Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-06-17
THE NINE : ERROR.
Exploding Gas Again Does Its
Work of Death.
FLAMES CUT OFF THIRTY ONE MEN

Entombed.
DUNBAR, Pa, June l7.-Thirty one min
ers were killed yesterday by an explosion
of gas in the coal mines at Hill farm,
owned by the Dunbar Furnace company,
and located one mile west of this place
The explosion occurred at 1890 o'clock in
| the morning. The bodies of two of the
unfortunates We're taken out. The Others
| are still entombed in the mine, where a
| fierce fire is raging There is little doubt
| that all are dead. Desperate efforts are
| in progress to clear the way to recover the
bodies, but so far without avail A rescu-
ing party of 100 men, headed by Mine In
spector Keioley, of this district, spent the
| afternoon in the pit, but up until late last
| night had been able to recover only two
bodies. These had died from the force of
| the explosion and are badly burned Their
features are distorted and disfigured and
| they could only be recognized by their
| clothes.
| How the Calamity Occurred.
Fifty seven miners were at work about
| 800 feet from the mouth of the slope
| when the explosion occurred. Near the
point at which the heading started an air
j, hole had been drilled recently Gas and
water had accumulated in it. A miner,
named Patrick Kerwin, penetrated this
air hole, six inches in diameter with his
pick, whereupon strong stream of water
gushed out. Kerwin, alarmed, sounded
the danger signal His assistant, Patrick
Hayes, started hurriedly for the main en-
trance, and had scarcely moved when the
foul gas was ignited from his lamp. The
| explosion that followed was terrible
Thrilling Escape of Twenty-Six.
| What little air there was in the place
drifted to the heading to the right of the
main entrance. The fire followed swiftly,
and before the thirty-one men could be
alarmed, all hope of escape was shut off
by the flames. The twenty-six men en-
| ployed in the left heading were notified of
| the danger in time 10 save their lives al
though their escape was thrilling, and was
accompanied by the widest confusion. AT
point near where the explosion occurred
| the bodies of Daniel Siberian. fire boss, and
David Hayes were found. They had evil
|
| flames.
Men Who Met Their Doom.
| Following is full list of the missing
miners: Joseph Brigner, Richard Brig
ner, MiIt Ferney, Barney Moss Peter
Eagan, Robert McGuill, Martin Cavaner,
John Cope, and Andy Cope Oils
SOM, Pat Devlin, John Debanney, John
! Joy, John Debanney. Jr, David Davis and
/ hi Dat
lam Cahill. Pat Courtney and John Court
ney (his SOM, Jack Mitchell Dan South,
James Shearn, Danny Shearn, David
| Hayes and William Hayes (his som,
James McCleary, Thomas McCleary, Ell
mer Dewey, Joseph Bigley, Barney and
Emanuel Maust fbrothers), and John
| Mitchell
| Previous Disasters in the Vicinity.
| The explosion was one of the most dis
astrous and deadly in the history of the
| coke regions In the Leisenring disaster
| in 1888 twenty three men lost their lives.
| At Col. J. NJ Reeds works at this place
| two years earlier five men were killed,
| while at the Youngstown works "A year
| later, some fourteen lives were lost This
| latest calamity has unnerved the com
| munity and the inhabitants are wild with
| excitement. Thousands ofpeople gathered
at the mouth of the mines. Among them
We're the parents, wives. children and
sweethearts of the uufortunates and a
strong guard of police was necessary to
prevent many of them, mad with anguish
| from rushing into the deadly hole.
Pitiable sights at the Pit Mouth
Wives, widowed by the horror, stood
about, lily clad and sore-footed, lulling to
| sleep their babes in arms. Mothers wrung
| their hands and cried aloud for their boys.
while children from TO Is years of age
hurried about, looking into the blackened
faces of the escaped miners in the hope of
| finding their fathers or brothers Their
suffering was pitiable and while the au-
| thorities of the company were exerting all
their energies to recover the bodies, the
| total absence of information regarding the
| fate of the missing men made their dis
| tress more severe, and means and groans
! went up unconsciously from many in the
| unhappy crowd
| Reading the Sacrament to the Unseen.
Night never fell on gloomier scene
| than this. Men, women and children still
stood about, hoping against hope and
painfully, awfully silent just inside the
man hole, holding in his hand Pickering
| lamp stood Father Malody with his
prayer book in hand, reading the last sac
| rament to the unseen unfortunates.. He
was not disturbed by the excited, earnest
workmen, who rushed hither and thither
| in their endeavor to get at the lost Arm
| fulls of hay were carried in by the men
| to close off all possible escape of the fresh
| air.
Given Up All Hope.
| At midnight last night the smoke and
gas from the right shaft poured up the
| main exit, and after trials almost beyond
human endurance the rescuing party
gave up all hopes of ever recovering their
| comrades, bodies from that entrance and
turned their attention TO the Ferguson
mine, one and n half miles away They
| are now striving to penetrate from that
mine, but the fame and smoke balk every
| effort. The universal and unwilling YER
dict from the old miners about the shaft
is that the entombed men have either been
killed outright by the explosion or later
by suffocation.