Connecticut western news., 1895-10-10
A MINE DISASTER.
TERRIFIC EXPLOSION OF GAS UNDER
 WlLKESBARRE.

a.scuers Fought Their Way Through Blaeh
 Damp Into the Shaft Only to Fiud Four
 Lifeless Bodies The Party Had Been
 Shut In and Killed by the Explosion.
 WILKEsBARRE, Pa, Oct. 9.-The bodies ,i the three engineers and the fire boss who were killed in the explosion in the Dorrance mine were recovered today.
 A party of rescuers headed by Foreman Jones were tho first to come upon the bodies. The carpenter house was fitted up IS temporary morgue, and as the man. gled remains were brought to the surfaoo they were laid out in 1t.
 The corpses were burned almost beyond recognition. Fire Boss Davis and Engi- neer Owens were literally roasted, and Cahill's body had largo gash on the fore head, evidently from the force of the ex- plosion. The men were killed by the force of the explosion, and all died nearly in the same spot. As no more bodies have been found, it is now hoped the list of dead win be confined to the following:
 William Jones, mining engineer. aged 32 years.
 William Cahill, mining engineer, e1 years old, single.
 L!owellyn Owens, mining engineer 21 years old, son of Division Superintendent Owens of West Pittston.
 David ]. Davis, fro boss; leaves widow and two children.
 Michael Morris, 40 years, Pole, single.
 Robert Miller and Robert Blanchard, the two mem mbers of the engineering party brought out of the mine early this morn ing, are still in precarious condition at the hospital The physicians fear their burns and other injuries will prove fatal.
 Other Injured Men.
 The other injured men brought out at the same time, George Lathy and Joseph Murphy, are on a fair way to recovery. Two Hungarian women reported to the superintendent of the mine that their hus- bands, who went to work in the mines yesterday, had not returned to their homes. It is possible that both men were caught in fall of roof coal near the scene of the explosion and killed. The rescuers nre now clearing up the debris and will reach the chamber where the Hungarians were at work shortly. A Hungarian boarding house keeper says the missing men got out of the mine alive, as he saw them in saloon afterward.
 The question as to which one of the un- fortunate party of engineers accidentally set the gas on fire will never be known, as of the four men who entered the aban- doned workings where the gas was en- countered not one lives to tell the tale. The general supposition Is that one of the engineers became careless in the pres ence of newly discovered body of gas and instead of adopting the precaution of low ering his light by stepping, he walked into the gas in an erect position, thereby setting it on fire and causing the awful explosion.
 Another story is that it was the fire boss himself who caused the accident. He had charge of the party, and the engineers were subject to his orders. If he had discovered new body of gas, it was his business to give the warning to the engineers who followed him. The mine officials are loath to believe however, that Davis could have been taken by surprise. He was a very careful man and would not have led the engineers into place which he thought was unsafe.