Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1895-02-28
GREAT MINE DISASTER.
Thirty-seven Men Probably Kill
ed by a Fearful Explosion.
ENTRANCE TO THE MINE CLOSED.

Eleven Miners Were Found. Hours After
ward. Dying Amid the Smoke and NoxiOus
Vapors-wives and Children at the Pits
Mouth Frantic with Grief.
ALBUQUERQUE, n. NJ, Feb. 2S.-The
White Ash coal mines. three miles from
CerrilloS, We're the scene of u terrible ex-
plosion. 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
90 have doubtless persisted. Over n dozen
dead bodies have been recovered.
The scenes at the Identification of the
wounded and, dead We're heartrending.
The miners are all married men. When
the news of the disaster spread, wives and
children hurried from Waldo and Madrid.
Not until evening were the searchers able
to descend owing to the poisonous vapors.
In the course of half an hour several dead
were sent up. Then it was feared not a
soul of the 81 had escaped
Later In the evening IL dying miners
were discovered in a bunch. They were
probably overcome in an effort to escape
The explosion is thought to have been due
to accidentally breaking into an abandoned
chamber charged with gas
A special to The Republican says: Ow
ing to the smoke, dust and noxious vapors
that filed every approach to the workings,
two hours elapsed before any progress
could be made toward effecting a rescue,
and up to O'Clock but one miner had been
reached. His dead body was found near
the entrance. Three hours later the res
cuers succeeded in reaching the left fourth
level, and the dead bodies Of several men
were brought out.
A Heartrcnding Scene.
The sight about the mine was heartrend-
ing in the extreme Frantic wives, many
of them carrying babies in their arms and
having children clinging to their skirts,
stood at the entrance of the mine for hours
amid tears and prayers, watching and
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 rs q probability was painful in
the extreme. Upto o'clock the gas con-
tlnued to pour forth from the single open
ing in the mine in such u volume as to
make the progress of the rescuers very
difficult but IN hour later the noxious
vapors cleared away, and the work Of re-
more successful.
Twenty-Five men are still in the lower
workings of the mine, and it is not thought
possible they are alive. The work Of res
! cue goes on bravely. Many heroic scenes
were witnessed during the afternoon, and
| at night q grcwSome spectacle was pre-
sented
Many campflres dotted the scene, and
the anguish Of the women and children
lowering about them hoping for the best
| and urging the men on in their endeavorS
| to reach the entombed, while others were
clinging to their dead or ministering to
those brought out alive, presented pic
ture of human anguish seldom witnessed.
The mine was worked through q single
incline shaft extending Zoo feet in at an
incline of so degrees and seems to have
been defective as respects ventilation. The
| mouth Of the shaft Is the sole means 81
eGress.
At late hour last night "a bodies had
boon taken out horribly burned, mutilnted
and difficult OF Identification. One Of the
rescuet-Juhn Stupper-says that he heard
the explosion. and that he and five COM
rades started for the main SLOPE, but could
not get out and went back into the mine
to pool of water, where they immersed
themselves, and by agitating the water
managed to get air enough to live through
the four hours Of their confinement, but
when the rescuing party reached them they
were in the last stages Of osphyxiation.
No one seems to know just how many
men went into the mine Wednesday morn
ing. Ordinarily $50 men are employed
but the day being Wednesday, il is said
scarcely half the usual quota of men wer,
at work Representative Laeden. lately
employed there, said today he is confident
that not less than So men must have beer
in the workings at the time Of the explo
sion.