Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-09
DEAD
The Terrible Mining Disaster at
Lake Whatcom, Wash.
ACCUMULATED FIRE DAMP EXPLODED
Some Were Killed by Shock,
Others Suffocated.
RECOVERING THE BODIES

SEATTLE, Wash, April "A Whatcom,
Wash, special says: An explosion from
fire damp in Blue Canon coal mine on Lake
Whatcom yesterday afternoon killed TWEEN
ty-three men.
The Post-Intellgencer correspondent re-
turned at 2 am. from the scene of the ter
rible disaster in Blue Canon mine, and is in
possession of all the particulars now OBJ
tainable. In the blacksmith shop near the
tunnel lie the blackened bodies of twenty
three miners, while only two of a. who
were in the mine when the explosion oc-
Cured lived to tell the story of the fright
full catastrophe and their own miraculous
escape.
The explosion occurred shortly before
o'clock, when the shift would have been
changed, and the miners were already
climbing the steep hill from the bunk house
to take the places of the men killed.
Accumulation of Fire Damp.
This disaster was undoubtedly caused by
an accumulation of fire damp, which was
exploded by a 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 working
in the rooms off the gangway were only
slightly disfgured by the fire and many
IL.
say that the men working in the breast
must have been killed by the shock of the
explosion, while the others succumbed to
the fire damp as they slid down from the
rooms to the gangway, then filled with
deadly gas.
This gangway is reached by a tunnel $50
feet long, and the distance from the inter-
section 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.
Names of the Victims.
Following are the names of the killed:
Mine Superintendent David Y. Jones, leaves
wife and child; Andrew Anderson, leaves
wife and one child; James McAndrews,
leaves wife; James Kirkley, leaves a wife;
Kirk Clinske, leaves wife and four children.
All the others were single men. Their
names are as follows: Charles Silverman,
c. Ramsburg. William Listor, Samuel o.
sen, James McNulty, J. A. Morgan. Martin
Ravett. Philip Binkle William Evans, j.
Williams, Alexander Henrckson, Ben.
Morgan, Geo. Roberts, Thomas Conlin,
Lucas Lotakf.
The two men who escaped are Edward
Gelen of Fairhaven, who was working at
the outer switch in the mine. In company
with George Roberts. and James Kern. The
latter was working with Ben. Morgan IN
room 1G off the gangway at the outermost
of all the works in which work was being
carried on.
4 Survivors, Story.
Kern gays that he was not stunned. or
even thrown down by the shock, though
Morgan, who was working with him, was
killed.
Kern's light was not extinguished, and he
saw no fire. He slid down the chute TO the
gangway losing his light in some way, and
managed to make his way in the darkness
in some miraculous manner along the
poisonous passage over dead bodies and
piles of coal loosened by the explosion to
the open air. but before he reached the
entrance the work of rescue had already
commenced. Out in the tunnel he met a
party of brave miners cropping their way
inward fast as the escape 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, $50 feet from the main en-
trarce. From there to the fall of the gang
way, distance of about 800 feet, bodies
were scattered along as they fell from the
chutes leading to the rooms. Most of the
bodies showed little evidence of a struggle,
and in most instances death apparently
came quickly.
McAndrews' body was found buried under
a slide of coal, ard McNulty was upon his
hands and knees, about twenty yards from
W here he had been working, and his hand
kerchief was tied over his nose and mouth.
When the correspondent left the mine,
shortly before midnight, the work of wash
ing 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. Downes,
row in New York, has been notified by
WIRE Collins have been ordered. and, after
the inquest tomorrow, the bodies will be
brought to this city.