The herald., 1895-02-28
An Explosion in a Coal Mine
Causes Loss of Life
A DOZEN BODIES FOUND
Pitiablc Scenes Around the Mouth
of the Shaft
Timbers and Those Who Escaped Are
in Perilous Condition


. % the Morning Democrat says:
The White Ash coal mines, three miles
from Cerrillos, was the scene of terrible
explosion little before noon today.
Thirty-seven men were working in four
levels when the disaster occurred. Eleven
of these have so far been rescued all in
dying condition.
The remaining twentysix have doubt
less perished and over a dozen dead bod
les have been recovered.
The scenes upon Identification OF the
wounded and dead were heartrending.
The miners were nearly all married men.
When the news of the disaster spread,
wives and ch ildren hurried from Waldo
and Madrid. Not until this evening were
searchers able to descend, owing to the
poisonous vapors In the course of half
an hour several dead bodies were sent up.
1t was then feared that not a soul of
the thirty-seven escaped. Later eleven
dying miners were discovered in bunch,
probably overcome in an effort to escape.
The explosion is thought to have been
due to the accidental breaking of an
abandoned chamber charged with gas.
Denver, Feb. 27.-A special to the Re-
publican says:
Owing to the smoke, dust and noxious
vapor that filled every approach to the
workings, two hours elapsed before any
progress could be made toward effecting
rescue, and the efforts were cruelty re-
tarded, for up to o. clock but one miner
had been reached. His dead body was
found near the entrance. Three hours
later the rescuers succeeded in reaching
the left fourth level and the dead hodies Of
several men were brought out. The scenes
were terrible. Frantic wives, many Of
them carrying babies in their arms or
having children clinging to their skirts,
stood at the entrance of the mine for
hours, amid tears and wailings waiting
while hundreds of men vainly struggled
to gain an entrance further into the mine.
So dense was the smoke at one time dur
ing the afternoon that many thought the
mine had taken fire, and the conduct of
the wives and mothers when this was an
nounced as possibility was terrible. The
gas began to pour forth from the single
opening in such volumes as to make
the progress OF the rescuers very diff
cult; but by II o'clock the noxious
vapors had cleared away, and the
work Of recovering the dead bodies began
to prove more successful. Twenty two
men are still in the lower workings of the
mine and it is not thought possible that
they are alive. The work of rescue goes
on bravely. Many heroic scenes have
been witnessed during the afternoon, and
tonight gruesome spectacle is presented.
Many camp fires dot the scene, and the
&c y, nd oh hn
ering about them, hoping for the best and
urging the men on in their endeavors to
reach the entombed while others are
clinging to their dead or ministering to
to those rescued alive, presents picture
of human anguish seldom witnessed. 1t
is thought the explosion was caused by
the miners breaking thrlugh into some
old, abandon. d workings, thus iberating
gas that had accum, lated therein. The
mine was worked Though single in
clined shaft extending 1000 eet in an in
cline of thirty degrees, and seems to have
been defective as respects ventilation.
The mouth of the shaft is the sole means
OF egress. Nobody seems to know Just
how many men went into the mine this
morning. Ordinarily $50 men are en-
ployed, but this being Ash Wednesday, it
is said scarcely half the usual quota of
were at work today. Representative Lac
den, lately employed there says that he
is confdent that not less than eighty five
men must have been in the mine at the
time of the explosiog.
Denver, Feb. ga special to the Rocky
Mountain News from Cerrillos, n. NJ,
says:
Up to 10 p. m. twenty-five bodies have
been taken out horribly burned and mutt
lated and diWcult o. Identification. One
of the rescued, John Saunes, says that he
heard the explosion, and himself and five
comrades started for the main slope, but
could not get out and started back into
immersed themselves and by agitating the
water managed to create air enough to live
upon for the four long hours OF their con-
fnement. When the rescuing party
reached them they were in the last stages
Of asphyxiation.
The name of the driver who was killed
at the mouth Of the tunnel is John Boo.
. boy.
List of dead, so far as ascertained: ].
r. Donohue, pit boss; Johnny Book, Sam
Hardest, miner, Ellngsworth, Roy
Phillips, William Jones, Sam Jones,
William T. M Carthy, Tom Whitley, John
Sweeney, John Eathorne, Tom Holiday,
Jules Descrant, father, Henry and Louis
Descrant, sons, Angelo Bufato, Ricardo
Dero, Emil Homet George Spaite, August
lie Plat, d. Sumitis, Henry Harden.
1t is now believed that every man
has been accounted for. Twenty-three
is the number of the dead recovered.
Every entry into the mine has been ex-
plored and no more dead bodies found.
Some of the rescue men were at death s
door, but skilled medical attention saved
their lives. The accident was caused by the
explosion OF sulphurated hyrogen, en-
countered in an abandoned drift filed by
the generation of fire damp. No one is
to blamo it was simply one Of those ac-
cidents that occur, that is all.
Txurr