Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1907-12-20
NEW MINE DISASTER
EXPLOSION ENTOMBS ABOUT $50
ar JACOBS CREEK, PA.
MEN PROBABLY ALL DEAD
Number Of Fatalities Comparatively
Small Because Many Miners
Were Celebrating Festival
of Greek Church.

Jacobs Creek, pam explosion OF
gas in the Darr mine OF the Pittsburg
Coal company, located here, Thursday
entombed between 200 and ESQ miners,
and there is scarcely ray OF hope
that a single one Of them will be
taken from the mines alive. Partially
wrecked buildings in the vicinity or
the mine and the condition of the fe"
bodies found early in the rescue WolH
indicate an explosion Of such terrific
force that it seems impossible that any
one could have survived 1t.
That this disaster docs not equal or
even surpass in loss of life and attend
ant horrors the one in West Virginia
is due to the devotion to church duties
of considerable number OF the
miners. In observance OF church
festival many of the 400 or more men
regularly employed at the mine did
not go to work Thursday morning.
Those who escaped through this rea-
son are members of the Greek Catho-
lie church and they suspended work
to celebrate st. Nicholas day.
As was the case at NOnongah, the
explosion followed a brief shut down,
the barr mine having been closed
Tuesday and Wednesday. 1t was just
1870 o'clock when the tenth trip OF
loaded cars had been brought out TO
the tipple and there came an awful
rumbling sound, followed Immediately
by a loud report and conclusion
that shook nearby buildings and was
felt within radius of several miles.
At the same time there came out or
the mouth of the mine an immense
cloud of smoke and dust that iloated
across the Youghiogheny river.
rs far as known, only one man VINO
went to work Thursday morning es-
capped. Joseph Mapleton, pumper,
emerged from one of the side entries
shortly after the explosion. He had
left the part of the mine where most
of the men We're working and was on
the way to the engine room for
oil.
Forty-Two Dead Taken Out.
Yolande, Ala. At eight o'clock
Tuesday night AZ bodies had been
taken from the Inflated Yolande
mines, in which an explosion occurred
Monday. Nineteen more are reported
in the mines, making total OF I'll
victims.
No one is yet able to tell what
caused the explosion. The theory most
generally accepted now is that one OF
the men allowed a stick of dynamite
to explode, which stirred up the dust
and this in turn exploded, spreading
death and destruction through the
whole mine. This theory is borne out
by the fact that the entire front of
one mans body was torn away.
Slaughter in Mines.
WashingtOn-The coal mines of the
United States are killing three times
as many men per 1000 employees as
those of most European countries. In
the last II years 22,S4O men have
given I'D their lives in the mines Of
this country.
AS many violent deaths have oc-
CURED in the mines during the last
six years as during the preceding IL
wears. The number of fatal accidents
each year is now double that of the
year 1895. In 1906 6.SGl men were
killed or injured in the mines, the
dead numbering 2,O6l and the injured
1880.
These terrible facts have been
cleaned by government experts acting
under orders from Secretary GarleM
OF the interior department to lnvestl-
gate the nature and extent of mine
accidents, particularly those resulting
! from explosions, and also to make sng-
gestions as to how mining conditions
| may be improved and accidents pre-
| vented.
The conclusions of the experts are
| found in bulletin issued Wednesday
| on coal mine accidents; their causes
and preventions.