St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-09
Piles Of Mangled Corpses in
View Of Self-Saerifieing
RescuepS,
While From Affair." OF Can Be
Heard Maddening Cries Of
the Entombed.
Deaths Sweeping Hand Has
Brought Woe to Scores
of Homes.

since the terribly fatal explosion in the
Usage mine at Krebs, but it is still i'm
possible to even estimate the number of
victims The number who came up
alive after the explosion is still unde-
termined and can be determined only
by house to house canvass, which is
now being made as rapidly as possible.
From the facts now at hand it is be-
lieved that the killed will number fully
100, the injured lis, about One-half of
whom will probably die from the effects
of their injuries. At the hour of the
explosions o'clock yesterday afternoon
there were, rs near as can be learned,
about four hundred men in the
mine They were the day shift and
were just preparing to ascend when the
explosion took place. Six men who
had already been hoisted in the cage
had just stepped onto the platform at
the side of the shaft. The cage was
blown through the roof of the tower
and fifty feet into the air.
. AFierce ID cath KneH.
A tongue of flame shot up the shaft
and above the ground fully hundred
feet, which was followed by terrifi:
report which was heard for miles
around, and shook all the neighboring
country so violently that people in the
surrounding mining towns four and five
miles distant thought an earthquake
was rocking the ground. The men al
ready above ground were Frustrated by
the force of the explosion, but did not
receive severe injuries.
The scenes about the mouth of the
shaft Immediately following were fearv
full in the extreme. Weeping wives.
mothers, sisters and children locked TO
the scene from the village at the sound
of the explosion, their faces blanched
with dread, and many of them hysteri-
cal to the point of insanity. The air
shaft, the only way of escape for the
entombed miners, was the point where
the relatives of the miners congregated.
Many of the miners were able 10 make
their way out of the tomb and they were
welcomed at the surface by their wait
ing friends. The injured were quickly
taken to places of shelter and were ten
derby cared for.
Tortured in Escaping.
One man with a broken leg climbed
all the distance of 400 feet through the
air shaft and fell unconscious as he
reached the surface. Others who were
terribly burned labored painfully up
the ladder, strips of flesh falling from
their hands and arms as they grasped
the ladder rungS.
1t is believed that fully half of the
entombed miners escaped by the air
shaft. Many CT them, however, re-
ceived mortal injuries, and although
hone of them are known to have died
at this hour Is p. m.), it is believed that
in some cases death is not far distant.
The news of the disaster spread
quickly through the villages surround
ing Krebs. Every physician at once
volunteered his services and fastened
to Krebs ready to do his duty of mercy.
Hundreds of miners from the Braid
wood, Illinois and McAllister fields hur-
ried to the scene To do what they could
in the rescue of the entombed men and
the recovery of the bodies of the dead.
The work of rescue was begun at once
and has continued all through the
dreary hours of last night and today.
The work was
Terribly Hazardous,
but the hope that some of the unfortu-
nate men might be rescued alive spurred
the rescuers on TO many deeds of bravery
and possible self-Sacrifice. The explo-
sion had entirely changed the tOpOg-
raphy of the mine. Many tunnels were
closed entirely and big loose boulders
were balanced perilously on shelves of
rock adjoining the air shaft and the
main shaft, which a breath of air m ght
almost hurl down upon the rescuers.
Notwithstanding these dangers the
rescuers kept bravely at their work and
at 5'O'clock this evening had recovered
about forty bodies. The rescuers worked
at both the air and the main shafts and
bodies were rescued by both routes.
Those identified were Immediately
claimed and were carried away by rela-
tives or friends SO that an accurate count
of the number has not yet been made.
Those identified number twenty-three,
and are: George Lindsay ST., George
Lindsay Jr., William Russell, William
S. Russell, George Russell, John Sierra.
Silva Sierra, Michael Jacomo, Edward
BlondOn, Joseph Blondon, Joseph Cen
nesslo. Stephen VerZeno, Eugene Cam
passi, Bennett Moss, Joseph Caronto,
Antonio Gennesat, Thomas Cain, Grago
lock Quinn, Michael McShane, Edward
Kibble.
At the various places used as morgues
there were about seventeen unidentified
bodies and pieces of bodies.
Not One Found Alive
The search by the reScuing party
still continues. There is one disheart-
ening fact connected with the search up
to the present time, and that is that not
one live miner has been found. All the
bodies so far recovered have been found
to be burned, charred and manned in
almost every case beyond recognition.
In fully half the cases Identification
has been possible only from either the
clothes or the contents of the pockets.
In some cases limbs had been severed
from the bodies by the force OF the ex-
plosion, and in others the bodies had
been burned to crisp and charred al
most beyond resemblance to the human
form.
There ARE two encouraging facts
which urge the reScuers on to the work.
No fire followed the explosion, at least
there have been no signs of any, and
there are known to be live men en-
tombed in the tunnel behind fallen
boulders. The reScuers can hear faint
knockingS and
Far-Of Shoutinss.
They are digging in the direction
whence the sounds come and hope yet
to reSue some of the men alive. The
wreck about the mouth of the mine and
at the bottom Of the hosting shaft Is SO