The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-25
A Flash and a Roar, and Prec-
fOus Souls Were Waited
into Eternity. s
A TOWN In MOURNING
After One Of the Most HOrrify-
ing Accidents in the His
tory of a State.
Details Of the Accident.

Details of the Accident.
Sorrows darkest hour has over
taken IL town and an appalling CAL
amity has been chronicled. The
town of Neihart never before saw
sorrow such as this. Eight stalwart
young men lately in the vigor and
strength of life, now lie cold in death.
Two others are seriously injured,
with no promise of a speedy recov-
cry.
On last Saturday morning the
powder magazine in tunnel No. 2, at
the Broadwater mine exploded will
terrific force. The night shift which
had just finished lunch, was going oil
duty. At LOS they were passing
the magazine when the accident
occurred. Filing into the tunnel
only a few feet apart, the force Of
the explosion caught the center Of
the file, tearing away rocks and
timbers, and destroying life with
direful effect. Those killed are:
FRANK DORIAN.
HUGH MCKENZIE.
J. j. MORRISON.
JOHN CAIRNS.
ID. Fl. ROSS. 10
DAN O'LEARY. :.
JAMES 7. GALLAGHER. +.
MIKE TOBIN.
The wounded are:
JOE DEROIN, wounded groin.
MIKE WARD, hurt in back.
GEO. DORAN, injured back and
face.
JAMES CONATY, arm broken. 8
FRANK NORTON, scalp wound.
CHAS. SMITH, bruised about the
face.
OF the twenty two men going on
shift at the time but few escaped
without scratches or powder burns.
They are: j. R. Ferris, VIM. Egan.
Jack Dawson, Claus Schuman and
VIM. Bergman. 7. w. Maloney
suffered only a few scratches about
his face. To these, escape was mir.
aculous, for the ~closeness of the mag
zine, and the rush of flying missiles
made safety almost impossible.
All that the managers of the mine
could do was done to hasten the res
cue of the injured. Stretchers were
hastily made, and the arms of strong
men soon bore the bodies of dead and
dying to the surface.
The HERALD of last week had
just left the press, when the alarm
was heard. The Broadwater whistle,
then the fire bell, gave warning that
something awful had happened. A
HERALD reporter made his way as
quickly as possible to the middle
tunnel of the mine, reaching that
place before any of the men had been
removed, except Chas. Smith, who
was able with assistance to walk out
of the tunnel. Upon entering the
mine a heartrending scene met the
gaze. The dead and dying lay
scattered about as on a battle field
Some were still in death. Others
we're breathing heavily; others groan-
ing in intense pain. The first reached
upon entering the tunnel we're John
Cairns, dead, and Hugh Mckenzie,
still breathing. Next lay the body
of j. j. Morrison still alive. Nc
Kenzie died as soon as brought to the
surface and Morrison lived scarcely
three hours. Next to these, in a
little side station lay JOS. Deroin
who is now in the hospital in a very
critical condition. He is bruised in
the groin, so badly as temporarily to
lose the. use of his lower limbs. He
was conscious, and talked to those
about him, but groaned in great
agony. A short distance beyond lay
Gallagher, still conscious, splitting
blood and calling constantly for
water. In less than twenty-four
hours he was a corpse. Beyond
Gallagher was q cavern Of such ex-
tent as to make passage farther into
the tunnel extremely difficult. The
large mass of debris covered the en-.
l. -A-