The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-10-08
GAS CATCHES FIRE
FIVE MEN BADLY BURNED IN a
PENNSYLVANIA MINE,
Party Of Engineers Starts to Explore Some
Gold Abandoned Workings of a Mine at
Wukesbarre when in Some Manner Un-
known . Fearful Explosion Takes Place
and at Least Five Men are Terribly
Burned. Two Of Them Fataliy-Party
Under tho Guidance of An Expert on
Cause.-The Injured

Wilkesbarre, Pa, Oct. 7.-Shortly af-
ter O'Clock this afternoon terrific ex-
plosion Of gas occurred in the Dorrence
mine, operated by the Lehigh Valley
Coal company, which is situated in the
northeast 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 10 get any
information from the levels of the earth
where the rescuers are at work. at s
o'clock five men, all badly burned, were
brought to the surface. They are Bob
Blanchard, aged 10; Will Miller. aged
21; Mike Moss, George Lafly and Joe
Murphy.
The first two are members of the en-
gineer corps. Moss and Laf1y are la
borers and Murphy is driver. Miller
and Blanchard are so badly burned they
cannot live.
Blanchard gave his version of the ex-
plosion to a reporter as he lay on cot
in the hospital.
Shortly after 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 Wiki
esbarre Baseball club, distant from the
main opening of the mine. The party,
which was in charge of Fire Boss Dan
Reese, who is an expert on mine gases.
consisted Of Vii Jones, VIII Cahill and
Llewyn Owens Blanchard and Miller
were left behind to finish some work
that had been started in the morning.
About II minutes after the party had
left Miller and Blanchard, the explo-
sion occurred. Both Miller and Balm
chard We're knocked down by the force.
Flying tinbers also struck Miller, break
ing both his arms. After being knock
ed down Blanchard remembered moth
ing until they were revived at the hos
pital. Blanchard thinks one Of the en-
gineers, or probably the fire boss, set fire
TO body of gas in the old working and
that all Of the party must have been in
stantly killed. When Blanchard was
found he was being slowly roasted to
death. The gas had set fire to his
clothing and they had been almost en-
tirely burned off his body when the
rescuers came upon him. Miller, with
his broken arms, could render him no
assistance, and Blanchard was so pinn-
ed down by debris that he could make
no use of his hands.
At o'clock Moss, Laf1y and Murphy
were brought 10 the surface. They,
too, were badly burned and taken to the
hospital.
AT A LATER HOUR.
At midnight the rescuers had made
very little 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 brattice work, which pro-
ceeded very slow. There is a strong
suspicion also that the explosion caused
a heavy fall in the old workings and
that this will further retard the work
OF the rescuerS.
1t is now admitted by the mine offic-
ials that there is no hope Of finding the
engineer corps alive. They have per-
ished 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 bod
les probably burned TO a crisp.
All but eight miners and laborers
have now been accounted for. Whether
these eight persisted with the engineer |
corps will not be known until tomor- |
row. superintendent Chase thinks, |
however, that the list of dead will not !
number more than seven or eight These |
may be put down as follows:
WILL JONES, mining engineer, aged /
q, of Wilkesbarre.
WILLIAM CAHILL, Mining engineer !
aged 20, Wilkesabrre.
LLEWLLYN OWEN, engineer, "a .
years of age, Pittston.
DANIEL DAVIS, fire boss, aged SO.
Three unknown men, probably Hun /
gariaD laborers.
At midnight it was said at the hospital .
that Miller and Blanchard were rest
ing easily, but little hope is entertained
for their recovery.