Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-01-13
OVER 200 WERE KILLED.
Awful Result of an Explosion ia an In
1is., Territory Mine.

MCALLlSTER, L. l., Jan. "a HlosG dp-
palling calamity occurred near here
last night There was an explosion in
q mine, and as p result over 200 men
now lie dead and about forty are fatal
ly nurt, and as many more badly
burned. At $40 P. NJ. mine No. IL,
owned by the Usage Coal e Mining
Company at i<rens, four and half
miles east of here. exploded. At the
time $50 men were in the shaft, most of
whom were waiting for the cage to take
them out, and the foot Of the shaft is
one mass of dead bodies.
The explosion occurred Just before
the day shift changed OF and came out
OF the mine for supper. A puff Of
smoke was seen to escape rom the
mouth of the single shaft to the
mine, and Immediately following
this there was heard terrible
report, followed DN rumbing as if Of
rolling thunder. The men at the top of
the shaft at once sounded the alarm
and made preparations to send down q
rescuing party, but found that the
mouth of the shaft had been completely
closed by the debris
Elghty-hve men came out by an old
entry, and fortv-two were saved by the
shaft, most Of whom are more or less
burned and bruised, and half will
probably die. This leaves about 223
men vet in the mine, and IN all proba-
bility 200 are dead.
At 40 ten dead men were brought
out and only one could be recognized,
the remains were 30 mutiIated. One
man escaped from the shaft 500 feet
deep, by working from bracket to
bracket and was saved.
Thousands of anxious wives and
anxious mothers are eagerly watching
each cage as it comes to the surface,
hoping to see their loved ones, only to
turn away disappointed. The explos-
ion was caused hy firing shot when
gas was in the NINE.
ST. Louis, Mo-, Jan S.-The officials of
the Usage Mining Company, in this city,
the owners of mine No II, at Krebs,
/. r., where the terrible disaster
occurred last night, have re-
celved dispatch from McAllister
stating that 143 miners have been taken
out of the shaft alive, but many of
them are badly injured AS the press
dispatches from McAllister state that
$50 men were in the shaft, this report
leaves 204 men unaccounted for, all
white men.
McALLIsTER, /. T., Jan. 9.-Excite-
ment, intensified almost to insanity be-
cause of the mine explosion, shows no
abatement. All yesterday and to-day
5000 people were around the
shaft of the mine, crowding,
gesticulating, shreling, some attract
ed there from an idle curiosity
born of phase of morbidness, but tAe
majority driven to the spot half crazed
through the fear Of what they might
have to realize. Others were standing
about, and their blanched faces and
eyes from which the light had depart
ed, and pathetic postures, told the
same story, but told it III a different
way. Wives, sisters, sweethearts,
mothers, fathers, all in their own way
painted such picture of despair upon
the minds of beholdeTs that the i'm
preston will never be defaced.
Up to o'clock this morning IS dead
bodies had been taken out of the mine
and 90 injured, 10 of whom died before
morning. The remaining 50 miners are
lying at their homes SWathed IN cotton and
yaSeline up to their eyes, with their eye
broWS. hair and finger nails burned Off and
the cooked flesh dropping from their bones
This morning the company ordered DO, and
local undertakerS Il carload OF cOirinS.
All the mines in the vicinity have shut
down, and the miners and women are at
KrebeS, the miners to aid III the work OF
rescue, their wives, sisters and mothers
to perform the Offices for the
dead and to relieve the suffering
of the wounded. Men of all
nati0nalities are aiding in the work Of res
anQ
PolanderS, Welshmen, Italians, SWedeS--
all but ncgrOeS-are at the work. Some
time since the white miners refused to
work with the negroes. This morning q
number Of the negroes went to
Krebs and assisted in the work III
only 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 Indignation and fury Of
the miners knew no bounds. 1T seemed as
though another horror would be added
to the scene, but the United States deputy
marshal. anticipating some Such trouble,
was on hand with a posse, and they drove
the coIoTed men from the place at the point
OF WlncheSterS
All day and all night scenes intensely sad
and heart-rending, scenes which made
women shrek in horror and strong men
weep; which made some pray to God for
relief from the burden Of sor-
row that crushed their spirits
to earth, and which impelled others
to curse Him for the same cause,
were being enacted at the mouth of the
shaft. Such panorama was never before
unrolled to the gaze OF the thousands as
Sembled there. AS body after body was
removed from the ground women craZed
with grief would throw themselves in
despair before the shaft III their efforts to
determine at once whether the all that was
human of some poor fellow was not a
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 enacted and re-enactcd.
1t 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 away, and in several cases
the flames had literally roasted almost all
the flesh on the BODY The dead
were taken to a blacksmith shop
near the main shaft, where a
morgue had been improViSed, and
the living taken to their homes. The
crowd Vacillated between the shaft end
the blacksmith ShOD all daV The latter