The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-10-11
FIRE DAMP.
Gas Explodes with Terrible Re-
suits in a Mine.
SEVERAL MINERS BADLY BURNED.
Eight Men Reported Missing and OmciaIs
Are Doubtful of Finding Them Alive,
the RescuIng Party Making
Such Slow Headway.

WnKsBARRE, Pa, Oct. s.-Shortlv
after o'clock yesterday afternoon a
terrific explosion of gas occurred in
the Dorence mine, operated by the
Lehigh Valley Coal Co, which is situ-
ated in the northern part of the city.
1t IS not yet known how many men
were IN the mine. The officials are very
reticent and it is almost impossible
to get any information from the lev
els of the earth where the rescuers are
at work. At o'clock five men. all
badly burned, were brought to the sur
face. They are: Robert Blanchard.
aged 10; William Miller. aged 21;
Michael Moss, George Lafly and Joseph
Murphy. The first two are members
of the engineer corps. Moss and
Lafiy are laborers and Murphy
is a driver. Miller and Blanchard
are so badly burned that they
cannot live. Blanchard gave his
version of the explosion to a reporter
as he lay on q cot in the hospital
Shortly before o'clock the engineer
corps decided to make a survey of a
portion of the old abandoned workings
known as the Baltimore section, and
which underlie the grounds of the
| Wilkesbarre baseball club, l mile dis
tant from the main opening of the
mine. The party, which was in charge
of Fire Boss Daniel Reese, who is an
expert on mine gases consisted of Will
liam Jones, William Cahill and Level
lyn Owens. Blanchard and Miller
were left behind to finish some work
that had been started in the morning
About twelve minutes after the party
had left Miller and Blanchard
the explosion occurred. Both Miller
and Blanchard were knocked down by
its force. Flying timbers also struck
Miller. breaking both his arms After
being knocked down Miller and Blanch-
ard remembered nothing until they
were revived at the hospital Blanch-
ard thinks one of the engineers or
probably the fire boss set fire to a body
of gas in the old workings and that all
of the party must have been instantly
killed.
When blanchard was found he was
being roasted to death. The gas had
set fire to his clothes and they had
been almost burned off his body when
the rescuers came upon him. Miller.
with his arms broken, could render
him no assistance and Blanchard was
so pinned down with debris that he
could make no use of his hands At Q
o'clock Moss. Lafy and Murphy were
brought to the surface They, too,
were badly burned and were taken to
the hospital.
At midnight the rescuers had made
very lite progress in their efforts to
reach the scene of the explosion. Fire
damp made its appearance shortly
after o'clock, and it was necessary TO
do considerable work, which proceeded
very slowly. There is a strong suspi-
cion also that the explosion caused
heavy fall in the old workings. and that |
this will further retard the work of
the rescuers. 1t is now admitted by
the mine officials that there is no hope |
of finding the engineer corps alive. /
They all perished in the explosion.
and if they were not killed outright |
they were suffOcated by the fire damp. /
The superintendent is of the opinion ,
that they were killed by the /
force of the explosion, and .
their bodies probably burned to
a crisp. All but eight miners and .
laborers have now been accounted for
Whether these eight perished with the
engineer will not be known until to-
day. Superintendent Chase thinks,
however, that the list of dead will not
number more than seven or eight
Michael Moss. one of the injured
miners, died at the hospital at l o'clock
a m