The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-11-28
Explosion in Mine of Pittsburg-
Buffalo Coal Company.
No Means of Ascertaining the
Number of Dead.
CAGE BLOWN 800 FEET.
An Inspection of the Works Had
just Been Made.
No Expense Had Been Spared
in Making 1t SAT-.

| Pittsburg, Pa, Nov. 28.-A serious
mine explosion occurred shortly be-
fore noon today at the mine of the
Pittsburg- Buffalo Coal company al
Mariana, Washington county, and
while there is nothing definite known
yet as to the number of fatalities ii
is believed many men have lost their
lives.
Reports from Mariana say there
! are between 200 and 800 men in the
coal company in this city, it is
thought about 100 men were in the
mine.
| At 10 o'clock an hour and a half
after the accident, dense clouds of
smoke were pouring from the two
shafts of the mine, but not a sign of a
| miner had been seen. Special trains
from this city and Monongahela are
bound for the scene. On one of them
are officials of the coal company and
many prominent miners who are con-
s1dered experts in the work of rescue.
The latest appliances from the new
United States laboratory in this city,
which were recently tested before for
elgn and American experts for the
saving of life in mine explosions have
been hurried to the scene. A ma
jority of the miners are Americans
and their families are at the mouth
of the mine in a state of frenzy.
Mariana was built recently by the
Pittsburg- Buffalo Coal company. 1t
necessitated a great outlay of money
as it was the intention to make the
mine up to date and the living con-
ditiOnS of the miners the same as
could be secured in large city. The
houses are of brick and each contains
a bath room. When completed the
town was said by foreign and Ameri-
can mine officials to be the most per-
feet mining town in the world.
According to the officials of the
company State Mine Inspector Louttit
and Mine Foreman Kennedy had just
completed a two days examination of
the mine and had come from the mine
only three minutes before the ex-
pIosion occurred. The heavy iron
cage which carried the men from the
surface to the workings was blown
500 feet away from the mouth of the
shaft.
Two men who were on the cage at
the time were killed, one of them
having his head blown off.
But little hope is entertained for
the men who are entombed. The ex-
plosion occurred in shart No. 2 and
the only way to reach the workings
is through that shaft, as shaft No. 1
is not completed.
Whether or not the men in the
mine can be reached is problematical
as at the present time it is not known
in what condition the shaft was left
after the explosion. Some of the
officials believe it will be necessary to
dig through 500 feet of solid coal be-
fore they can reach the workings.
John Jones president of the Pitts
burg-BuffaIo Coal company, was al
most a physical wreck when he
learned of the accident in this city
today He trembled in every linn b
and could scarcely speak. President
Jones is on his way to the scene in a
special train. Three foreigners who
were at the mouth of the mine when
the explosion occurred are in the
hospital in the critical condition from
injuries received when the mine
cage was blown out of the shaft.
They also inhaled poisonous fumes
According to State Mine Inspector
Louttit there were between 1S0 and
200 men in the mine when the explo-
sion occurred.