The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1892-05-17
To Tell the Story Of the
Frightful Calamity.
Disastrous Explosion in a Wash
ington Coal Mine.
In Which Forty-seven Men
Lose Their Lives.
cARELEssNEss BELIEVED TO HAVE
BEEN THE CAUSE
FACTS CONCERNING THE ACCIDENT
WILL NEVER BE ixSowN.

A Large Proportion OF the Victims Leave
Families Who Are in Very Poor Cir
cumstances, Having Had Work bat
Two Days n Week for the Pact Year
Sad Scenes at the Mouth OF the slope
RosLyN. Wash. May 12.-Tuesday
afternoon terrible gas explosion oc-
Cured in the slope of mine No. of the
Northern Pacific Coal company, at this
point, by which nearly half hundred
miners lost their lives.
Most of the men were working ! 800
and 1000 feet from the opening when
the explosion occurred. and there is no
doubt in the minds of the miners or the
company's Officials that every man a was
The Roslyn mine is one Of the largest
in the state, and has capacity of 10000
tons day.
Manager Kangley. of the Roslyn
mines, says the explosion was caused by
gas. which was probably lighted by a
match or the careless use of lamp.
The true cause of the accident will
never be definitely known, as no one es-
capped TO tell the story.
Many of the miners imprisoned ara
married and their widows clamor wildly
about the entrance to the slope. Many
of the families are entirely destitute.
lie Slope Is <.uOO lttl lRlts anu his
several level or cross cuts, which inter-
sect the slope horizontally at right
angles. In opening some of these levels
it is impossible to get air circulating
through them until the work of opening
the level is completed.
The slope dipped at an angle of 20 de-
grees and was six feet high and fourteen
feet wide. The levels are eight feet
square. M
Seven hundred miners are at work
rescuing the bodies. only few of
which have been recovered. All were
terribly bruised and indicating death
instantaneous. The floor of the city
hall was converted into morgue. The
rescued bodies were viewed by crowds.
A sad feature of the disaster is that
large proportion of the victims leave
large families, and as they have not had
over two days work per week the past
year, many of them are IN straitened
circumstances. The scenes about the
mouth of the slope We're sad in the ex-
IRENE, men, women and children stand
ing about in dazed conditions; pitiful
lamentations of the negroes add to the
horrors.
The explosion occurred just as two
gangs We're shifting. Two boys in the
the tunnel escaped, but they are the only
ones.
In conversation Superintendent Har-
rlson SAID that IN his OPINION the ex-
plosion occurred either IN the sixth level
west. or i'll the seventh level east, and
his theory is that some of the miners
struck drill hole full of gas and water,
the former forcing the hitter out and
bringing it in contact with the miners
lamps. He is convinced that every
miner who was at work on either of the
three levels at the time of the explosion
is dead. The bodies recovered are
burned, and in some instances charred.
Others show that death resulted sim
ply from concussion. 1t appears that
those who We're on the upper levels sus-
tanned greater mutilation than those
lower down. The relief work still con-
tinues and the miners are making every
effort to recover the bodies of the dead.
1t is thought that the lower levels are
free from fire, from the fact that the in
terror air is growing purer hourly.