Connecticut western news., 1891-02-04
WEEPING WIDOWS.
One Hundred and Six Men Now
 Reported Dead.
IN MOURNING AT MAMMOTH

IN MOURNING AT MAMMOTH Heartrending Incidents About the Temporary Morgue.
 Thus Far Upward of no Bodies Have Been Recovered, and as 16O Men Wers in the Mine, Nine of Whom Only Lived to Tell the Story, Forty-one Mors Bodies May Still Remain Where the Fatal Blast Battered Out the Breath of Lifeline Bodies Already Rescued Were So Horribly Mutilated That Only seyenty-eight Have Been Identified. TNe Pennsylv lvania Legislature Will In. vrstigate the Disaster.
 MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa, Jan. 29-ThA :fammoth mine horror has proved all that It's name literally construed implies. The JOSS of life now bids fair to exceed no. Upward of 106 bodies have already been re covered, and from the testimony of those in authority at the mine at least Al more of the unfortunates perished whose re- mains still repose in the fire ravaged gal leries.
 H. C. Prick, owner of Mammoth mine No. 1, the scene of the explosion, says he has private information to the effect that in all there were 16O men working in. the mine at the time of the accident; that nine escaped with their lives, some of them badly injured; the rest, or 151 men, were either killed outright or suffocated by the terrible after damp.
 Was It Pocket of Gas?
 The Mammoth mine was examined by Inspector Jenkins, of the Second district, on Jan. 16, 1891. His report says: General condition of mine good, with 5,5O6 cubic feet of air at inlet" This report is still al the office of the company. It is considered entirely satisfactory. General Superinten. dent Lynch, who spent all day and night in the mine where the horror occurred, saya there is absolutely no way to account for the accident. Capt. Schoonmaker, of the United Coke company, who has been with Superintendent Lynch all day and night, says the accident cannot be accounted for, but believes pocket of natural gas was penetrated by one of the miners
 The mine has been working for five years. and there has never been even a suspicion of gas there. Fire Boss William Sheath, whose body was so horribly mangled, had early in the morning filed his report that the mine was in safe condition.
 A Ghastly Array of Bodies.
 This greatest of all Pennsylvania mins horrors has cast gloom over the entire coke region and the little village of Nam moth is crowded with the sympathetic sympathizing people from the surrounding country. All night and all day the work men made their appearance with appalling regularity at the shaft south, bearing be tween them the mutilated remains of one or more of the victims. A building about 400 yards distance was used as a morgue. Here the dead were washed and dressed and card bearing a number tied to the clothing. They were then laid in rows on a porch to await identification. Soon the porch and the floors of an adjoining house were occupied and the floor of barn waa cleared for the reception of the victims yet to be brought from the mine. The work of cleaning the bodies and preparing them for identification was horrible task. OL one board lay the body of a boy scarcely 16 years old, while alongside lay full grown man, both horribly burned about the body, head and face. Some had the top of their heads blown off, and the faces of others were so disfigured that it was impossible to tell who they were. One man was identified by having 8 portion of his foot shot off while serving in the Confederate e army. A man apparently IS years old had a hole from the top of his head clear through his body to the shin.
 Heartrending Scenes.
 Some had all the bones on one side of their bodies broken when they evidently had been hurled by the force of the explo- sion against the side of the mine. One had his leg drawn up, and it was impossible to straighten it, and, in fact, the bodies were found in all positions and conditions. Those who were taken from the mine first were close to the cage on what is termed ''the level," and were all smothered, while those taken out later and from what is termed "the dip," were horribly burned and maimed. Now and then friend would come forward and identify body, when it would be quickly encased in a coffin and properly marked. A young Hungarian woman came and gazed into the face o1 each body as it lay on the porch. She fin ally stopped, and with heart rending vail
 
 looking young man who was her husband. She patted his face and smoothed his hair all the time talking rapidly in her own language, and her tears streaming down on his face.
 It was wierd and heartrending scene that the feeble rays of an oil lamp displayed the scores of mangled and blackened dead, the horror stricken crowd of spectators, the wailing widows and relatives-and many eyes besides those of the bereaved were wet as pathetic incident after incident occurred. An old man came along and said: '"That is my boy, my poor boy; let me take him home to his mother" and he helped to place him tenderly in coffin. The wives of the victims went from body to body and as soon as they would discover their loved one would burst into tears, and early in the day the grounds in the vicinity of the morgue resounded with their cries. A sob ping mother would lift up her children and point to the corpse and tell the little ones 1t was their father. The majority of those killed were Slavs, and the lamenta- tions of the poor creatures who were thus bereft of a protector was pitiful in the ex- treme. The bodies were laid out on boards and the wife, with a child in each arm, would lay her head against the face of the dead, and in her own language pour out her distress.
 Pennsylvania and the Lodge Bill.
 HARRISBURG, Jan. 30.-The legislature has adopted a resolution calling on the United States senators from Pennsylvania to support the federal elections bln by all fair and honorable means
 Ex-Treasurer Samuel Butler Dead.
 CHESTER, Pa., Feb 2.-Hon. Samuel Butler, ex-state treasurer of Pennsylvania