Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-01-30
THE NEWS IN BRIEF.


Horrible Disnstrr-..I3O Lives Lost.
/ The worst disaster in this country thus
Tar this year occurred last Tuesday in the
Mammoth shaft Of the II. q. Frick coke
company about ten miles from Mt Pleas
ant, ia. \ fire damp exploded resulting
IN the death Of 1870 men II is supposed the
explosion was caused 10y the ignition of
miners oil lamp. The after-damp which
followed the explosion sufiocated nearly
every workman. few men, realizing the
aWlul situation, fell to the ground, thereby
preventing the gus from striking them
Inc persons not killed are in critical con
dition. The fire which broke out after the
explosion was soon extinguished by the inn.
mense fans which were put in operation
The gas was about all driven from the nit
and the work Of rescuing the entombed
miners begun at once. The scene within
the mine was awful. Here and there Inv
human bodies Some were mutilated and
all were blackened by the flame which had
swept through the works The bodies of
those who had been killed by the effects of
the explosion lay in distorted attitudes.
while those Of the others who had eppar
emily escaped the flame and concussion lint
had rushed from the rooms in which thew
we're working into the flats, and had sue
cumbed to the stealthy suffocating fire
damp, lay in sleeping attitudes Some Law
at full length, with heads resting upon their
hands, as If asleep. Others were face down
ward, with their heads in pools of water
The coal wagons used in the mines were
sPhhtered to pieces in some cages, and in |
others several had been jammed together
ID solid mass. The big pumps, which lift |
tons of water at a time, were broken and |
scattered as il they had been made of straw |
When the news Of the explosion was car |
ried to the miners families in the little |
houses dotted on the hillsdes, mothers,
wives, sisters, daughters and sweethearts
rushed to the shaft. But the story was
soon told. "All the men IN flats Nos . 3
and are dead. As fast as we get their
bodies out and they are identified and fixed
for burial we will send them home" was
what was told them. 1t has been estimated
that there are 90 wives and families left
wholly dependent by this disaster In fact
they are almost pennless as the plant has
not been running full for some time and
work has been exceedingly scarce since the
1ulness in the demand for coke began
Every means possible will be used to sup
ply the widowed mothers and their children
with the necessaries of life. The Frick
company will be liberal in this direction.
ina subscription papers are being circulated
News of terrible agraran outrage comes
rom County Glare, Ireland Last Friday =
ight COW belonging to boycotted farmer
wing near kildysart was skinned alive by
ONE unknown parties.
fur seal Of lj0-pounds' weight and
early five feet long, was captured on the
Delaware coast a few days ago Nothing
| the kind was ever seen there before c
here was heavy southeast wind blowing
the time of high water and the animal q
'as carried up in the high grass on the !
more, and was unable to escape at the time .,
T ebb t
At Buffalo, n. Y, Friday two iremep a
ere caught between falling walls and in !,
antlv killed. a third fireman had his y
iull fractured and others were badly in l.
lred. u
Small pox is becoming a raging epidemic /,
lroughout the central and southern parts a
Texas. There are 800 cases in the city
SpJtford alone. The facts have been Il
lthheld from the press on account Of the a
opposed injury to the commercial interests q
the state "
The report comes from Pittsburg, Pa. 9,
a ha r II q 49,