The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-10
THE MALESTER DISASTER.
The Work Of Recovering the Bodies of the
Dead Almost Completed.

MCALESTER, /. T., Jan. 9-The heart
rending scenes which occurred yesterday
around the shaft leading to the mine at
Krebs. where the explosion occurred are
being re-enacted today. Mothers, wives,
daughters, sweethearts, sons, suffering g
from frenzy of grief and despair; others,
telling like story in eyes from which the
| light has gone, and in their apat hetic
features, are again today at the mine. Five
thousand people are gathered there. When
the explosion occurred the mines III the
neigh boring towns closed, and the miners,
together with the women of the family,
went to Krebs, the miners to offer aid in
the work of rescue and the women to per-
form the last offices for the dead and to
relieve the suffering of the injured. Up
to 2 O'Clock this morning forty-eight bodies
had been recovered and 100 injured men
had been taken from the mine, fifteen of
whom died before morning The remain
ING eignty-five miners are lying swathed
up to their eyes in cotton and vaseline,
with their finger nails. hair and eyebrows
burned off, and the flesh dropping from
the bones This morning the company
ordered sixty-five collins.
Men of all nationalties except negroes
are engaged in the work of rescue Some
time since the white miners of the mines
here refused to work with colored miners.
This morning Il number Of the latter went
to Krebs. One of their number was heard
TO say that it served the miners right to
have been killed A riot was narrowly
averted; for the white miners rose in their
wrath and would have literally annihI-
lated the colore men had not the United
States marshal driven the negroes from
the scene ut the point of a Winchester.
As the bodies were removed they were
taken to e blacksmith shop near Main
street, which had been improvised into
morgue, while the injured were taken
home Many of the bodies are unrecog-
nizable, the flesh being literally cooked.
a number of trunks and dismenbered
limbs are lying in the morgue awaiting
Identification. There are probably twenty
more bodies in the mine. The krebs relief
party, after forty-eight hours steady work,
was compelled to stop labor this morning
The party was completely exhausted. The
relief party is headed by young Cameron,
boss of the mine at Lehigh. The party is
doing excellent work under his leadership
Three carloads of mules were in the mine
when the explosion occurred, and strange
TO say only two OF the animals were hurt
The boss driver, Tom Kane, was killed
The frenZied brutes committed great
damage to the mine in their efforts to find
AN outlet
I. +. Fleming mine agent and general
manager of the Southwestern Coal and
Improvement company, at Lehigh, said
today that shot firers were TO blame for
the catastrophe. The blast was not only
overcharged, but was fired too soon. But
had it been fired at the regular hour FIVE
or six men would have been killed.
Perhaps it will never be known Just how
many lives were lost in the explosion.
Some OF the galleries and their approaches
are so blocked with debris that il Is nearly
impossible TO open them. The mine Of
ticialS now claim that only one man is
mi lc a n o.
zelle, who scenes to have no family and
no friends. except those who We're killed.
His body is supposed 10 be near the main
entry, under a mass of rocks which has
nearly all been moved. The men claim
that there are others dead or imprisoned
in the mines.
There were 335 men working in the mine
on Thursday, according TO the pay roll
and tally reports of every man who goes
down the shaft. OF these tifty-one dead
bodies have now been recovered, l31 men
escaped by way of shaft No. Z, now used
as n ventilating shaft. and los were rescu-
ed from the main shaft IN critical con-
dition. This leaves thirty y-uine unaccount-
ell for The list of those who escaped BY
shaft No. Z and of those who were rescued
from the main shaft is known to be incom-
plete, and it is believed that about twenty
escaped who have not been listed. This
would leave about niEsteen bodies still in
the niue.
The work of recovering the bodies IS
very slow and IS impeded by the caving in
Of the shafts and galleries. Il is believed
that all who escaped death have been res
cued. No signs OF live miners entOmbed
within the mine were detected today, and
the rescuers now expect to find nothing
but the remains of the dead. Ii is claimed
uow that tue undue haste Of the entry
men TO get away from the mine caused
the death OF 50 many miners. The entry
men fire their own shots. John Hurley
and John Williams are blamed as the
authors Of the accident but deSth has al
ready called them TO r higher court
A miners committee and the mine
owners Will hold an investigation into the
cause of tine accident. Missouri, Kansas.
PENNSYLVANIA, Ohio ana other great
mining stskes ali have inspectors OF
mines, but there Is no such officer ap-
pointed Ivy the government IN the Indian
Territory.