St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-12
An Explosion in a Belgian
Mine Shuts Off Escape Of
Workers.
Three Hundred of Them Bur-
led Alive, and Half Of Them
Will Be Found Dead.
Danger From Caving Walls
Hinders All Attempts at
Rescue.
Lord Salisbury Blamed for
Observation-Disclosures
by Pope Leo.


occurred today i'll colliery near Charl-
eroi, which. it is feared, will result in
great loss Of life. Three hundred miners
were employed in the coal pit when
there was a terrific explosion of fire.
damp. Tremendous excitement pre-
walls in the vicinity of the pit. Men.
women and children have assembled in
an enormous crowd and are wild with
fear, for it Is thought that when an en-
trance is made to the colliery the loss of
life will be found to be appalling.
The cage and the ventilatOr were shat
tered The destruction of the yentilator
adds an element of great danger to the
situation. The men, if any. who sur
vived the wreck of the explosion are
apt to meet their death from the choke
damp, as with the destruction of the
ventilator it is impossible to rid the
mine of the gases. A large number of
the miners are married, and their fami-
lies are at the pit mouth frantic with
grief.
The place at which the explosion oc-
Cured is in the second gallery,5 500 yards
below the surface, and work at this
depth is difficult and dangerous. Vol
unteers have been let down three times
in a cage When halfway down on the
first trip the caving of the shaft fright
ened them, and they returned. Some
of the men refused to go down again, as
the mine was
Flooding Rapidly,
they said. and the loosened sides of the
shaft threatened to fall in and bury
them The others made the second
trip and reached the mouth of the sec
ond gallery. They found few men
who were nearest the shaft when the
first explosion occurred. These miners
had run for their lives, but had been
caught at the entrance by falling
timberS. All had broken bones,
and three were so nrmly
lodged in the wreck that the reSculng
party dared not walt to eXtricate them.
Five of the wounded were brought up
on the second trip and two others and
five dead were brought up on the third
trip. The rescued men say that twenty
tive of the miners still imprisoned are
women. There are about z0G in all
still to be accounted for. 1t IS thought
that those nearest the first caYe-ln i'll
the gallery may be rescued alive. Those
furthest from the entrance OF the gallery
have probably been sutfocated before
this, and. if not, will die before they
can be reached. The work has been
set back twice this evening by the cav
ing Of great blocks of soil aud stone
from the sides of the wrecked shaft,
aud since the third trip
No Volunteers
for the work of rescue could be found.
The superintendent of the mine has
twice gone down 200 feet, but has re-
turned saying that the chances would
be four to one against him if he went
lower. The dead will nu mber at least
100 and probably $50. About 80 of the
800 men in the gallery at the tineof the
first explosion got out by the second
shaft.
King Leopold has contributed 5000
francs from his private purse TO the
temporary support of the families OF
miners already known to have been
killed. Hundreds of men and women
from nearby villages have gathered
near the mouth of the pit, and are camp
ing around boniireS watching the prog
ress of the work of rescue. Families
and relatives of the 200 or more men
have made their home in the fields for
the night. and are cooking their meals
over open-air fires so as to get the ear
liest news from those imprisoned by the
shattered shaft.
The crowd were mad with grief. and
women, young and old, sobbing aud
shrieking in the most heartrending man
ner. struggled with all the energy of
despair to force their way to catch a
glimpse of the men as each successive
batch of blackened bodies was
carried through. When some bleed
ing form was recognized a shrek
more piercing than the others would
rend the air and many women tainted
away. OF the men thus far brought out
of the mine only few are likely TO re-
cover. In every instance the unfort-
unate men were bruised or burned in a
dreadful manner.