Waterbury Democrat., 1902-07-11
AWFUL CALAMITY Terrible Mine Explosion at
 JohnStoWn, Pa. APPALLING DEATH LIST. Few Miners Escape to Tell of the
 Disaster.
DEADLY GASES PREVENT RESCUE.
Cambria Steel Company's Mine Un- der westmont Hill a Scene of Ruin, and 1t Is Thought That at Least Two Hundred Are
 Dead In the Debris-Sto-
 ries of the Survivors.


 Dead In the Debris-Sto-
 ries of the Survivors. JOHNSTOWN, Pa, July 11.-Johns- town has again been visited by an ap- palling disaster.
 It is only less frightful than the aw- ful calamity of May 31, 1889, in cost of life, but i'll it's terrible consequences it has brought the shadow of sorrow in hundreds of homes made desolate by mine explosion which took place in the Cambria Steel companys Rolling Mill mine, under Westmont hill yesterday | afternoon.
 | How many are dead it may take sev- 1 eral days to fully determine, but that | it is a long and shocking list is certain. It may reach POO or more men.
 It was nearly an hour after the ex- plosion before any general knowledge of what happened got abroad. Men who came from the mines, escaping with their lives, told the terrible news, and soon it spread like wildfire all over l the city, In scores of homes there were l the most pathetic scenes. Relatives were frantic with grief. Hundreds rushed to the point and, with sobbing hearts, awaited news that did not come from the i'll fated mine. At the opening across the river from thespoint the Cambria Steel company police, with several assistants, stood guard, permitting no one to enter the mine, from which noxious gases were coming. It was nearly o'clock when all hope of sending rescue parties from the WeStmont opening was abandoned. Two men who had escaped from the mine, Richard Bennett and John Mey- I CTS, went back two miles to see what I assistance could be rendered, but the frfghtful damp drove them back, and they fell prostrate when they finally after a desperate struggle reached the outside. Two doctors gave the men as- sistance and after working with them half an hour restored them. Their stO- ry of the situation in the mine made 1t clear that the rescue work could not proceed from the Westmont opening, and then hasty preparations were made to begin that sad mission at the Mill Creek entrance. Soon after the news of the explosion reached the ? Marshall G. Moore and one of his as sistants, Al G. Prosser, made an at tempt to enter the mine. They were followed by Mine Superintendent George T. Robinson, but the deadly gases stopped their progress, and they were compelled to return to the sur- face.
 Mine Foreman Harry Rodgers, his assistant, William Blanch, and Fire Bosses John Whitney, John Retallick and John Thomas were overcome by the gases, and it is feared they perish ed in a heroic effort to rescue the , miners A son of Harry Rodgers then tried to reach his father, but he was , quickly overcome by the deadly gas and was carried out unconscious. , William Stibich spent several hours at the Mill Creek opening. He said , that he believed as many as 450 men , were still in the mine. In his opinion, from all he could glean, not to exceed 15O men had come out.
 The mining officials of the Cambria company stated the explosion was one of firedamp.
 The catastrophe occurred in the sec 1on of the mine known among the miners as ''Klondike.' The name of the section on the company's books is the sixth west of the south main head ing. It is about a mile and half from the main entrance of the Rolling Mill mine.
 The few survivors who have escaped from the depths of the mine describe the conditions to be frightful in their nature. Outside of the 'sKlondike" the mines are 2 fe and uninjured. Within the fatal limits of the mine the havoc wrought by the explosion are such as beggar description. Solid walls of ma sorry three feet through were torn down as though barriers of paper. The roofs of the mine were demolished, and not a door remains standing. In the face of these difficulties even the most heroic efforts toward rescue may well seem hopeless.
 Miners who left the mine by way of the Mill creek entrance brought horri- ble stories of crawling over the dead bodies of their comrades.
 Two young men who were at work in the "Ixlondike'' when the explosion occurred escaped by way of the air shaft heading up through the Kern yille hill from the mine. A fanhouse now out of use, stands at the top oi this air shaft. This way the young men, sick and dizzy from the nauseous after damp or black damp, reached safety. They told how they had walk ed across dead bodies to pare air anG light How many they did not know.
 The stories of the men who escaped are miraculous in their nature. Ton Foster, an assistant foreman Tn th' KIondike mine, was among the nfst t' emerge from the Mill Creek shaft Shortly after Powell Griffith, nr' boss, came up. Foster was Ill hls oI fee when the explosion occurred. Ill first thought was for the safety or tn
 men under his charge. With the hei
 If Foreman Roberts an enOfI Wa