Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-07-20
MINERS BLOWN IL PIECES
Lightning Strikes Dynamite Near Des
kOines, Killing Five Men,
REMAINS ARE SCATTERED OVER GROUND
People Living Near Mine Knew Moth
ing of Accident, which was
Discovered by the
Day Shift.

DIES MONIES, Ia, July 1s-Five miners
were literally blown to pieces by the eN-
plosion Of twenty-five pounds Of dynamite
in storage powder house at the West
Riverside coal mine. two miles west OF the
city, at o'clock this morning.
The dead are:
Charles Brown. engineer. leaves wife and
daughter.
Luke Miller, slnker, bachelor.
Harry Belknap, sinker. bachelor.
Dell Vance, sinker, leaves wife and four
children.
George Arrowood, pumpman, leaves wife
Heads, arms and limbs were scattered
around for distance Of 500 feet. Not a soul
knew Of the explosion until the appearance
OF the day shift at $3.50. when the horrible
spectacle presented itself. The men, five in
number, were engaged in sinking new
shaft, and during the early morning hours
a severe rain storm came up, which COM
PEELED the men to stop work. They sought
shelter from the storm in the powder house.
While in the house the lightning struck
tree pear the building and from there ran
to the house, igniting the dynamite as we'll
as two kegs of powder.
Not a piece of wood larger than foot
| long remains Of the building. The nearest
knew nothing Of the accident, attributing
the noise to the bolt OF lightning.
The day shift appeared at $50 Some Of
the bodies are so badly dishgured that iden-
tihcation is impossible.
Mail Carrier Rescues Boy.
| NJ. A. Nourse, a mail carrier today
| dropped about twenty feet from the Lo-
/ Gust street bridge into the Des Moines
| river to save Frank Leonard a r.
year-old boy who was drowning. The boy
was getting mineral water from the arte-
sian well in front of the city library when
he fell backward into the river and but
for the timely rescue would have been
drowned
Hardin County Loses.
The Official census of Hardin county,
given out today. shows loss in popula~
ton of 987 The population is now 2l,S57
and FIVE years ago was 22TsI Eldora and
Iowa Falls, the two largest cities show
some gain. Eldora increased As from 2,2SS
to AIS and Iowa Falls increased 2O9 from
| $50 to 3049. There are u,157 males and
10, 700 females in the county now.
Page County Brings Suit.
The county is seeking to recover from the
assignees of the Bank of Coin d,19s.f,
which is the balance of tax money collected
by the bank. The county treasurer signed
tax receipts and left them with the bank
for collection. Tax payers paid their taxes
to the bank and were given the receipts.
1t is recognized that the collection of the
taxes by that method was illegal as the
bank was not designated by the supervis-
ors as depository of the funds. The
county is suing the bank assgnees on the
claim that It is impossible to tell to what
tax payers the balance belongs and there
fore they could not be sued. .....
Nebraska RequIsitIon.
| A .requisition from Governor Mickey OF
Nebraska for Herman Albers was honored
today by Governor Cummins, He is in
Harrison county and is wanted at Valley,
Neb.. for horse stealing.
Atlantic Gets Company.
Atlantic has finally secured the company
vacancy in the Fifty-fifth regiment of the
guard. The additional time given by Gen.
eral Thrift was sufficient to secure the ad-
ditional men needed and Major Logan mus
tered in the company which will be known
as Company H.
Strikes GtIbertaOn'H Home.
Lightning today struck the home OF state
Treasurer Gilbert 8. Gilbertson at Tenth
and State streets. Only slight damage was
done and none OF the occupants were In
iured. =
20 No Money for Troops.
! At a late hour today the governors office
had not succeeded in getting the red tape
arranged with the secretary of war so as tc
get credit with the Chicago agent to pay
the troops in camp the money due then
from the government Several teIegrami
passed between the governors office and the
ONCE Of the secretary Of war. The War de-
partment says the credit has been ex
tended and the Chicago office says II ha,
not been and the trouble cannot be dis
! covered.
J Automobile Party Here.
Two large touring automobile carl
reached Des Moines today bearing Mr.. anC
Mrs. McGinn OF Omaha and a party o.
I friends from New York to San Francisco
5 They viii go by way of New Mexico 9th
! ers in the party were Mrs. Largely ant
! daughter and John Statson and John Graf
ton all of New York The latter two ar,