The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-05-12
Details Of the Frishtful Accident
in Washington.
THE EXPLOSION DUE TO TIE GAS.

The Second Explosion within Two
Months Fourteen Bodies Already
Recovered, All Terribly burned
and MutiIatcd Not one of the
Miners Escaped.
RosLYN, Wash, May 12.-Later news
of the terrible explosion which occurred
here col...fm the announcement made
yesterday. Not one of the miners is
supposed to be alive. The accident oc-
Cured about o'clock in the afternoon,
just after the shift had gone on. A
driver had just come out of the slope
when tremendous explosion occurred.
The shock upset his car, knocked mules
md driver down and bruised n man
standing 100 feet away. The report was
heard all over the town mile away.
An anxious crowd, which grew in size
every minute, surrounded the mine.
Hard rain was pouring down, but the
crowd needed not. The number of men
in the slope is not actually known, but
it is known TO be from forty-four Ito
fifty.
There is scarcely any possibility that
one of them escaped death. The slope
in which the explosion occurred runs
from No. 9 down to a point where the
proposed shaft will be sunk, and is a
couple of thousand feet in length. For
the past two months more or less danger
has been connected with the work in
this part of the slope, on account of the
unusual generation of gas Two air
courses We're in process of construction
in the supposed vicinity of the ex-
,,11gi,, tha int rF inif
and it is presumed that when the two
courses met the explosion occurred.
Persons who were at the opening of
the slope pronounced the conclusion as
terrible, it being sufficient to throw a
coal car some distance from II point
where it was standing near the entrance.
Great volumes of after damp and smoke
rolled from the entrance, making the
approach dangerous. As soon as it was
possible to enter men set to work, but
progress was iinpedcd by smoke and
damp which the tunnel continued to
emit.
Removing the Bodies.
At 4;30 o'clock the first bodies We're
reached, being those Of John Bone and
John Campbell. After that the work
progressed more rapidly and at 6 o'clock
two other bodies We're brought up, and
at 7:30 two others, all terribly burned
and mutilated. AS progress was made,
the frightful execution of the eXplo-
sion became more manifest. Timbers
We're torn out for hundreds of feet, and
the whole interior was fearfully
wrecked. From the fearful wreckage
of the slope interior and the doubt as to
the existence of the fire in the lower
level, there is no way of determining
how soon all the bodies can be recoV-
cred.
Second Explosion in Two Months.
This is the second gas explosion that
has occurred in the slope within the
past two months. The first resulte in
the death of II negro driver, to whose
carelessness the accident was attributed
at the time Ex-Superintendent Ronald,
who was in the employ of the company
then, said the slope work was danger
GUS to an unusual degree, and recom-
mended extraordinary precautions. 1t
is stated that Acting Superintendent
Harrison had been very careful with
the work, and cautioned the men to OBJ
serve that their lamps were in proper
shape when entering places posted as
dangerous.
AT midnight fourteen bodies had been
recovered and all identified. Work of re-
covery is very slow on account of the
large body of gas. 1t is now almost GER
tain every man in the mine is killed and
that the dead will reach forty-eight.
Roslyn is in Kittitass county, about
seventy miles east of Tacoma. 1t is on
branch of the Northern Pacific rail
road, and hasa population of about 800.
The Roslyn mine is one Of the largest in
the state, supplying the western division
of the Northern Pacific and Union Pa
cf flc roads with coal, and has capacity
OF 10000 tons day.