The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-27
TWELVE MORE KILLED BY AN Elk
PLOsTON IN AN INDIANA
NINE.
OTHERS FATALLY INJURED
ROBERT MAULE, THE TREASURER
OF THE COMPANY, AMONG THE
VICTIMS.
FOUR MEN TAKEN OUT STILL ALIVE
Remained In the Shaft Had
Perfshed.

PRINCETON, Ind, Dec. ga terri
f1c explosion of f1redan1p occurred in
the mine of the Maule Coal company,
this city, at $3.50 this afternoon, and as
a result nine or more men were in
stantly killed and four injured, one of
them probably fatally. The dead are:
ROBERT MAULE. married, treasurer
Maule Coal company.
JAMES RILEY, married.
JOHN RILEY, married.
JOHN ERNEST, married.
THEODORE FABER.s married.
ROBERT PONYLITE.
JAMES PONYLITE.
JAMES KRUGY, single.
JOHN HOLMES, married.
The four rescued are: VIII Grill slightly
bruised; - Booker, cut and bruised; Frank
t. Turbie, badly burned and may not re-
cover; - Davis (colored) slightly injured
1t was first thought that twelve men
had been killed in the mine, but when
Dave Nolan and James Turner and a
man named Colgate and a colored man
were taken out alive just before mid
night, it was thought that the death
list would be reduced eight or nine.
The work Of the rescuers will continue
during the night, and will be kept up
by relays continuously, but there have
OCC4A ~ 11lOI6 OOu1GS IOuIlu QedQ or
alive since midnight. The families of
the missing men remain all the time
waiting for the cages that come up the
shaft, and the scenes about the mine
during the night become more sad as
the hours go by.
The men were at work making re-
pairs of damages resulting from a SINH
lar explosion last Sunday. Besides the
regular miners, blacksmiths and others
were assisting in the work, while Rob
ert Maule, son Of President John
Maule, and treasurer and mine super
intendent of the company, was oversee
Ing the work. The mine has been in
operation a short time, and the air
shaft is not quite completed and the
gas which collects in portions of the
mine was ignited by an open 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 greatest sorrow, made so by
the awful explosion of gas in the mine.
When the mine began work, the finest
machinery was put in and it was the
intention of the owners to make it the
finest in the state. The air shaft was
not started until after the mine had
been prepared to operate Work has
progressed slowly and there Is still
about ninety feet to excavate before
1t is completed. Gas has frequently
accumulated in pockets and several
men have been burned by small ex-
plosions. About two months ago q
serious explosion occurred in which
enc man was killed and Frank Turbie..
who was injured in today's explosion,
was injured. The state mine inspector
| investigated and work went on with a
small force. 1t is well known that gas
accumulated and there is no way to
diSpel it yet.
The miners went to work without
| thinking of the danger they were con-
stantly in. Last Sunday Jet of gas
was fired by a blast and burned all
night. In the morning the decension
of the cages forced gas to this jet and
| a terrific explosion occurred but for
| tunately there was no one in the
mine. Today about twenty men were
| engaged in repairing the damage by
| the explosion when the fire damp again
| let go with terrible force, this time with
deadly effect
The escape of the four men from in
| slant death Sc ems almost a )nlracI,
When 1t Is considered tn1t The neavy
! 2l'ne cas- 3 were blown from the Shaft
| bottom to the top of the house. over
| five hundred feet above, by the force
| Of the explosion. These cages were
wrecked so they were useless and an
iron bucket was improvised for a
rescuing party as soon as possible after
| the explosion The first persons
| brought up were Turbie, Grill and two
| cClored men, Davis and Booker. The
| first was badly burned and was car
| ried to an ambulance. Grill and Davis
We're apparently uninjured and walked
| off saying they were all right. Booker
was cut and burned and had to be
supported Afterwards it was found
his jaw was broken and one eye was
torn ff9m its socket. All were given
medical attention by a corps of physi-
| clans.
Then the rescuing party began tc
bring up the dead. The scenes around
the mine were most pathetic. Wives
were weeping piteously in anguish thai
the crowd vainly triqs5 to alleviate
| Mothers, daughters, sons and other
relatives of the men in the mine. with
blanched faces, stood wringing theii
hands and some were kept from going
down the shaft with the greatest diff
ficulty. Slowly the work of bringing
the bodies to the surface proceeded.
State Mine Inspector Fisher will ar,
rive tomorrow and will investigate the
matter. At present the circumstances
that led up to the explosion cannot be-
obtained.