The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-10

were connrmed In little While. with In
formation that the nornsnx shift IN tunnel
No. had been caught a an axplosion OF
fredamp. Between seventy and eiraaty
men were at work Ia the mines at the
time. and the measer report conveyed the
Information that All must have been killed,
az there was no chance OF ESCAPE. Those
who ware NOT killed outright would be
hemmed IN BY the falling walls ana TIM
bers and suffocated BY the fumes and
smoke before any opportunity of relief
could come.
Rush screaming 20 the Tunnel.
rush Of the inhabitants was made IN
the direction OF the mouth Of the tunnel.
women. the wives Of the men supposed
to be in the shaft. ran 70 and fro, scream
Ing and wringing their hands with an
guisn. crying children ci.nsins to their
skirts.
IT was AL that D. T. Davies, the super
intendent OF the mine, could do to keep
tho friends OF the doomed miners ana their
wives from plunginE madly into the tun-
nel's mouth
Mines Belong to southern Pacine.
The coal minesl here are those of the
Carbon Hill Coal Company, but they really
belong to the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company. The coal Is soft, hituminous
variety. productive OF large proportion
Of gas. and has been much used In gas
manufacture.
The foreman IN charge OF the shift was
J. III. Davis It IL said that seventy -eight
men were working under him.
Sixteen Bodies Taken out.
Sixteen bodies. all mangled out Of rec
osnition. have 80 far been taken out by
the relief corps.
Details Are Meagsr.
30 far details Of the disaster are meager.
as supt. Davies and Foreman John Davis,
OF the day shift, are now down in the
mine engaged In the rescue. The number
Of the men employed In the first day shift
was seventy-two. Their hours are from
to p. m. The explosion occurred
at between 10 and II a. m, as near
as can be ascerta.ned. Jonah Davis. the
foreman. escaped unhurt, and besides him
about twenty Firms Most OF the men are
Welsh. and several OF the Welsh miners
also escaped. but they Immediately turned
to and went back into the nine In the
hope Of being able to rescue those still
supposed to be alive. So far Is known the
men were killed either by the explosion
Of the nredamp or suffocated by the 90
called biackdamp which usually follows.
Meredith Went Back fer His Son.
Howell Meredith was working consider
ably above the water level when the ex-
plosion occurred. and he lowered himself
down a timber shoot to rescue one Of his
sons. Daniel Meredith, working below. The
son came out unframed, but his father Ii
still down In the nina. and one Of the res
cue force says he saw his dead body.
Tunnel . Mile and . Quarter Long.
The tunnel in which the explosion took
place IL about one and quarter miles In
length, on water level, under the south
west part Of the town. There are several
air shoots running to the surface Of Win
gate hill, west of here.
Firms Escape Through = shoot.
The force OF. the explosion was such that
It knocked down John Ryan. 50 called, a
Finn, who was working at the eighth
crosscut. $40 feet above the water level.
The other Firms escaped up through an
old timber shoot running up to the slope
of the hill. These were all uninjured. but
most Of them left the MINIS at once. with
out helping the rescue party.
Some Marrow ESCAPED.
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np..ka.~- Cheek. Re.cu.
R.es Meredith a son of Howell, Mere.
a,tb descended the incline froyr near tba
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