The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-07-17
AN AWFUL DISASTER
JohnstoWn Suffers Another Fearful
Visitation.
SWIFT DEATH IN MINE EXPLOSION
Dead Bodies of 1any Victims Taken
Out With Difficulty Sorrow Pre-.
walls Over the City.

Johnstown, Pa, Special.-This city
suffered another awful visitation rival
ing the calamity of 1889. The disaster
came in the form Of an explosion in the
Rolling Mill Mine of the Carolina Steel
Company last Thursday. A Friday dis
patch gives the following particulars:
"This has been a day Of heroic res
cues at the Rolling Mill Mine of the
Cambria Steel Company. Thrilling ex-
periences attended the efforts of the 40
brave and daring fellows who went
down into the bowels of the earth with
q very faint hope to spur them that still
they might be in time to restore to lie
some Of those who are entombed.
Death lurked everywhere around them,
but undaunted they surged forward,
swayed with th5 noblest' Of human pur-
poses. The reward of their efforts was
the saving of the lives Of IA Of their
felloVmen and bringing them again
into the sunlight back to loving fami-
lies. Dead and manned bodies were To-
Gated but no effort was made to bring
them out of the vast theatre Of death
until every human energy was put for
ward towards seeing that no living
soul might escape their aid. That done,
the dead were attended to and put in
tram cars, brought up and exposed to
the morbid gaze while being transfer
red to wagons in which to be taken to
the morgue. Eighty-seven dead bodies
We're recovered from the mine between
daylight and nightfuall. Still party Of
officers and miners battled on, three
miles inside the mine. Occasionally
word would come to the surface by
some mysterious means that another
group Of remains had been exposed to
the vision Of the searchers. There are
dangerous headings in the Klondike
section Of the mine yet to be explored
No one knows how many more dead
may be found there. The mine officials
refrain from guess work on the sub
ject.
A feeling prevails that $50 Is low
estimate of the casualty list. Johns
town spent the day, horror-stricken.
From dawn to dusk flying ambulances
soursed the streets bearing gruesome
burdens from mine to morgue, from
morgue to homes.
At midnight President Powell Stack
house was seen at the mouth OF the
mine and gave out the following state
ment:
"The disaster Is an awful one and
came on US entirely unexpected. The
mine had been inspected only three
days ago and was pronounced In satis-
factory conditions. In the 80 years that
the mine has been in the operation no
serious accident has occurred. The
cause is yet indefinite, but believe 1t
was caused by gas escaping from the
fifth heading which was closed and
was not being worked because
it contained gas, into the sixth head
ing.
"The number of casualties is now
placed at 125. No list Of the names
of the dead miners can be given, for
the majority of them were foreigners
and were known only by check and not
by name. The only way their namef
will ever be known if the bodies are not
recovered in time for Identification,
will be by their families sending their
names to U.S."
The mine in which the dreadful thing
occurred is one of the largest coal
mines in the United States, according
to the statement of officials tonight.
From the entrance in the hill across
the river from the point to the one at
Mill Creek is a distance Of SA miles.
The Klondike section in which the ex-
plosion occurred is about two miles
from the Mill Creek entrance.
The mine is divided into a large
number of headings, levels and sec.
tions. The sections run off to the left
and right of the headings and are
known as right and lefts by the min
ers. The men who escaped this after
noon have spent years working IN it.
Otherwise they could never have reach
ed 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. The few survivors
who have escaped from the depths OF
the mines describe the conditions as
frightful. Outside of the "Klondike" the
mines are safe and uninjured.
Osborne In nore Trouble.