The Dickinson press., 1891-01-31

from the shaft. Mr.. Frick says that in
all there were 100 men working in the
mine ut the time of the accident, that
nine escaped with their lives, some Of
them badly injured, the rest, or
151 Men Were Killed
Outright or suffocated by the terrible
fire damp. The fire boss, Smith, whose
body was so terribly mangled, had early
Tuesday morning filed the following re-
port in the Office of the company at the
works:
"MAMMoTH, Jan. 81, 1891.
To Thomas Lynch, General Superin-
tendent:
This is to certify that we, the under
signed, have this day, Jan. %, 1891, ex-
amined the working places in Mammoth
mine and found same to be i'll fit con-
dition for men and other workers en-
ployed herein.
(SigneD WILLIAM SMITH, Fire Boss.
T. PATTERSON, 1ns. of Mach'y.
GEORGE PREFER, Engineer.
The Mammoth mine was examined by
Inspector jenkins, of the Second district,
on Jan. 16, 1891. His report says:
General condition of the mine good,
with 5,55S cubic feet air inlet.
The Explosion IL Mystery.
Interviews We're had with the former
owners Of the Mammoth mines and 9TH
erS whose business interests and duties
required them to keep posted on the con-
di.icn of every mine in the Connellsvills
coke region. Their statements agree in
that there is absolutely no way to ac-
count for the accident. At no time has
there ever been a suspicion of gas in the
Mammoth mine. and at this plant as
we'll us at others owned by the Frick
company, no expense has been spared to
make their mines us safe as experience
and science can make them.
This horror has cast a gloom over the
entire coke region and the little Village
of. Mammoth is crowded with the SYM
pathetic and curious from the surround
ing country. All night the workmen
made their appearance with appalling
regularity at the mouth of the shaft,
bearing between them the mutilated re-
mains of one or more of the victims. A
building about 400 yards distant was
used as a morgue. Here the dead We're
washed and dressed and card bearing
a number tied to the clothing. They
We're laid in rows on porch to await
identification. By O'clock the porch
was fully occupied, the floors of an ad-
joining house were occupied and the
floor of barn was cleared for the re-
ception of the victims yet to be brought
from the mine. At 1870 o'clock an alarm
was sounded, and every person in the
village rushed to the shaft. The excite
ment was intense over the report that
the
Mine Was Again on Fire,
and that the rescuers had also persisted.
The men in the shaft also heard the
alarm and dropping the bodies they
We're carrying, rushed to the cage and
were hoisted to the surface When it
was discovered that the danger was
passed the men heroically returned to
the work of getting the remains of their
comrades out of the pit. The work of
cleaning the bodies and preparing them
for Identification was horrible task.
On one board lay the body of a boy
scarcely over 1G years old, while along
side lay full grown man, both horribly
burned about the body, head and face.
Some had the tops of their heads blown
off, others the face
DisAgured Beyond Recognition.
One man was identified by his having
had portion of his foot shot off while
serving in the rebel army. A man ap-
larently 1S years old had a hole from
the top of his head clear through to the
chin. Some had all the bones on one
side of their bodies broken when they
evidently had been hurled by the force
nf hn
mine. One had his leg drawn up and it
was impossible to straighten it, and in
fact the bodies were found in all posi-
tions and conditions. Those who were
taken from the mine first were close to
the cage on what was termed the level
and were almost hard, while those taken
out later and from what is termed the
dip were horribly burned and manned.
Now and then q friend would come for
ward and identify body, when it
would he quickly encased in a coffin and
properly marked. A young Hungarian
woman came and gazed into the face Of
each body as it lay on the porch. She
finally stopped, and, with q heartrend-
ing wall began shaking the face and
body of fine-looking young man, who
was her husband. She patted his face
and smoothed his hair, all the time talk
ing rapidly in her own language, and
her tears streaming down on his face. IL
was wierd scene, all the dead lying
there. all the crowd surrounding them,
and all under the flickering light of an
oil lamp. An old man came along and
said: THAT is my boy, my poor boy.
Let me take him home to his mother. y
and he helped to place him tenderly in q
coffin. Towards morning the work OF
removing the bodies became more diff.
cult on account of the accumulated gas,
Manager Lynch says that he will have
all the bodies out by noon.
Heartrcnding Scenes.
At II o'clock the rescuing party had
taken out ninety-seven and discovered
thirteen more in section of the mine
which had not been visited. Ohe wives
OF the victims went from body to body
and as soon as they would discover thei1
loved one would burst into tears, and
early in the day the grounds in the
vicinity Of the morgue resounded witt
their cries. The mothers would lift
their children and point to the corpse
and tell the little ones it was thei]
father.
The majority Of those killed were
Slavs, and to hear the lamentations O.
the poor creatures who were thus beref
OF protector was heart rending. TIL,
bodies were laid out on boards, and tn,
wife with child in each arm woult
lay her head against the face of the deat
ana IN her own language pour out he