The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1895-04-25
The two men who escaped are:

The two men who escaped are:
Edward GelIen of Fairhaven, who
was working at the outer switch in the
mine in company with Georgeq Rob
erts and James Kern, the lattermas
working with Ben Morgan in Room
16, off the gangway at the outermost OF
all the works, in which work was be-
ing carried on. "a
The explosion occurred shortly be-
fore 3 o'clock when the shift would
have been changed and the miners
were already climbing the steep hill
from the bunkhouse to take the places
of the men killed. 2
This disaster was undoubtedly
caused by an accumulation of fire.
damp, which was exploded by blast
in the breast of the gangway. The
faces of the men who were working in
the breast are badly burned, but a
majority of those who were workiugin
the rooms off the gangway were only
slightly disigured by the fire and
many of them not at all. Physicians
and miners say that the men working
in the breast must have been killed
by the shock Of the explosion, while
the others succumbed to the firedamp
as they slid down from the rooms to
the gangway, then filed with dsadly
gas.
This gangway is reached by tunnel
7SO feet long, and the distance from
the intersection of the gangway to the
breast where the explosion took place
is about 1000 feet. The main air
shaft reached the gangway about 100
feet from the tunnel and air is supplied
by water power and which was not
affected by the explosion. .---.
Kerns, the only miner who escaped
from any of the rooms says that he
was not stunned, nor even thrown
down by tie shock, though Morgan,
who was working with him was kill
ed. ,.z0
Kerns' light was not extinguished
and he saw no fire. He slid down the
chute to the gangway, losing his
light in some wav, and managed to
make his way in the darkness in some
miraculous manner along the poison
Gus passage, over dead bodies and
piles of coal, loosened by the explos-
ion, to the open air, but before he
reached the entrance, the work of res
cue had already commenced. Out in
the tunnel he met a party of brave
miners cropping their way inward as
fast as the escaping of the poisonous
gas permitted. This party and others
following, pushed their way into the
mine and carried out one by one the
bodies of the dead miners as they
came upon them scattered along the
gangway.
The first body found was that of the
mule driver lying beside the dead
animal, 1850 feet from tie main en-
trance. From there to the fall of the
gangway, a distance of about 900
feet, bodies were scattered along as
they fell from the chutes leading to
the rooms. Most OF the bodies show
ed little evidence of a struggle, and
in most instances death apparently
came quickly.
McAndrews' body was found buried
under a slide of coal, and McNulty
was upon his hands and knees about
20 yards from where he had been
working and his handkerchief was
tied over his nose and mouth.
When the correspondent left the
mine, shortly before midnight, the
work of washing the faces and hands
of the dead men had commenced. All
that is now possible is being done to
alleviate the distress of the families of
the deceased. The president of the
company, A. E. Downs, now in New
York, has been notified by wire.