, 1888-11-15

powerful blast of smoke and gas about the
main shaft only "A few succeeded In reach.
ing 1t. The majority of those saved es.
capped through the ventilatin9 shaft on one
OF the south cuts of the west division.
eighty feet away.
Heartrending scenes could be witnessed
during the day and far into the night
Sorrowing wives, with fatherless children.
wended their way through to the morgue.
gazing on the features and clothing Of
each victim, hoping against hope, that
their loved ones mi ght not be among tho
dead. The persistent reluctance on the
part OF the managers to give
any information concerning the accident
made II impossible to secure accurate in.
formation concerning those who were in
the mine at the time and those who ca.
capped.
The principal difficulty in ascertainine
the names of the victims lies in the fact
that there were u large number of new
men. who were not known Co Pittsbure
people and many may never be identified.
HEARTRENpINa SCENES.
ST.. LOUIS, Nov. 10.-A special from
Pittsburg, Kansas, gives the following de.
tails of horrible holocaust in q shaft on
last night. The company had more or.
ders than they could fill and had been run.
ming an unusually large force OF miners,
and yesterday morning l64 men were low.
cred into the mine. At noon the shots
were fired all right and later the miners
descended for their afternoon duty. AT
$3.50 they were ready to ire shots again
The first shot had been fired, but before
man could be hoisted, terrible rumbling
noise was heard above and black cloud
of dirt, slate and dust shot into the air
Nrnt Nbfa ,xtA .k,,c -.
the tracks upon which the cages were hoist
ed, and filing the shaft with debris.
The explosion occurred on the east side,
and is attributed to the inexperience Of
some OF the new men. Before the men
outside could recover their senses, one of
the miners appeared at the air shaft,
nearly sufocated. He was helped out and
followed by others until large number
escaped, but how many is not known.
There was plenty Of help at hand and
those at the top devoted their attention TO
fan house, only slightly damaged. was first
repaired, canvass being tackled over the
holes that had to be closed. About II
O'Clock the fan house was ready. and fresh
air was pumped into the mine, driving
back the poisonous gas and averting
suffocations. Attention was then
turned to raising the cribbing so
that the cages could be lowered. Men
were lowered into the shaft by rope
and bucket, but could accomplish nothing.
At 2 A. NJ the cage was ready to descend,
and the first rescuing party was lowered
into the shaft but owing to bad air they
could not remain long. On the first return
of the cage it contained number of unin-
jured but badly demoralized men. The
bottom of the shaft is badly damaged, and
it is difficult TO get at the dead. As found,
they were piled together ut the bottom,
while the living and badly wounded were
hoisted to the top. at A. Nj. five had
been rescued. and at p. M. four more
had been brought out alive. At this time
they struck an entry containing twelve
more dead, and at this hour. p. NJ,
there have been twenty-five dead and nine
wounded found, with twenty-five missing.
and are supposed to be dead. large
number of the killed were French and.
Italian miners. A temporary hospital was
prepared in blacksmith shop near by,
where most beart-rending scenes weis
witnessed as the manRled and badly
burned men were carried in. David Tweed
and w. Elwood died soon after being taken
out. Ninety bodies have been recovered
and 1t is believed there are still forty.six
in the mine