The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-10-08
ANOTHER MINE HORROR 7!
Terrible Explosion of Gas Under Wilkes
barre, Pa.
EIGHT MEN PROBABLY KILLED
Four others Seriously Injured, Two of
Whom, it is Feared, Will Die-The
Cause of the Accident Will
Probably Never be Known.

WILKEsBARRE, Pa, Oct. 9.--Shortly after
5 o'clock last evening a terrific explosion
of gas occurred in the Dorrance mine
operated by the Lehigh Valley Coal COM
pany which is situated in the northwestern
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 impossi-
BILE to get any information from the levels
of the earth where the rescuers are at work
At o'clock five men, all badly burned
were brought to the surface. They are;
Robert Blanchard, aged 19 years; William
Miller, aged 21; Michael Moss, George
Lady and Joseph Murphy. The first two
are members of the engineer corps. Moss
and Lady are laborers and Murphy is a
driver. The injuries of Moss were so Sc
rious that he died at the hospital at 1
o'clock this morning. Miller and Blanch-
ard are so terribly injured that they cannot
survive.
Blanchard gave his version of the explo-
sion to a reporter as he lay on a cot in the
hospital According to his statement,
shortly before o'clock the engineer corps
decided to make a survey of portion of
the old abandoned workings known as the
Baltimore section, and 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 ex-
pert on mine gases, consisted of William
Jones, William Cahill and Llewellyn
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 eXplo-
sion 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 Blanchard remembered moth
ing until they were revived at the hospital.
Blanchard thinks one of the engineers or
probably the fire boss, set fire to body of
gas in the old workings, aud that all of
the party must have been instantly killed.
When Blanchard was found he was be-
ing slowly roasted to death. The gas had
set fire to his clothes, and they had been
almost burned off his body when the res
cuers came upon him. Miller, with his
broken arms, could render him no assist
ance and Blanchard was so pinned down
by debris that he could not make use of
his hands.
At midnight the rescuers had made very
little headWaY IN their efforts TO feacn Une
scene of the explosion. Fire damp made
its appearance shortly after s o'clock and
it was necessary to do considerable brat
tice work, which proceeded very slowly.
There is a strong suspicion 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 engi-
neer corps alive. They all perished in the
explosion, and if they were not killed out
right they were suffocated by the fire
damp The superintendent is of the opin-
ion that they were killed by the force of
the explosion, and their bodies probably
burned to crisp. All but eight miners
and laborers have now been accounted for.
superintendent Chase thinks, however,
that the list of dead will not number more
than seven or eight These may be put
down as follows: William l.. Jones, min
ing engineer, aged q, of Wilkesbarre;
William Cahill, mining engineer, aged 90
Wilkesbarre; Llewellyn Owens, mining
engineer, aged "a, Pittston; Daniel Davis
fire boss aged 3S; three unknown men
probably Hungarian laborers.