Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-12-27

lIOIu Iu0 DOJJOul u l4-O AhAhO'
Four Miners Rescued.
PRINCETON, Ind. December 26.-A ter
rife explosion Of dre-damp occurred in
the mine of the Maule Coal Company. this
city, at $3.50 o'clock this afternoon. and as
a result twelve or more men were in
stantly killed and four were injured one
OF the four men taken out alive Is danger
ously injured. Besides the dead bodies re-
covered so far, five or six others, names
unknown, are dead in the mine.
The dead are:
ROBERT 8fAULE married, treasurer
Maule Coal Companv.
JAMES RILEY. married.
JOHN RILEY. married.
JOHN ERNEST married.
THEODORE FABER. married.
DAVID NOLAN. married.
ROBERT PONYLIE.
JAMES PONYLITE.
JAMES KRUGY. single.
JAMES TURNER.
JOHN HOLMES, married.
The four men rescued are:
WILL GRILL. slightly bruised
WAI HOOKER, colored. cut and bruised.
FRANK TURBIE. badly burned and may
not recover.
- DAVIS, colored, slightly injured.
The men were at work making repairs
of damages resulting from a similar ex-
plOsion last Sunday. Besides the regular
miners. blacbsmiths and others were as
sistiug at the work while Robert Maule.
a son of President John MaUle. and treas
urer and mine superintendent of the
company. was experimenting the work.
The mine has been in operation a short
time and the air shaft is not quite com
pleted and the gas which collects in por-
tions of the mine was ignited by "a lamp.
one year ago yesterday Princeton was
jubilant over the striking of a seven foot
coal vein by the Maule Coal Company.
But tonight many homes are scenes Of
great sorrow. made so by the awful eXplo-
sion of gas in the mine. When the mine
began work the finest machinery was put
in and IL was the intention of the owners
to make il the finest in the State. The
air shaft was not started until after the
mine had been prepared 10 operate. Work
has progressed slowly, and there is still
about ninety feet to eXcavate before It is
completed. Gas has frequently accumu-
lated i'm pockets and several men have
been burned by small explosions. About
two months ago an explosion occurred in
which one man was killed, and Frank Tur-
bic. who was injured in to-day's eXplo-
sion, was injured. The State mine inspec-
tor investigated and the work went on
with a small force It is well known that
gas accumulated. and there is no way to
dispel it, yet the miners went TO their
daily work without thinking of the danger
they were constantly i'm. Last Sunday a
jet of gas was fred by a blast and It
burned all night. In the morning the de-
scent of the cages forced gas TO this jet
and a terrible explosion occurred, but for
tunately there was no one in the mine.
To-day about twenty men were engaged
in repairing the damage by the explosion
when the fire-damp again let go with ter
rible force, this time with deadly effect.
The escape of four Of the men from in
stant death seems almost a miracle when
it is considered that the heavy mine
cages were blown from the shaft bottom
to the top house. over 500 feet above. by
the force of the explosion. These cages
We're wrecked so they were useless, and an
iron bucket was improvised for rescuing
party as soon rs possible after the acci-
dent The first persons brought up were
Turbie, Grill and the two colored men,
Davis and Booker. The first was madly
burned and was carried TO an ambulance.
Grill and Davis were apparently unin-
iured and walked of saying they were all
right. Booker was cut and burned and
had to be supported. Afterward it was
found that his jaw was broken and one
eye was torn from it's socket. All were
given medical attention by n corps Of
physicians. Then the rescuing party be-
gan TO bring up the dead. The scenes
around the mine were most pathetic.
Wives were weeping piteously IN anguish
that the crowd vainly tried TO alleviate.
Mothers daughters. sons, and other
relatives Of the men in the mine.
who. with blancheG faces, stood
wringing their hands. and some
were kept from going down the
shaft with the greatest Of difficulty.
Slowly the work of bringing the badies TO
the surface proceeded. 1t was known that
the men still in the mine were all dead,
and those above who were waiting for
their dear ones realized that only man
gled bodies of those loved ones would
meet their gaze.
State Mine Inspector Fisher will arrive
tomorrow and viii investigate the mat
ter.
At present tn circumstances that led up
TO the explosion cannot be obtained.