The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1899-12-16
1H|RIY-FIVE MEN KILLED.
IN A COAL MINE EXPLOSION
At the Town of Carbonate, Forty
Miles From Tacoma-Same Mine
Exploded in 1s0O-Tunnels Large
Enough for an Engine to Enter.

Enough for an Engine to Enter.
Tacoma, Dee. IA mine explosion at
Carbonate, 40 miles from Tacoma Satur-
day killed 33 men Identity of the dead
is almost impossible. The scraps of cloth
ing that still cling to- the bodies of the
men are carefully preserved, laid aside
and labelled to aid in identification.
Frenzied relatives OF the missing men
gathered at the mouth OF the mine, watch
ed eagerly to catch glimpse of the forms
as they are hurried by to the coroner 5
office. The work of rescue is being rush
ed forward, but it may be days before the
last blackened form is taken from the
mine, for many are believed to lie buried
under a mass of earth and rock.
To extricate them will take time, and
thus far the work of rescue has been
pushed forward at the extreme peril OF
the workers, for the black damp and noX-
ious gases have driven the rescuers back.
List OF Missing Company Men.
Mike Knish, Leonard johnson, j. II.
Jones, Henry Soini, Mike Kichinko, Will
liam Wilson, John Mellon, David X.
Thomas, Matt Ryhala, Ben Zedler, Jr.,
John Hill, Howell Meredith, ST., Watkin
Jones, Andrew Gecey, Evan NJ Lewis,
Joe Lee, Richard Dare, Daniel Davis,
Rees Jones, Peter Merpax.
Missing Contract Men.
August Hainaut, Matt Nuland, Paul
Curtiss, Adam Pavoll, John Sofia, John
p. Dekonink, Ben Zedler, ST., Emil Hahn
aut, L. j. Edwards, A.vans Richards,
Joseph Thomas, Steve Kromoga, William
NJ Davis, Jacob Lande.
Cause May Never BE Known.
The cause OF the explosion is a mys-
terry. Not even the miners rescued can
give the slightest possible explanation.
Only safety lamps, the English Clancy
and the Davie patterns, are worn when at
work Should, however, one of the men
hapleSsly have opened his lamp in an ac-
emulation of gas, the gas would sud
denly ignite and explode. The only open
light known was that from the small loco
motive used to haul cars in and out from
the canyon to the main level. 1t is the
orizing to say that this was the cause, al
though a mule driver, named James Con
way, now lying wrapped i'll oil silk and
fairly covered with a mixture OF boiled
linseed oil and lime juice, says he was
caught in the shock on the main gang
way. Conway was the first man to come
out of the mine.
Incidents at the Morgue.
Among the incidents at the morgue an
old man, father of Richard Dare, totter-
ed in anxiously inquiring for his son. A
rough but kindly disposed young miner
busy with the care of the cOrpses being
eager to save the old man sight before
which any strong man might quail, told
him that he did not think that his son was
there. The aged father left the cheap
looking one-story building sobbing, but
still hoping.
He was spared a vision of a shapeless
mass of charred flesh and rags.
"A black cloud hangs over Carbondale,'
was the sombre observation of one SCOT
covered miner, and it is true one, fol-
overhead is a gloomy, cloud-obscured sky
All day the rain had been DRILLING down
and the town was in mass OF mud. In
this rain and through this mud the silent
! professions bearing upon stretchers the
corpses and the injured have been tread
ing their way to the mOrgue and the hos
pital, handling with tender solicitude then
/ gruesome burdens.
The last estimate Superintendent Davies
made of the number of dead is between
80 and 30. This is thought to be conser
vative. Superintendent Davies is coo
| and collected but Foreman Davis has Il
90 about his painful duties with thu
knowledge that his promising young sol
has gone to the speechless bourne.
James Conway, who lies in the hospi
tai, has a wife and two small children
Richard Dare, dead, was married only
few months ago. His father is here visit
ing from Pennsylvania
Four of the mules in the mine wer
knocked down and killed, says one of tn
) Firms, through an Interpreter.
In 1890 an explosion at this same min
cost two lives and John Hartman an,
some Others were severely burned.
The mines are owned by the Carbon
Hill Coal Company. They give work +
400 men and have an output of 10000
tons annually and are situated 40 mile
, from Tacoma, on the Cascade division O
: the Northern Pacific. The mines are i
z deep ravine through which the Carbo
river flows. 1t is a glacial river. TIL
mines are supplied with every applianc
| for safety. They are LARGELY tunnels