Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1905-07-27
MINERS KILLED
BY DYNAMITE
Lightning Strikes a Powder
House, Blowing Five
Men Into Atoms.
uES MONIES MINE THE SCENE
Men Took Shelter in Shanty to Es-
cape Drenching Rain, and There
Met Death-Remains Are Unrecog-
nizable - Relatives Are Frustrated

comprising the entire night shift en-
ployed in sinking a new shaft for the
West Riverside Coal company on the
Layman farm, a mile north OF the end
of Twentieth street. were literally
blown to pieces at 6 o'clock yesterday
morning in an explosion of dynamite
and powder stored in a supply house
but a short distance from the shaft
and in which they had taken refuge
from the storm.
Not a person who was near enough
to see it lived to tell of it or of the
time. Residents of the West River
side camp, ABOUT 1000 feet further
north heard the explosion and felt
the ground tremble, but mistook the
explosion for a lightning bolt and the
trembIe of the ground was attributed
to shot firers discharging blasts in
the mine.
Pit Boss Jones and a couple of men
on the third shift who were going to
work 1t Z a. m. were the first to dis
cover that an accident had occurred
and their first intimation Of it was
when they stumbled over the trunk
OF a body from witch the head, arms
and legs had been torn and which
had been thrown fully 800 feet to the
north from the scene of the explosion.
Hurrying on they discovered that
the powder house and supply shanty
had been blown to pieces and looking
about they found the horribly man.
gled remains of the five men.
1t was with difficulty that they were
able to identify the bodies, so fear.
fully were they torn and mangled.
and it was only by ear of clothing
that they were able to make out the
identity of two Of the men.
One body, that of Luke Miller, a
sinker, was thrown about 200 feet to
the east by the force of the explosion.
The legs, the right arm and the right
side of the face was torn Off and a
portion of the chest was so mutilated
and mangled that the heart protrud-
ed.
The body of Charles Brown, the
engineer, was blown three hundred
feet north and east from the mine
and the head and limbs, which were
scattered nearly as far in other direc-
tions, were completely severed from
the trunk.
The body of Harry Belknap, a sink
er, was found near by and was mutt
lated in much the same manner.
When discovered the face was buried
several feet in the mud. indicating
the body had been thrown high into
the air and that the force of the fall
had been terrific. The body Of Dell
Vance, a sinker, was blown through
the trees and up the hill to the west
of the mine about 400 feet. The
arms and legs were torn from the
body.
George Arrowood's body with the
head and legs severed and scattered
over the radius of the force of the eX-
plOsion, was the worst mutilated and
was identified only from shreds of
clothing clinging to it. The trunk had
been severed from top to bottom and
the back and abdomen laid within a
few feet of each other.
Hands, feet and horribly torn and
lacerated pieces of the bodies were
scattered for several hundred feet in
every direction and in such confusion
1t will eve be possible to determine
to which bodies they belong.
One of the men had evidently been
threading a ball of cotton waste to
make a wick for his lamp, for the
hand was found 500 feet west Of the
site of the powder house still clutch
ing the nail about which the Irvine
was being threaded and the end of
the ball of Irvine. The Irvine was
strung out over the tops Of trees,
Ennon Of thnn, fret nrnwth 20 kc No -
ly 100 feet high, showing the arc the
severed member had described.
There is no doubt as to the cause of
the explosion. A big tree that stood
Immediately west of the powder
house showed from top to bottom
where the lightning had followed it
to the ground. Not a vestige of the
powder house as big as a shingle re-
mains to mark it's location, while
where it stood a hole several feet in
diameter and about four feet deep
shows the force of the explosion.
Splinters were found a quarter of a
mile in every direction from the pow,
der house and SO terrific was the force
impelling them that many of the
s%plinters were found driven into the
trunks of surrounding trees.
Pit Boss Jones, for the West River
side company said: II cannot &C
count for the fact that all the men
were together in the house when the
explosion occurred by any other the
DRY than that they had gone there tc
take refuge from the terrible down
pour of rain. Engineer Brown ant
top man George Arrowood, who
worked at the top of the shaft, were
not protected from the weather. A
traction engine and a horse powe,
were used by them. When the storm
come upS they undoubtedly hoistet
the threeNkinkers from the shaft hole
and went with them to the shed.
Il was in the powder house las
night and know there was not to ex
coed twenty-five pounds of dynamite
stored there and in addition to thii
there were in the house two kegs o
ordinary blasting powder. All of thit
exploded.
Il live at the camp and did not dis
tinguish the explosion and the conse
quent shock from the thunder of tn
terrific starm raging and the usua
shocks about a mine attendant upol
shaft sinking and mine shot explc
sions. The first intimation any Of u
had was when the men going to re
lieve those of the dead crew, stumble
upon their terrible mangled bodies.