Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-01-29
over 100 MINERS PERISH
A Horrible Disaster in the
Prick Mines.
AWFUL FIRE DAMP EXPLOSION
The Miners Suffocated by
the Dense Gas.
The Bodies OF 112 Dead Men Removed
From the Mines by 10 o'clock Last
Night--Neariy All the Victims are Hun
garians--yery Sad Scenes.

annals of mining in Pennsylvania hap
pened to-day in theimmense shaft of TIN
II. @, Prick Company. Out of almos
100 miners only few are left TO tell tn,
tale of the awful fire damp explosion
which sent their comrades into eternity
Just how many lives have been lost II il
impossible to tell, but the death list viii
not be below 100 and it may reach 20C
while number of others are so badly
injured that it is not thought they car
live more than "a hours.
THE WHOLE TOWN STARTLED,
1t was shortly after 0 o'clock this
morning, when the low, rumbling noise
so familiar to those living in the mining
regions, was heard, and few minutes
later it was reported that the Frick
mine had been the scene of an explo.
sion and that score of men had lost
their lives, In few moments all was
excitement. Then it was learned that
fire damp had caused an accident and
that fifty miners had met their death
Then came the report, which proved
to be the true one, that almost 200 men
had lost their lives.
suFFocATED BY THE DAMP.
How the fire damp caught fire no one
knows, but it is thought that a miners
lamp was the cause of the awful calam-
ity When the explosion took place
every man in the mine was felled to the
ground, and many of them being only
stunned arose, only to fall again as they
realized the awful situation, and know
ing, as they did, that their only saliva
ton was in hugging close to the ground
in order TO prevent the gas from striking
them. Then came the after damp, leav-
ing death in its path, and in a very short
time almost every miner had been suf-
located.
SOME VERY SAD SCENES.
Inside of an hour 1000 persons were
gathered at the mouth Of the mine, and
many heartrending scenes were wit
messed. The wives and children Of men
who hid gone down into the mine be-
fore daybreak came hurIying to the
scene, and there they rushed frantically
about beseeching every one to tell them
just what had happened, and if so-and-
so, naming the one they sought, had
been injured. II was impossible to tell
them anything, and they had to be con-
tent with watching the crowd Of work
men who were gathered about the shaft
waiting for an opportunity to get at the
men who they knew were dying rapidly
under them.
MINE TURNED INTO A TOMB.
The scene cannot be described and is
almost too heartrending to contemplate.
The lamentations, sobs and means of
the women filled the air and moved the
strongest men to tears. Men who never
wept before shed tears like tender
hearted woman, and there was a com
mon sympathy for the bereaved and
distressed friends and mourners of those
who had met such terrible fate in the
mines. They stood speeches. for a
while, then a wall rent the air and there
were cries for father, brother and lover,
but alas, no response came from the
mine which had suddenly turned into a
great tomb.
THE NEWS AT OTHER POINTS.
Meanwhile the news gradually spread
and the crowd about the mine grew
larger. All efforts from the outside to
secure any intelligence were in vain, as
the only answer from Tricks office was
mo particulars" With this evasive
answer the excitement and suspense
only increased and the anxiety for par
ticulars swelled almost to pitch of des-
peration. kilograms were sent to the
surrounding towns for undertakers, and
in this manner the shocking news
reached many points where the disaster
was then not known. In many of these
places there We're members of the miners
families and they were at once flied
with grie, and Immediately left for the
scene Of the calamity.
A CARLOAD OF coFFINs.
In the evening special engine CON
veyed a carload Of collins to Mammoth
10 receive the dead bodies of those who
had been killed in the mine, and on this
train number of newspaper men also
arrived. The mine was found to be
considerably wrecked by the awful ex-
plosion. Mules We're killed and thrown
hundreds of feet by the awful agent of
death. All the trap doors were torn off
and hurled far from their bearings and
shivered to splinters. The strong mine
wagons were rent asunder and broken
like toy, but this was nothing com
pared to the sight that was met with
when the bodies were found. The men
who entered the mines in the morning
with the smile of hope on their faces
andthe kiss of love on their lips were
found blackened and burned in all parts
of the pit. Here was one thrown against
the coal wall--there were two, and at
another place was group or bunch
lying in all positions where they had
been hurled by the terrible engine Of
death--all dead.
What an appalling spectacle. 1t made
the blood Of every man present run cold
and every cheek was drenched with
tears. Then the work of gathering the
corpses began and at 8 o'clock there
were 80 bodies at the foot of the shaft.
TWAS deemed advisable by the mines
officers not to take any of the corpses to
the surface until after nightfall, as they
believed the great crowd would ma
terially decrease by that time, and the
friends of the deceased would then have
better opportunity to take charge of
their remains. In this, however, they
were mistaken, as a continual stream Of
people poured in by all manner of CON
veyances, and while many went away
the influx kept the crowd upto immense
proportions.
WORSE THAN THE DUNBAR DISASTER.
Everywhere people weretalking about
the dire calamity, and expressions of
sympathy and coincidence are heard on
every hand This great disaster sur
passes in horrible details, at least in
number of deaths, that of the memoir
able holocaust in the mines at Dunbar,
in the adjoining county of Fayette,
where thirty miners were entombed by
a similar explosion six months ago and
cremated by the fire which followed.
The Mammoth mine is comparatively
a new one, and was considered one Of
the safest in the entire coke region No