Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-07-16
MANY BURIED ALIVE.
HORRIBLE CATASTROPHE IN A
PENNSYLVANIA MINE.
More than 125 Miners Thought to
Have Died Awful Deaths from Ex-
plosion of Fire Damp-The Survivors
Tell Tales of Frightful Conditions.

By an exuiosIoa il the Rolling Mill
mine of thu Cambria Steel Company al
1920 O'clock Thursday afternoon an un-
ascertained number of miners 1aye lost
their lives. 1t is estimated the list of
dead will reach flom 125 to 200.
1t was ruinored at first that 200 had
persisted but later reports show that 4Uo
out Of the 900 endangered men are safe.
This appalu.g disaster is only less
frightful than the awful calamity OF May
81, 1889. The whole city of Johnstown
is in mourning. After. lamp prevented
rescue parties from making rapid head
way.
The mining officials of the Cambria
company say the explosion was c'useo
by fire damp.
An American miner who escaDed tells
of seeing young Hungarian recently
hunting for fire damp with his lamp along
thy cracks in the mine wall.
Statement by Mine President.
President Powell Stackhouse was seen
at the mouth of the mine and gave out
the following statement:
1.-The disaster is an unusual one and
came on us entirely unexpectedly. The
mine had been inspected only three days
ago and was pronounced in satisfactory
condition. The cause is yet indefinite,
but believe it was caused by gas es9ap-
ing from the fifth heading, which vas
closed and was not being worked because
it contained gas, into the sixth heading
Disaster in the "KIondike."
The catastrophe occurred in the section
of the mine known among the miners as
the ''Klondike" 1t is the sixth section
west of the south main heading and is a
| mile and a half from the main entrance
of the mine
There are two openings to the mine
| one, the Westmont. near the stone bridge
| of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the other
ut Mill creek, four miles away. All the
mines in the vicinity were closed as soon
as news of the disaster got out. and their
miners were at the scene of the eXplO-
sion ready to help in the rescue work.
The scenes at both openings of the mine
were narrowing and Understandable.
Two miners who came out of the mine
at the Mill creek opening estimate about
800 of the 600 men at work in the Cam
! bria drift got out at that opening.
Survivors Report FrightfuI Conditions
ne lew Nt.EN iNbES w no nave tSNdIth
| from the depths of the mine describe the
| condition as frightful in their nature. Out
| side of the "Klondike" the mines are
| safe and uninjured Within the fatal
! limits of the mine the havoc wrought by
| the explosion is such as beggar descrip-
| ton. Solid walls of masonry three feet
! through were torn down as though bar
riers of paper The roofs of the mine
were demolished and not a door remains
| standing.
| The men who escaped are familiar with
| the mine They have spent years work
| ing in it. Otherwise they could never
| have reached the surface. Lights were
! out and there was no way for them to
! find their way to the top had they not
| known the mine perfectly
John Hewlett at the time of the acct
| dent was at second right. room sixteen,
| two miles back in the mines. The ex-
! plos0n, he said. was at right six. about
400 yards from where he was working.
l. There were six of US together. and as
sooL as we heard the explosion we pulled
--t--A.lss-- and Hss4 nuick az nosei-
| BILE Richard Bennett was one of the
men with me. After Bennett got out
| he went back again. After the explosion
| we could not see our hands before us
until we reached the main heading. 1t
| appeared to be a smoky. stinky substance,
whether gas or damp could not tell. 1t
was terrible whatever it was"
| Two young men who were at work in
| the "Klondike" when the explosion oc-
Cured. escaped by way of an old and I'M
used air shaft. They were dizzy and
sick with the awful damp when they
were found and after their recovery they
told a horrible story of how they had
crawled over the dead bodies of their
comrades. They could not say how many
are dead. but from their tale it is almost
certain that there are no living men in
the mine at the present time. Tom Fos-
ter, a mine boss. and Powell Griffith, a
| fire boss also escaped. and they tell the
same horrible tale of the catastrophe.