The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-10
EXPLOSION OF FIRE
DAMP KILLS MINERS
Frightful Accident In Village of Carbonate, Wash
---Thirty-three Known to Be Dead.
Pathetic Scenes at the MneWOmen Try to Throw Them
selves Into Mouth Of the Tunnel

Matt Nuland, Paul Curtiss. Adam Pa
voll, John Sofia, John p. Dekonink, Ben
Zedler, sr Emil Hainaut. T. j. Ed
wards, Evan Richards, Joseph Thomas,
Steve Kromoga, William NJ Davis, ia
cob Lande.
Killed Trying to Save Son.
Howell Meredith leaves a widow and
nine children, of whom two are mar
ried sons and two are daughters He
was working considerably above the
water level when the explosion oc-
Cured. and he lowered himself down
a timber chute to rescue one of his
sons, Daniel Meredith. working below
The son came out unharmed, but his
father was killed
The tunnel in which the explosion
took place is about one and a quarter
miles in length on a water level under
the southwest part of the town. There
are several air chuteS running up to
the surface Of Wingate hill. west OF
here.
Was Fearful Explosion
The force of the, explosion was such
that it knocked down John Ryan, a
Finn who was working at the eighth
croSscut, 800 feet above the water level
The other Films escaped up through an
old timber chute running up to the
slope of the hill. These were all unin-
jured. but most of them left the mine
at once, without helping the rescue
partzr.
Dave Lewis was working with Howell
Meredith at the time, but he managed
to escape. Ryan, the Finn. had all he
could do to crawl through the fallen
timbers which blocked all egresS-
Immediately after the explosion the
foreman, Jonah Davis, gave the alarm
to the men working on the different
leve's, shouting as loud as he could:
<.<1t- f0,- rl,a 1nn Ia
get out for your lives"
The Firms were quick to take advant
age of the timber c1ute. Altogether
some thirty men escaped by this means.
many of them being hoisted up by
ropes. Rees Meredith. a son of Howell
Meredith, descended the incline from
near the company'S store and offlce
about two hours after the explosion.
with several other men, They could
only get distance of half a mike, when
their progress was checked by the
black damp, which is air from which
all oxygen has burned, and is strongly
charged with carbonic acid gas.
Fighting the Deadly Gas.
Ever since the catastrophe Superin-
tendent Davies and Foreman Jonah
Davis have been fighting against the
great odds of this deadly gas, aided by
the brave WelShmen.
number of men have been pulled up
through the timber chute near the sum
nit of Wingate hill from q depth Oh
several hundred feet They were picked
from six of the levels near the water
level. Three more have been rescued
up through the inclined tramway. All
Of them are badly blackened and burn
ed. and they. are Immediately taken to
the company's hospitaf and are
wrapped in cloths soaked in hnSeed oil
by Drs. Justwart of Carbonate, Jonn-
ston of Fairfax. Charles Taylor OF
mel of Tacoma.
The scenes at the hospital are pitiful.
Men whose clothing is almost burned
from their bodies are laid out as fast as
they arrive, their eyebrows and haE
singed and their faces black and bleed-
ing. Women and children surround
the building, weeping
Wait For the Victims.
A crowd of voiceless men stands IN
front of the mouth of the gncline. walt
ing to see who of their friends will next
be brought out alive. Occasionally
shameless body comes up on the car.
Rescue parties are working both in the
incline and at the old timber chute on
the hill.
Sadness fills the Meredith home. Mrs
Meredith with eyes flowing tears, fears
that not only has she lost her huSDdnd,
but her son. Daniel Meredith. who, al
though said to be saved, has not yet
appeared at his home A crowd of
sympathizing women neighbOrs are
grouped around her, offering their con-
solations.
At present it is stated confidently
that a large proportion CT the unfor-
tunate miners may be brought out
alive. II was customary to work liz
men. divided into three shifts, but thu
first. the morning shift, was the larg-
est.
Several years ago an explosion of fire
damp occurred in this same mine anG
two men lost their lives. Nobody so far
blameS the company, as the explosion
is regarded as an accident common "a
coal mining Timber gangs are now
at work replacing the deranged tlm-
bers and incidentally rescuing the i'm
prisoned miners or taking out an oc-
casional body. The fans are working
well and most of the black damp is
rapidly being sucked out of the mine.
They were not stopped at all by the
explosion
All the Living Out.
The work of rescuing the living was
completed at o'clock. By that time
the mine had been purified by the fans
to such an extent as to permit free IN
greSS and egresS. Down in the canyon
a mile from the town is the tunnel
mouth leading to No. 4. Nearly two
miles up the hillside is the shaft to the
mine, and it was here that the work
was pushed vigorously
Men went down in little parties OF
two or more and searched for the nv
ing as fast as the deadly damp would
allow progress. Those who were
brought to the surface were muffied IN
sacking to protect their burns until
they could be hoisted to the top of the
incline and carried to the hospital.
There were not many of these, but the
search was continued until all hope OF
saving life was at an end
Many cases of heroism on the part
of the workers were brought To light
Men would continue until overcome by
the gasses They would be carried 10
the air to revive and go down again
Bodies Charred and Blackened.
The first five bodies to be brought up
the long incline were those of Wat>
Jones. Joe Thomas, Evan Lewis, Rich
ard Dare and Daniel Davis Watt
Jones was the chief starter Daniel
Davis was a son of the foreman OF the
shift. None of the bodies were at first
recognizable, because the faces OF the
dead men were charred and black be-
rNr1Ir~ n