Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-12-20
DEATH IN THE PIT.
Forty.Three Men Die in a Mine
in North Carolina.
F1RE-DAMP REvELs IN VICTIMS.

Six ofThosc Are Wounded and Three Prob
ably Fatally Relatives Of the Eutombed
Miners Gather Around the Pit Awaiting
Their Dead, but the Black Damp Stands
Guard Over the Dark sepulchre-List of
the Known Lost.
the dag force, numbering sixty-seven men.
had gone on duty at the CImnock coal
mines, six miles west of here. a terrible
firc-damp explosion occurred Upon hear
ing the report the people of the village
and relatives of the entombed miners
fastened to the scene, but for some time
they were unable to gain any tidings from
below. After pumping fresh air into the
shafts several miners were prevailed upon
to venture down and investigate.
Greeted by a Ghastly Sight.
They found and brought out twenty-five
men from shafts Nos. 2 and 8. Five or six
of them were badly wounded and some of
them will probably die; others were
slightly wounded. A mule and two men
were killed in slope No. 9. After consid-
cradle delay the searching party entered
slope No l, where they were greeted by q
most horrible and ghastly sight Dead
men fearfully mutilated were found.
Some of them were partly covered up with
pieces of coal, timber, and other debris
The searching party came up and report.
cd what they had found. At o'clock
ten CT twelve miners went down to bring
up the dead bodies but at last accounts
none of the dead had been recovered. 1t
is believed that forty-three men were
killed.
Waiting for Their Dead.
Several of them were negroes and for
eigncrs, and the rest Of them natives Of
North Carolina. Several of them had
families living at Comstock. Eight of the
miners were from Pennsylvania and ex-
pcctcd to return to that state today to visit
relatives. A quantity of dynamite was in
the mine and exploded, wrecking coal
cars and splintcring massive pieces of tim
Der into kindling wood. Mothers, wives
and sisters were around the mines all
day weeping and wringing their hands
with grief. expecting every minute to see
the l!fcless form Of some loved one
Drought up. FLXCltenlcnG runs n1gn. lD
to ii O'Clock last night but twenty four of
the sixtyseven men who went down in
the shaft to work had been heard from.
so amer damp was In tine snnrs
all day that no efforts were made to get
the bodies to the top. 1t is thought that
the bodies can be recovered during today.
The scene Is indeed pitiful one. Women
who in the morning were happy wives are
now widows and their children fatherless
Six men of the twenty-four who came
back from the shaft are more or less
wounded. and it is thought possible that
three of these may die. Two men who
escaped from the shaft called to two
friends who were not more than twenty
feet away to come on, but they were al
ready dead or unable to make reply, and
were left by their companions.
List of the known Dead,
Following is . list of the known dead: ::
Council Poe, W. Tyson, J. O'Brien, A T.
Andrews. Il. Morrison, NJ Bentley, H.
Morrison, Daniel Morrison. Charles Poe,
J. Gunter, - Quinn, J. Shambergcr.
William Swaits. Will Mcdonald, Lucen
Holland, Charles :. Tarkey and John
Schmidt. All the above are white. The
following are colored: l.. Chankle. l..
White. A. White, J. Reeves, w. jenkins,
William Baldwin. Fisher Reeves, Walter
Holten. Clay Harris. Jack McGree. Jesse
Lambet, Gus Lambert. john Norwood and
Jnhp TbnpppSop