The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-30
NINE A DEATH TRAP
SIX LIVES LOST BY GAS ExPLO-
SION AT SOUTH WILKES
BARRE
FATAL WORK OF RESCUE.
TWO HEROES Persisted In AN Eff
FORT TO SAVE THEIR COM
RADES.
TWELVE MEN ARE STILL MISSING
Small Chance That Any Imprisoned
i'm the Shaft VIII Be Brought
Out Alive.

WlLkESBARRE, Pa, Oct. ga
terrible explosion Of gas occurred in
No. shaft of the Lehigh & Wilkes
barre Coal company in South Wilkes
! barre between and 2 o'clock this
afternoon and six men are known to be
| dead and two injured. 1t Is not yet
known how many men were in the
mine at the time of the explosion, but
twelve are reported missing and it is
believed all Of these have persisted.
The dead who have been brought to the
! surface are:
WILLIAM R. JONES, fire boss, mar
ried with family.
JOHN JOSEPH, mine foreman with
wife and five children.
Others known to be dead, but who
cannot be reached because of the mine
damp are:
THOMAS OWENS, miner, married and fam
! lily.
WILLIAM LACEY. rock miner, married
| and family
JAMES HERON, laborer, married and
| family.
JOSEPH WORTH, fire boss, married and
| family.
The injured, SO far as known, are: David
Wliliams, overcome by black damp and in
tured on back John Davis, overcome by
| black damp.
The cause of the explosion will pos
sibly never be known. The mine was
idle for today. Usually there are from
400 to 500 men employed in the mine.
Had they all been at work when the
explosion occurred the loss Of life
would have been fearful. The only
men in the mine this afternoon were
| the company hands and fire bosses, who
were at work in the rock tunnel, chang
ing the air course. The place was very
gaseous and the men worked with
safety lamps 1t is believed the gas
was ignited by a blast.
| David Williams, the driver boss. was
at the head of the slope, 800 feet away,
| when the explosion occurred and was
hurled some distance and injured He
was the only one in that vicinity who
escaped alive. The explosion was so
severe that it was plainly felt at the
mouth OF the shaft. The roof Of the
fan house was blown off and all air
ways were wrecked and blown away.
| The alarm was promptly given and
hundreds of men, women and children
rushed to the head of the shaft. The
! grief Of the women who had husbands.
sens or brothers in the mine was heart
rending.
The work of organizing rescue gangs
was begun at once. 1t was a perilous
undertaking as the sequel proved, but
no man faltered. Fire Boss William r.
! Jones and Assistant Mine Foreman
! John Joseph, selected the men for the
| first party and themselves led the way.
| All were overcome by the dread after
damp, but not until they had found the
driver boss, David Williams All ex-
cept Joseph succeeded in reaching the
foot Of the. shaft and were removed to
the surface, but the old fire boss, Will
! lam Jones, succumbed to the fire damp
and died in half an hour John Jo-
seph, the other hero, became sepa-
rated from the first party and the sec
ond rescuing party found his body and
| removed it to the surface at 2:3O
| o'clock. A number Of company men
who worked in a different part of the
! mine reached the surface by the No.
B shaft and also by another opening.
| 1t Is not thought possible to reach the
| four men in the rock tunnel until the
air currents are opened.
| Supt. laval and other officials Of the
ccal company were on the scene early
and did all in human power to aid the
! men below. Large streams of water
were sent down the shaft to establish
temporary air current while the work
OF rescue was In progress. laval be-
| ieves there may yet be six men in
side, but an old miner insists there are
| twelve. 1t is the general supposition
that all are dead
A rescue party Of twelve men in
charge of Mine Foreman John F. Jones,
is slowly making way to the rock tun-
mel and building an air passage the
entire distance to insure safety. The
mine damp is very bad and the work
OF rescue Is progressing at great risk
| On March 2, 1890, in this same col
liery, eight men were imprisoned and
died before they could be reached by
the rescuing party.