Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1892-01-22
ONE HUNDRED DEAD.
TERRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE BY THE
M'ALEsTER EXPLOSION.
Many Men We're In the Mine When the
Explosion Came and the Escapes Were
Few-Few of the Wounded Can Re-
eover-Scenes of Horror.

SOUTH McALEsTER. |. r., Jan. TO-
There are 100 miners cntombed in
mine No. IL of the Usage company s
plant here. The accident occurred at
5 o'clock Thursday evening and until
to-day no definite information as to its
extent could be received. Even now
reports are much mixed as to the num-
Der of the dead Twenty seven bodies
have been taken out but the failure OF
many of the 200 who escaped to come
from their homes and show themselves
makes IL difficult to foot up the losses
careful estimate by Assistant Man
ager Krebs places the dead at 1870 and
the injured at 200. of these at least
100 will die, as they are burned SO that
the flesh is dropping from their bones
Forty nine bodies have been recov-
cred from the shaft. OF these twenty
three have been identified.
When the explosion occurred there
were as near as can be learned about
400 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 on the
platform at the side of the shaft. The
cage was blown through the roof of the
tower and fifty feet into the air.
Flames shot up the shaft and above the
ground fully 100 feet, which were fol
lowed by terrific 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 distar :
thought an earthquake was shaking
the ground.
The men already above ground were
Frustrated by the force of the explos
ion, but did not receive severe injuries
The scenes about the mouth of the
shaft Immediately following were fear.
full in the extreme.
The search by the searching 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 ladies so far recovered have been
found to be burned, and MANNED in al.
haOSo cNNiJ SaoS pcyohu lCtoS MUM.
In fully half the cases identification
has been possible only from either the
clothes or the contents Of the o 'kets.
The mines have long been regarded
as dangerous, as there are few escapes
and the ground is very gasy. The ex.
act cause of the fearful catastrophe is
not known as yet, but it is believed by
those who escaped to have been caused
by premature explosion, which took
place before the usual safety precau.
tions could be taken.
The Usage Mining company was or.
ganized in 1868 by Congressman r. l..
Stephens of New York, who built the
Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad
Col. Stephens agents, while canvassing
the prospects of the proposed road
through the Indian Territory, saw the
possibilities of the producing
region, and when the road was put into
operations immense shipments were
at once made from McAlester and 3Ot
or 400 men were employed in the
various mines. A few years later tn,
Gould interests gobbled the Missouri
Kansas and Texas and the mines Wen
with it. Later, when the road got con
troll of itself again, Gould held on t.
the mines because they were productiv,
of great profits. He has operated then
ever since under the original lease o
Col. Stephens from the Usage Indians