The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-27
TWELVE MORE KILLED BY AN Ex-
PLOsTON IN AN INDIANA
MIND.
OTHERS FATALLY INJURED.
ROBERT MAULE, THE TREASURER
OF THE COMPANY, AMONG THE
VICTIMS.
FoUR MEN TAKEN our STILL ALIVE
After 1t Was Belfeyed That All who
Remained In the Shaft Had
Perfshed.

PRINCETON, Ind, Dec. 26.-A terri
fic explosion of fredarap 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,g 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 colored man
were taken out alive just before mid
night, 1t 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
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 SINH
lar explosion last Sunday Besides the
regular miners, blacksmiths and others
were assisting in the work, while Rob
ert Maule, a 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
smart 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 Jubllant over the striking of a
seven foot coal vein by the MauIe 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
flneSt 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 a.
serious explosion occurred in which
cne man was killed and Frank Turbia
who was injured in today's explosion
ctr 40
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 a jet of gas
was fired by blast and burned all
night. In the morning the decension
OF the cages forced gas to this Jet and
a terrific explosion occurred, but fer
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 ,nlracIa
when it is considered that The neayv
2''ne caeS & We're l.l9wn 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 irnprovfsed for a
rescuing party as soon as possible after
the explosion. The first persons
brought up were Turbie, Grill and two
colored men, Davis and Booker, The
first was badly burned and was car
ried to an ambulance. Grill and Davis
were apparently un1ujured 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 eve was
torn ff3m its socket. All were given
medical attention by a corps of physf-
cians
Then the rescutng party began to
bring up the dead. The scenes around
the mine were most pathetic. Wives
were weeping piteously in anguish that
the crowd vainly triesl to alleviate.
Mothers, daughters, sons and other
relatives of the men in the mine. with
blanched faces, stood wringing their
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.