The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-10-10
ROASTED ALIVE IN A MINE,
AN EXPLOSION IN A WILKES
BARRE MINE WITH TERRI
BILE RESULTS.
AN ENGINEERING CORPS AND
OTHERS GIVEN UP AS LOST.
They Were in Remote Corner of the
Mine-Several Half-Roasted Per-
sons Taken Out-Rescuing
Party Is at Work.

Wilkesbarre, Pa., Oct. 7.-Shortly
after o'clock this afternoon terrific
explosion of gas occurred in the Dor
renee mine, operated by the Lehigh Val
ley Coal company. 1t is not known
how many men were in the mine. The
officials are very reticent and it is al
most impossible to get any information
from the levels where the rescuers are
at work. At 8 o'clock five men, all
badly burned, were brought to the sur
face. They are:
Robert Blanchard, aged 10.
William Miller. aged 81.
Michael Moss
George Lafly.
Joseph Murphy.
The first two are members of the en-
gineer corps. They are both so badly
burned that they cannot live. Blan-
chard gave his version of the explosion
to-a reporter as he lay on cot in the
hospital, which is as follows:
Shortly after o'clock the engineer
corps decided to make survey Of the
old abandoned workings known as the
Baltimore section, which underlie the
grounds of the Wilkesbarre baseball
club, one mile distant 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, con-
sisted of William Jones, William Cahill
and Lewlyn Owens. Blanchard and
Miller were left behind to finish some
work that had been started in the morn
ing. About IL minutes after the party
had left Miller and Blanchard, the eX-
| plosion occurred. Both Miller and
| force. Flying timbers also struck Mil
| Ter, breaking both arms. After being
knocked down Miller and Blanchard re-
membered nothing more until revived at
the hospital. Blanchard thinks some of
the engineers or probably the fire bosses
set fire to body of gas in the workings
and that all the party must have been
instantly killed.
| When Blanchard was found he was
being slowly roasted to death. The
gas set fire to his clothes and they had
been almost burned off his body when
the rescuers came upon him. Miller
with his broken arms, could render him
no assistance and Blanchard was SC
| uOWu ny JlC lnuJ Iic COulu
not make use of his hands.
At 8 o'clock Moss, Latin and Murphy
were brought to the surface. They, too
were badly burned and were taken tC
the hospital.
At midnight the rescuers had made
very little headway in their efforts tt
reach the victims of the explosion. The
fire damp made it's appearance shortly
after 8 o'clock and it was necessary t.
do considerable brattice work, which
proceeded very slowly. There is /;
strong suspicion also that the explosion
caused heavy fall in the workings ant
that this will further retard the worl
of the rescuers.
1t is now admitted by the mine official
that there is no hope of finding the engi
the explosion and if they were no
killed outright they were suffocated b.
the fire damp. The superintendent j
of the opinion that they were killed b.
: the force of the explosion and that thei
bodies were probably burned to a crisr
All but eight miners and laborers hav
now been accounted for. Whethe
these eight perished with the engineer
will not be known until tomorrow. Su
perintendent Chase thinks, however, tina
the list of dead will not number NOR
than seven or eight. These may b
put down as follows:
William l.. Jones, mining engineer
aged 21, Wilkesbarre.
William Cahill, mining engineer, age
, 20, Wilkesbarre.
;; L. Owens. mining engineer, aged "A
Pittston.
Daniel Davis, fire boss, aged 3S.
Three unknown men, probably Hun
garian laborers. and Blanchard wer
: resting easily but little hope is enter
;; tanned of their recovery.
Michael Moss, one of the injure
miners, died at the hospital at ! o'cloc
this morning.