Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-11-05
Seventeen M en Killed by an Ex-
 plosion of Gas.
NOT ONE MAN ESCAPED UNHURT.

John Beckus 2S.
 John Carlson, 25.
 Aaron Carlson, 35.
 Dom Closky, 40
 Michael Marcy, 20
 Sylvester Marcy, 19.
 George Melleto, 32
 Martin Pierson, 30
 Maurice Tanks, 27.
 Two unknown, all unmarried.
 Michael Cuiran, 37, leaves a wife and eight children
 Patrick Donley, 55, leaves a wife and seven children.
 The others were Italians and Hungarians, whose names are not given. The mines are located at Clinton County They have been tn operation since the first of the present year and have been daily turning out superior quality of soft coal. One hundred and twenty men are employed in and around the mines, but for some reason but twenty of the whole number were at work when ths explosion occurred
 At few minutes after o'clock the super intendent, George l.. Miller, heard heavy report at the new No. drift, and proceeded to the spot, when he at once saw that vio- lent explosion had taken place. The necessary arrangements were quickly made to carry the air to the face of the work, and men en- tered the mine to learn the particulars of what had occurred.
 An appalling state of affairs was found inside. At the end of an hours hard work fourteen dead bodies were recovered from the drift. Two of those who were injured subse- quently died. One man was missing, and his remains were found out in the woods where they had been blown by the force of the explosion through the air shaft The total number of killed or fatally injured was found to be seventeen
 A driver named J. Farrel was entering the drift when the explosion occurred. He was thrown toward the mouth and escaped, but his mule was killed The force of the ex- nlosior was shown in the fact that bodies were blown clear out ui the mouth of the drift. Everything possible was done ior .he injured by the mine physicians The bodies of the dead were taken charge of by an un- dertaker and prepared for interment. The mine inspector of the district has been sum- moned
 l. In blacksmith shop near the scene of the disaster laid the charred and unrecogrizable remains of August Pierson, who was blown out through the air shaft fifty feet in the air, and some of his clothes can be seen hanging to a limb of large tree near by. Next to him is Mike Currens, who was blown POO feet out of the mouth of the mine, and was found dead in ditch, still clinging to the handle of his shovel Beside him lay P. F. Donley, who also was blown out of the mouth of the mine. Donley leaves a wife and four children.
 The cause of the explosion is a mystery, 1 and no one seems able to explain 1t. The superintendent of the mines, George l.. Miller, who is a state mining engineer, says l that the explosion has parallel only in the Pocahontas mine disaster, and that the cause ! of it will perhaps never be known His ! theory is that Assure of gas was struck by l the miners ill drilling and that the gas, com l ing in contact with a naked light, caused the l explosion. It is known that the air has been so bad in the mine for several days that I many of the men would not work, but the ! superintendent says there is no question that I the place was properly ventilated. Hundreds of people from the neighborhood visited the scene of the fatal explosion The l friends and relatives of the dead ones are people without more than enough of this worlds goods to clothe their bodies. Frag ments of the clothing worn by the victims ot ! the disaster are scattered among the limbs ot l the surrounding trees, some of them fifty feet ! above the ground. Five of the killed were ! Swedes, three Hungarians, six Italians and | two Irish All were unmarried except the l last two, who leave large families.