Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-06-09
Fire Was Started in a Mine at
Glouster, O., and. it Ignited
the Explosive.
THREE HUNDRED MEN WERE AT WORK.
Two Hundred Lives Were Placed in
Jeopardy by the Terrific Explo-
sion Which Followed.
IL IL Believed Thnt Four Miners Are
Dend--A Number of Them
Were Taken Ont I'm
conscious.

Glouster, o., June 0.-By an explo-
sion of gas in Mine No. 2, colliery
near this city, Friday, four men are
reported to have lost their lives.
Two hundred miners were imprison-
ed. One hundred and seventy-five
have been rescued.
The following are reported dead.
Evan Joseph, fire boss; John Nc
Clclland, miner; Aaron Swanson,
miner; John Evans, miner.
The following were removed, uncon-
scious from the effects of the after
damp:
Lewis Jones, ir., William Harris,
Morgan Lewis, William Crombie, John
Walsh. George Rodgers, Evan Hamil-
ton.
Shortly after o'clock, when the
mine was filing up with workers
who had descended by means of the
cage of No. . shaft, an explosion of
gas occurred, which broke the tim
bers of the mine in every direction
The air fans were disarranged and il
was some time before any progress
was made toward opening the way
for the rescue of the imprisoned men.
Fire Boss Joseph went down
through Shaft No. 6, which connected
with the one where the explosion oc-
cnrred. He made his way through
connecting gangway, and, it is sup
posed, was overcome by the after
damp which followed the explosion
and was unable to make his way back
to the fresh air.
Rescue parties were Immediately
organized and followed the way taken
by the fire boss. They found
party of eight men lying near the
connecting gangway, and carried
them to the fresh air, not a moment
too soon, for all were almost sufio-
Gated by the fumes of the deadly
afterdamp.
The work of rescue continued for
several hours, and by noon it was
believed that all the imprisoned men
had been released but about 20.
1t was found by the rescuers that
In air currents through the mine
were much better than at first sup
posed. and This gave hope to the
crowds of weeping women and chill
dren about the mouth of the shaft
that all their relatives and friends
would be brought to the surface in
safety and little the worse for their
terrible experience.
1t is practically certain, however,
that many of the miners are dead,
for the deadly gas known as after
damp, which follows all explosions in
mine workings, had gathered in large
quantities near the connection be-
tween Shafts Nos. 2 and 6, where the
party of eight men were rescued.
An opening was made in the mass
of debris at the main shaft of No. 2
mine Immediately after the eight men
were rescued at the opposite end. At
the bottom of the shaft hung the
"age, twisted mass of iron. \ tenn
porary lift was put into place, and
il was quickly manned and descended
to the bottom, where over a hundred
panic-stricken miners were found w.
ing fiat on their faces in an effort to
get the only pure air in that part OF
the workings. They were loaded on
the cage and carried to the surface,
where they were received with open
arms by the members of their fam
lilies, who had gathered in great num-
bers when the report of the explo-
sion was heard. Several times the
cage descended, bringing on each re-
turn its load of smoke -begrimed men.
liescuing parties penetrated into the
mine as rapidly as possible, and it
was expected that definite news of
the conditions there would be re-
ccived momentarily.
Ii is supposed the explosion was
rauscd by an electric spark from on"
of the yeniilating fans, touching off
4 pocket of gas thai had gathered
during the night.
N naa.