Union gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1899-1900, 1899-12-15
MANY COAL MINERS KILLED.
Gas Explosion Wrought De-
struction at Carbonate.
CAUSE sHRouDED IN MYSTERY
Deadly Blackdamp Followed the Ex-
p1osion, but the Mine Was Easily
ventilated-List of the Dead.


at Carbonate, 40 miles easterly from
Tacoma, at IL o'clock this morning,
killed 80 men. Identification of the
dead men is almost impossible. The
scraps of clothing that still cling to the
bodies of the men are carefully pre-
served, laid aside and labelled to aid in
the identification. Frenzied relatives
of tie missing men gathered at the
mouth of the mine and watched eagerly
to catch glimpse of the forms as they
were hurried by to the coroner's Office.
The work of rescue is being rushed
forward, but it may be days before the
last blackened form is taken from the
mine, for many men are believed to lie
buried under masses of earth and rock.
To extricate them will take time, and
thus far the work of rescue has been
pushed forward at the extreme endur-
ance of the workers. for the black
damp and noxious gases have driven
the rescuers back repeatedly.
When the explosion occurred rush
of the inhabitants was made in the di-
rection of the mouth of the tunnel.
Women, the wives of the men supposed
to be in the SHIFT, ran to and fro,
screaming and wringing their hands
with anguish, crying children clinging
to their skirts.
It was all that D. T. Davies the
superintendent of the mine, could dc
to stop the wives and friends of the
doomed miners from plunging madly
into the tunnels mouth
A revised death list follows:
Company men-Leonard johnson,
Henry Soni, Matt Rehela and Victor
Ruhinaki formerly given as John Hill)
all Firms; Michael Kichinko, John
Mellon and Andrew Gecey, Poles;
John II. Jones, David <. Thomas,
Howell Meredith, sr-, Watkin Jones,
Evan NJ. Lewis, Daniel Davis and Rees
Jones, all Welsh; William Wilson,
Joseph Lee and Richard Dare, Amer
leans, and Ben Zeidler, jr., German.
Contract miners-August Hainut
and Emil Hainut, Belgians; Paul Cur
tiss, Adam Pavoll, John Flota and
Stephen Kraunoga, Poles; Ben Zeidler,
ST., Germans; Matt Nuland and Jacob
Lands, Firms. The cause of the ex-
plosion is mystery to every one.
Only safety lamps are worn when at
work. Governor Rogers will con-
duct searching examination as to the
cause of the explosion. He has tele-
graphed State Mine Inspector Owens,
now at Spokane, to attend the inquest
and examine witnesses himself. The
question of the ventilation of the mine,
in conformity with the state law, will
be thoroughly gone into.
The total number of men in the un-
fortunate shift was 76, of whom A are
alive, all of them having escaped OF
been rescued.
The mines are owned by the Carbon
Hill Coal Company. They give work
to 400 men, and have an output of 300,-
900 tons annually, and are situated 40
miles from Tacoma, on the Cascade
division of the Northern Pacific. The
mines are in a deep ravine, through
which the Carbon river flows. The
mines are supplied with every appli-
ance for safety. They are largely tun-
neled, and the tunnels are SO big that
locomotives are run into them.
In 1890 an explosion at this same
mine cost two lives, and John Hartman
and some others were severely burned.