Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-10
OVER SEVENTY DEAD.
Only About 19 Bodies Now Left in the
Coal Mines at Krebs, |. T.
DISTRESSING SCENES AT THE PIT.
A Pad Face Quarrel Nearly Precipitates
Second Tragedy.
SOME EFFECTS OF THE EXPLOSION

MCALLIsTER, I. T., Jan. 9.-Perhaps it
will never be known just how many lives
were lost in the accident. Some of the gal
leries and their approaches are SO blocked
with debris that it is nearly impossible to
/ open them.
The mine officials now claim that only
one man is missing. This is an italian
named Antonia Genezteltet, who seems to
have no family and 10 friends except those
who were killed. His body is supposed to
be near the main entry under a mass of
rocks which has nearly been removed. The
men claim there are others dead or i'm
prisoned in the mines
There were 335 men working in the mine
Thursday, according to the pay roll and the
| tally reports of every man who goes down
the shaft. Of these, 81 dead bodies have
! been recovered; 137 men escaped by way of
shaft No. Z, now used as ventilating
shaft, and 10S were rescued from
| the main shaft in critical condition.
About 10 Bodies Still in tn. Mine.
This leaves 80 still unaccounted for. The
list of those who escaped by shaft No. Z
and those who were rescued from the main
shaft, is known to be incomplete, and it is
believed about 90 escaped who have not
been listed. This would leave about 10
bodies still in the m1ne
The work of recovering the bodies is very
slow and impeded by the caving in of shafts
and galleries. 1t is believed all who es-
caped death have been rescued. No signs
Of live miners entombed within the mine
were detected to-day, and the rescuers now
expect to find nothing but the remains of the
dead.
1t is claimed now that the undue haste of
the entrymen to get away from the mine
caused the death of many miners. The en-
trymen fire their own shots. John Hurley
and John Williams are blamed as the
authors of the accident, but death has al
ready called them to higher court.
The mine company and the owners will
hold an investigation into the cause of the
accident. Missouri, Kansas, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and other great mining States have
State inspectors of Mines but there is no
such officer appointed by the Government
in the Indian Territory.
The Race Trouble Crops Out
Men of all nationalities are aiding in the
work of rescue-Americans, lrishmen,
Scotchmen, Poles. Welshmen, Italians,
Swedes-all but negroes-are at the work
Some time since the miners refused to work
with the negroes. This morning a number
ofnegroes went to Krebs and assisted in the
work, but only In a half-hearted way and
one of their number was heard to say that it
served the miners right to have been
killed
The word was passed from mouth to
mouth, and the fury of the miners knew no
bounds. 1t seemed as if another horror
would be added to the seen, but the United
States Deputy Marshal, anticipating some
such trouble was on hand with posse, and
they drove the colored men from the place
at the point of Winchesters.
All day and all night there were scenes
intensely sad and heartrending. AS body
after body was removed from the ground,
women would throw themselves in front of
the shaft in their efforts to determine at
once whether some corpse was not father,
brother or husband. Time and time again
were the women pressed and carried back
from the mouth OF the shaft, but as the
work of rescue proceeded the same scene
was re-enacted.
Corpses Frightfuily Dfsmembered.
It was almost impossible to recognize any
resemblance to the human form in the bodies |
of many of those rescued. Heads, arms,
legs, hands and feet were in many instances |
torn from the Trunks. The pit clothes were |
either partially or entirely burned awav |
The dead were taken to blacksmith shop |
near the main shaft, where morgue had |
been improvised, and the living were taken
to their homes. The crowd vacillated be-
tween the shaft and the blacksmith shop all |
day.
A more horrible sight met the rescuing
parties as the bottom of the shaft was
reached. Here head, there hand or leg
protruded from the mass of fallen rock. |
A number of burned camps and dinner
buckets completed the desolation of the
scene.
The Mine a Complete Wreck.
The force of the explosion literally tore
the mine all to pieces. 1t closed up the
galleries and tore down the barrcades,
which kept the air from circulating freely
through the unused portion of the mine,
thus cutting off all air from the galleries in
use, and left them, as was supposed, wholly
Three carloads of mules were
in the mine when the explosion occurred,
and, strange to say, only two of the animals
were hurt. The frenzied brutes committed
great damage to the mine in their efforts to
find all outlet.
Mr.. Fleming, a mining expert, and for
eight years Superintendent of the mine,
was interviewed this morning in regard to
the explosion. He said the whole blame
should be placed upon the shot fires who
fired the blast too soon. A window-shot
caused the catastrophe. The blast was