The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-19
Later Returns From the New
castle Horror
Confirm the Death of Fifty
Miners.
ALL WERESUFFOCAT'D
Smoke Prevents the Work of
Rescue.
The Cause of the Disaster Re-
mains Unknown.

known number of men are dead as the
result of terrible explosion that oc-
Cured in the Vulcan mine, one of the
coal properties of the Atchison, To-
peka and Santa Fee Railway company,
at 1920 yesterday forenoon. Usually
seventy-five men are employed in the
mine. but less than this number were
at work when the explosion occurred
Yesterday. There is little doubt that
all who were at work are dead.
The number of victims cannot now
be accurately stated, estimates run
ming from fifty to seventy. Those
best informed think the number is
very likely between ffty-five and
sixty. The excitement at present is
SO intense that efforts to secure
complete list are useless.
The only man who got out of the
mines at the time of the explosion
was Edward WEIGH, who was near the
mouth of the tunnel and was blown
out. His skull was fractured, arm
broken, the face badly cut and burned
and all the hair burned from his head.
He was breathing when found, but
expired shortly after without showing
Consciousness. The miners who es-
capped direct death from the explosion
must have been quickly suffocated by
gas, as all means of ventilation were
cut off.
The first news of the disaster was
report as from 100 cannon. People
rushed out of their homes and places
OF business to see what had happened
and one look toward the Vulcan mine
was sufficient, for dense cloud of
smoke issuing from the mouth of the
slope told the tale of death. A throng
of people was soon at the scene of dis
aster, distance of nearly two miles
from Newcastle. A glance was enough
to diSsipate any hope for the lives of
the entombed men. The force of the
explosion had caused a cave-in ana the
tunnel and air courses were filed with
the fallen rock, earth and timbers.
Both fan houses were wrecked and the
slope and vicinity were SO full of the
debris and the gas was so bad that 1T
was hard and dangerous work to
begin the rescue.
Nevertheless, willing hands were
soon at work and five men went down
as far as possible to ascertain the. con-
dition of the slope and found it such
that it will require great Ia Dor to re-
cover the bodies of the miners, The
gas was so bad that after the party
had gotten 200 feet they were COM
PEELED to return.
AS soon asfhe news of the explosion
reached Newcastle, superintendent
Paul BlOunt closed the mines of the
Colorado Fuel and Iron company, and,
taking his miners, left for the Vulcan
mines, where all are actively at work
aiding in the attempts at rescue.
There are two shafts in addition to
the one in which the explosion took
place. In the upper of these two the
rescuers are in about 800 feet and it is
through this that the air can be forced
into some of the rooms, but none of
those in the mine have come out, and
it is feared that this is conclusive evil
dence that all are dead.
The cause of the explosion is not yet
known. The coal fields in which the
Vulcan mine is located have been
trou bled with subterranean gases for
many years In many places over an
area of eighty to 1OG miles smoke has
issued from crevices in the rocks since
the country was first known to white
men, and in later years more than one
valuable coal mine has been destroyed
by fire breaking inio the workings. A
little over year ago the mines of the
Vulcan company had to be flooded on
this account, and the old workings
have never been reopened. The drift
where yesterdays accident occurred
was a new one. 1t is thought the dis
aster may have been caused by the
breaking into an immense pocket of
gas, generated by these everlasting
fires. On February S, State Coal Mine
Inspector Griffith inspected the mine
and pronounced it in splendid condi-
ton and the work is said to have been
done at all times in the most careful
manner.