The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-12-10
EXPLOSION IN A MINE
MANY MEN ENTOMBED IN A CARBON
DALE CwAsH.) COLLIERY.
Over Seventy at Work When the Gas
ExplOded-Some Of the Bodies TAX
en- Out Mangled and Burned.

sion this morning in the mine Of the Carbon
Hill Coal Company, the tunnels of which
run for miles under the town, entombed
seventy-two men, an unknown number of
whom were killed. Twenty bodies mangled
almost beyond Identification have been re-
covered. The known dead are:
REEs JONES. fire. boss. aged thirty un-
married.
DANIEL DAVIES. aged eighteen.
EVAN LEWIS, aged twenty.
RICHARD DURR. young man, leaves
widow and one child.
JOHN JONES. aged sixty-four. leaves
widow and married daughter
THOMAS EDWARDS. aged forty. leaves
widow.
EVAN RICHARDS, aged thirty, leaves
widow and six children.
HOWELL MEREDITH. aged fifty-nine.
leaves widow and nine children. of whom
two are married.
JOSEPH THOMAS. aged twenty-seven.
single.
EVAN LEWIS. single.
WATT JONES. aged thirty, leaves a
WILLIAM RICHARDS. aged forty-eight.
- HULLEN. aged thirty. leaves
GUsTAvE KNUrr.
III. KNUTT.
- JOHNSON. aged forty. leaves fam
BENJAMIN zEDDLER.
Il. ZEDDLER.
D. s. THOMAS, aged fifty. leaves family.
WILLIAM NJ. DAVIS. aged tnirty-five,
leaves family.
Details of the disaster are meagre. The
number of men employed In the first shaft
was seventy.two. ~.snt7r hours are from
a. m. TO D. m. The explosion occurred
between 10 and II a. m. as near as can
be ascertained. Jonah Davis. the foreman,
was taken out unhurt. and besides him
| about twenty of the Firms. Most of the
men are Welsh, and several of the Welsh
miners escaped, but they Immediately
turned and went back into the mine in the
hope of being able to rescue those still sup
posed to be alive Howell Meredith was
working considerably above the water
level when the explosion came, and he low
cred himself down timber chute to rescue
one of his sons. Daniel Meredith. working
below. The son came out unharmed, but
his father is still down in the mine. and
one of the rescue force says he saw his
dead body.
The tunnel in which the explosion took
place is about one and one-quarter miles
in length on a water level under the south
west part of the town. There are several
Wingate hill, west Of here.
The force of the explosion was such that
it knocked down John Ryan. who was
working at light crosscut 10 -eet above
the water level. Immediately after the ex-
plosion the foreman. Jonah Davis, gave
the alarm to the men working on the diff
ferent levels, shouting: Look out for the
black damp and get out for your lives"
The Firms were quick to take advantage
of the timber chute. Altogether some thir-
ty men escaped by this means, many of
them being hoisted up by ropes Rees Mer-
edith. son of Howell Meredith, descended
the incline from near the company's store
and Office. about two hours after the ex-
plosion with several other men. They
could not go a distance Of nalf a mile when
their passage checked with black
damp. which is air from which all oxygen
has been burned, strongly charged with
carbonic acid gas.
AT p. m. a number of men were pulled
up through the timber chute near the sum-
nit of Wingate hill, from a depth of sew
eral hundred feet. They were picked I'D
from six Of the levels near the water level.
Three more have been rescued through the
inclined tramway. All of them are badly
blackened and b,l he'd and they were i'm
mediately taken to- the company's hospital
and wrapped In cloths soaked In lnseed oil.
oil.
The scenes at the hospital were pitiful
Men whose clothing was almost burned
from their bodies were laid out as fast as
they arrived. their eyebrows and their hair
singed and their faces black and bleeding
Women and children surrounded the build
ing weeping.
Rescue parties are working both in the
incline and at the old timber chute on the
hill At present ii Is stated confidently
that a large proportion of the unfortunate
miners may be brought out alive.
1t was customary to work 1l5 men divided
into three shifts. but the first. the morning
shift, was the largest Several years ago
an explosion of fire damp occurred in this
same mine and two men lost their lives
The explosion Is regarded as an accident
common to coal mining. Timber gangs are
at work replacing the deranged timbers and
rescuing the imprisoned miners or taking
out an occasional body. The fans are work
ing well and most OF the black damp is
rapidly being sucked out of the mine
The coal mines here are those of the Car
bon Hill Company. but they really be-
long TO the Southern Pacific railway Com
pany. The coal is soft variety. productive
OF a large proportion of gas ana has been
much used in gas manufacture.
all