L then asked
him to crawl to me, but he was so exhaust
ed that ne could not do so, and 1 reached
through the small aperture and dragged
him on to the cage. Just as this was done
wind rushed with the velocity of a
cyclone up the entry, putting out all our
lights but one. This was followed by two
loud reports and seething flame { fire,
which came with deafening roar, COM
pletely enveloping us for a length of time,
which seemed like an age, and shot out of
the mouth of the shaft 240 feet above
our heads. We were all horribly burned,
and thought our time had come, but the
fame receded as suddenly as it had come,
and we had to abandon the attempt to save
the others. yelled to them at the top to
hoist away, but it was some time before
they got the signal or understood my
meaning. The moments thus spent were
a living death. / thought they could not
hear me, and concluded we would have to
crawl through into the south shaft and
undertake to climb out that way. / was
Just in the act of doing so when I felt the
cage move, and we assembled about thirty
feet, when the cage began to descend.
I thought the machinery had broken
and that we were falling to an awful and
certain death. The wall that went up
from those men was heartrending, and
shall never forget it. The knowledge that
at the top were their wives extending their
arms, ready to clasp and shield them from
further danger, was maddening and
enough to destroy reason. All at once,
however, the cage came to a sudden stop
and again began responding to the pres
sure of ropes and pulleys, and we were
soon at the top.'
1t is probable that all who were in the
mine at the time of the first explosion are
dead. The bravery of Superintendent
Sweeney almost cost him his life, and is
applauded by everybody. About eighty
five miners are employed in this mine, and
the probabilities are that the majority of
them were out, but this can not be told 90
night. They are mostly negroes, who
came from Springfield, Ill, when the mine
was opened, less than year ago.
THE RESCUED.
The names of those rescued, including
the eight men found in the cage halfway
up, and the one pulled out of the tunnel
by Superintendent Sweeney, are as fol-
lows, all being seriously burned.
Eddie Brown, aged eighteen; Harry
Brown, aged fifteen; Gid Lee, co1ored;
John Crawford, colored; Ed Reed,
colored; Newman Gray, Butler Gray,
Bob Dick and John Henry. Among
those believed to be still in the
mine are son of William Kay, sixteen
years old; L, R. Dixon, Gibson McFarron,
Job Neptune, Cal Neptune, John Henry, |
and others whose names can not at pres
emit be ascertained. Every effort is being |
made to secure an entrance into the mine. |
Over 500 citizens from the city visited the |
scene of the accident during the after
noon.