Connecticut western news., 1890-09-10
FORTY-F0UR ARE DEAD.
Frightful Loss of Life at Spo-
 kane Falls.
SEVENTEEN BODIES RECOVERED

The Premature Explosion of an Immense Charge of Dynamite in the Northern Havoc-Digging Out Mutilated Bodies. SPOKANE FALLS, Sept. 8-The work at the scene of the fatal rock cut explosion proceeded until nearly midnight, when it was ordered stopped lest some careless blow with the pick should set off one of the three other heavy blasts that had been prepared. Early in the morning the work began again, but no more bodies were re- covered. The huge pile of broken rock was almost entirely removed, and it is not thought that there are any more bodies buried there, although it is possible that one or two more will be found today in 8 sort of pocket, from which the rock was not removed.
 The Dead and Injured.
 The dead so far as they have been recov- cred are: Henry Aptell, John Cartlinio, F. A. Hahn. H. U. Hughes, Henry Jacob mi, Isaac Johnson, Dan McArthur, James McPherson, Homer Olsen, Roy Pinkney, Andrew Puelonelio, Joseph Ray, J. Talbo, Charles Veyeller, Henry J. Veyeller, B. Vitter and A. w. Warren.
 The Seriously Injured.
 Among the more seriously injured now in the hospital are:
 Joe Baronie, injured internally, right ear split and scalp wounds.
 John O. Blaine, injured internally. Matthew Enlo, compound fracture of both bones of the right leg and severe scalp wounds.
 Jacob Mackie, injured internally, severe bruises and scalp wounds.
 Uno Reeth, shoulder blade and arm dis located and leg broken.
 John Rhine, head badly cut, three fingers of left hand amputated.
 Seventeen are Dead. | Great crowds of people swarmed about the scene of the catastrophe all day, and in | the excitement many rumors were ahoat | which have no foundation except in the | imagination.
 Of the injured at the hospitals one, Hugh Hayes, died. Two others who were badly | injured are reported to have died at their l homes. These, with the fourteen dead at | the morgue, make the total number dead | thus far definitely known seventeen, with l seven or eight more dangerously injured, | some of whom will die.
 More to Be Accounted For. l There were forty men working in the fatal cut at the time of the explosion, and | of the seventeen to be accounted for only a 1 few are known to have escaped. The fore man says he will not know how many of them escaped until the roll is called. Half a dozen of those at work in the cut at the time the explosion occurred were present to testify at the coroner's inquest in the | afternoon.
 l <ofo hot fhoro de of dynamite in each of the charges which were exploded, and the witnesses all con- cured in the view that the second charge was exploded by the jar from the first.
 Mangled Beyond Recognition.
 The cause of the accident is of course conjectured, the only evidence giving any light on 1t being the statements of two witnesses, that the man who was doing the tamping became impatient as the hour l of drew near and drove the tamping rod with careless strokes. However this may be he paid the penalty with his life. A piece of rock may have been dislodged in the drill hole and the driving of the tamp ing rod would then have acted on the ex- plosive. The bodies at the morgue were mangled almost beyond recognition, but most of them have been identified. The victims were mainly Swedes and Italians. | Forty-four Reported Killed.
 A later report than the above states that there are yet twenty-seven men unaccount. ed for, all of whom are probably buried be. heath the mighty mass of rock, and that it is believed forty-four men were killed by | the explosion. The men were working in a cut 1eveling off the ground for the new Northern Pacific freight yards The cliff of rock on the side of the cut which was being removed was twenty feet high. The blasts are so arranged that the rock is thrown toward the cut Not anticipating the blast about thirty men were under the cliff when the blast exploded. | Shrieks and Groans Arose.
 A great mass of rock and earth raised in the air and pitched over into the cut, bury. ing the men beneath it's awful weight None of them had time to run, but a few escaped in a miraculous manner. Over 100 men were at work in the adjoining cuts, and at once were on the scene of the terrible accident and began with picks and shovels to hunt for the buried bodies From all over the huge mass of rock groans and shrieks issued, and the air was filled with the appeals of the wounded and dying l A short half hour and all was still.