The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-09
100 MINERS DEAD
And as Many More Will Die From
the Torture Of the Cruel
Flames.
Most Appalling Mine Horror That
Has Occurred for Many
Months.
This Time the Calamity Falls in
Deep Coal Mine in the
West.
a Little Town in the Indian Terri
tory Ono Awful Charnal
House.
400 Feet, the Loss OF Burning
Flesh Marking Each Step Upward
Cause Unknown.

still impossible to estimate the number of
victims Of the Krebs disaster. From the
facts now ut hand it is believed the killed
will number fully 100 and the injured 1856,
about half Of whom will probably die. At
the hour Of the explosion there were as near
as can be learned about 400 men in the
mine. They were the day shift. just pre-
pairing to ascend when the explosion took
place. Six men who had already been
hoisted in the cage had just stepped onto
the platform at the shaft. The cage was
blown through the roof of the tower, fifty
feet into the air. A tongue Of
tinlne shot up the shaft and
above ground fully 100 feet, followed by a
terrific report, heard for miles around,
shdking the neighboring country SO vio-
lently that people five miles distant thought
it was an earthquake. The scenes about
the mouth of the shaft Immediately follow
ing were fearful in the extreme. Weeping
wives, mothers and sisters focked to the
acene, their faces bianched with dread, and
many hysterical to the point Of insanity.
The air shuft, the only way OF escape, was
the point where these relatives congregated,
AB many as were able to make their wav
out We're welcomed at the surface by wait
ing friends.
One man. with broken leg, climbed
four hundred feet through the air shaft and
fell unconscious as he reached the surface.
Others, terribly burned, labored painfully
up the ladder, strips of flesh falling from
thaIe hands and arms as they grasped the
ladu4s4s 1nngs Ut is believed that fully
half escaped by the air shafa. hundred
miners from Braidwood d McAllistet's
fields hurried to the scene to do what they
could to assist in the rescue of the en-
tombed. This work was terribly hazard
ous. The explosion had entirely changed
the topography of the mine. Many tun-
nels were closed entirely and big loose
boulders balanced perilously on shelves of
rock, which breath of air might hurl
down upon the rescuers.
Those identified number twenty-three
and are: George Lindsay, ST., George Lind
say, Jr., VIM. Russell, VIM. S. Russell,
Geo. Russell, John Terra, Silva Terra,
Michael Jocmo, Edward Blondon. Joseph
Blondon, Joseph Gennessio, Stephen Ver-
zeno, Eugene Campessena, Bennett Moss
Jos. Caento, Antonio Gennesseo. Thos.
Cain, Grago Rocco, John Quinn, James
Il, n. McSu3na
Edward kibble.
There are seventeen unidentified bodies
and pieces OF bodies.
Search by the roscuing party still con-
tinues. One disheartenng fact connected
with the search IS that SO far not one live
miner has been found. lhe bodies SO far
recovered We're found burned, charsed and
manned almost beyond recognition. No
fire followed the explosion, at least there
are no signs of any, and there is known to
be live mon entOmbed in tunnels behind
fallen boulders. Tho rescners can hear
faint knockings and fur off shouting. They
are digging in the direction whence the
men alive. The wreck about the mouth OF
the mine and at the bottom of the hosting
shaft is 80 nearly complete that the work is
dreadfully slow. All bodies in plain sight
have been brought to the surface but there
are others partly hidden under fallen boul-
ders and masses of debris.
Tho cause of the explosion is still unde-.
termined. The probability is that some
miner fired n blast without orders, which
lgnited either accumulated gas or coal dust.
The scenes in Krebs to-day were pathetic in
the extreme. Those who did not go to the
scene of horror and had missing relatives
are nearly crazed with anxiety, while those
whose relatives returned safe from the Jaws
death are nearly orazed with joy.
upeo 10 Tonight forty-eisht dead bodies
were recovered. Tho following are the |
names of tel. more Victims: George Lowry,
Oscar Falta, John Williams. l.. Hunt, Rob
ert Powers, VIM. Mitchell, Jos. Clark Wm. |
McShane, 7. Collins, James Turner. Among |
the fatally injured are: Geo. Hardinger,
Sr., GEO. Hardinger, Jr.. Flank Hathaway,
Jos. Osland, Enrich Church, William
Church, VIM. Williams, Charles Mar
tin. Louis Toole, Jos Ioole, Giovanni
Francis rozzie, Braniz Bcumo and John
Rossi. Six small boys. names unknown.
who were tending the fans, were killed
outright, and found dead at their posts 1t
s learned that the explosion was caused by
George Lowry exploding what is known as
window shot" The latest estimate of