Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-03-22
THREE SCORE DEAD
The Awful List of the Victims of
the Mine Horror.
FIsTY-THREE MEN DIE IN THE PIT,
OF Whom But Nineteen Have Been
Brought to the Surface at
Latest Reports.

Death Leave Families, the Orphans Num-
bering e5O-The Whole Mine Wrecked
and Rcscuers Work in Peril Of Their
Lives-Heart-R -Rending Scenes at the
Mouth Of the slope-Names Of the Dead
Men and Of Those Whose C0rpses Have
Been Recovered.
EVANSTON, Wyo., March 22.-Thc de-
tails Of the explosion of the Rocky
Mountain Coal and Iron company's mine
No. at Red Canon Wednesday after
noon mark it as one of the most horrible
in the history of coal mining in the west.
There arc forty men lying dead at the
bottom of the mine at this writing, COW
cred with debris. AS many men as can
are working to recover their bodies. The
bodies Of nineteen have been recovered.
Fifty of the dead men were married and
nine single. There arc fifty widows and
250 orphaned children as q result Of the
disaster.
The Long List Of the Lost.
The names of the dead as gathered from
the company's pay roll are: james Bruce,
foreman; o. B. Maltby, superintendent
Of motive power; Albert Clark, Henry
Scothern, William Graham, Jr., Hugh
Sloan, William Sellers, Sr.. James Hutch
insOn, William Weedup, Aaron Bull, Gus
Kazola, Charles Kazola, John Wilkes,
William Pope, II. A. Hyborn, Matt John
son, George Hardy, John Fearn, Baptiste
Julian, John Lapar, Isaac johnson, Sam
uel Halston, Henry Burton, John Dexter,
Thomas Hutchinson, Walter Miller, Matt
Silta, Joseph N. Lesti, James Hyden,
Charles Clark, William Wagstaff, John
Lester, John Theby, George Critchley,
John T. Martin, David Lloyd, Marshall
Langdon, William Langdon, ST., James
T. Clark. John Morriss, William Morriss,
David w. Lowrey, George Hydes, John
G. Locke, Willard Brown, w. II. Grieves,
Fred Morgan, Jerry Crawford, James +.
Clark, Samuel Clay, James Limb. WILL
lam Sellers, Jr., and W. K. Cox.
When Death Swooped Down.
About thirty Of the men killed belonged
to the A. o. u. W., i'm which order they
were insured for s. 900 apiece. The greater
part of the men who have perished are
covered with debris at the seventh level,
where they were gathered awaiting the
car. Work is being pushed with all possible
speed to uncover the dead. There is no
fire in the mine. The explosion is sup
posed to have come from blast setting
fire to the dust, making dust explosion,
since the mine was supposed to be free
from gas, being well ventilated. This is
the third disastrous explosion in this
vicinity. In ISL No mine Rocky Noun
tain, exploded, killing thirty-six Chinese
and four white men. In the spring of
1855 Union Pacific mine No. killed thirty.
six men.
Total Number Of Dead Is Sixty.
The total number known at this writ
ing to have lost their lives is sixty, seven
of whom were killed outside of the mine.
OF the dead fifty-one are married men and
nine young men and boys. Up to this
time the bodies of the following out of q
total of fifty-three who met their death in
the mine have been recovered and turned
over To their relatives: w. b. Clark,
John Morris, ID. Laurie, G. Hyde, John
Locke, W. ii. Grievcs and Samuel Clay
single; Samuel Hutchinson, William
Morris, Thomas Booth, Ben L. Cole
Charles Clark, Willard Brown, James
Limb and Fred Morgan-all men of large
families. This leaves thirty-cight rnre
covered bodies i'm the mine.
A Scene That Eeggars Description.
The timbering is largely blown out and
ard the walls and roof of the whole in.
terror are wrecked and shattered SO that
the volunteer searching party of eighteen
now seeking the bodies of their comrade:
are every moment in danger Of being
buried A coroners jury has been EN-
panelled which views the remains a
brought out and turned over to relatives
The agonizing screams Of widows and
children about the mouth of the mint
beggars description The mules tha.
were in the mine are so burned that they
have to be removed on account of tn,
odor before the work can proceed.