Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-07-02
EXPLOSION KILLS
and INJURIES MANY
Panic at Mouth of Shaft as
Wives and Mothers Cry
for Help.

Pittsburg, June 25.-A terrific explo-
sion occurred at 8 o'clock this morn
ing In the mine of the Lackawanna
Coal and Coke company, located at
Wehrum, Indiana county, Pennsyl-
vania, about rs miles northwest of this
city.
At 10 o'clock ii was believed that a
large number of men were killed and
many injured.
More than 100 men are known to have
entered the mine shortly before the
catastrophe and at 10 o'clock. when
only a few OF them had reached the
surface, the greatest fears were ex-
pressed.
The few men who escaped from the
mine were burned and blackened. None
OF them vas In condition to give de-
tails, but from one Ii was learned that
the explosion seemed TO strike every
portion OF the mine simultaneously.
Rescuing parties are making little
Roadway owing TO the great confusion
at the mine. Work Is also seriously re-
TIA rded by smoke from the pit mouth,
and there are traces Of the deadly fire.
damp.
One Body Found.
Shortly after 10 o'clock the body of
a man, a foreigner, had been recovered.
1t was found at the entrance OF the
mine and was badly mutilated.
Three men, seriously burned, sue
ceeded in reaching the surface. One
of them was AL Johnson. o OF Super
~intendent Johnson, of the mine.
AS soon as IL was known that an ac-
cident had occurred, the greatest ex-
citement prevailed, both at the mine
and in the little hamlet a short distance
away. Relatives rushed TO the mouth
OF the mine. A number Of the foreign
women, screaming and crying, tried to
rush into the shaft.
The company officials Immediately
eng ged the services OF all the men
they could find, and the work OF re-
straining the hysterical relatives was
undertaken. In the meantime calls for
help were quickly sent through the sur
rounding country and the task OF
reaching the unfortunate men In the
mine was pushed forward.
At 1925 o'clock three bodies,
terribly mutilated. had been re-
covered from the mine. At that
hour 10 injured men. some OF
them fatally, had also been brought
to the surface.
Between 100 and $50 miners are
in the mine.
Stumbled Over Bodies.
Thu three men who escaped said
that following the explosion there
seemed TO De a naSh ana then all was
darkness. Calls for help and groans
were heard by them as they made their
way to the entrance, staggering over
the bodies of comrades who had fallen
with the first shock.
Superintendent w. N. Johnson. OF
the mine, said later:
1.-The explosion, from some un-
known cause, seems TO have been
worst in a portion OF the mine
that we recently opened UP. We
do not yet know the extent of the
accident, but we think the death
list will be a long one, and the
list of those injured much larger.
owing to the excitement we
have been unable to get details,
but we are doing our best. Several
injured have been brought u and
two or three bodies found"
The mine is burning fiercely at sew
eral places and the deadly black damp
Is pouring from the mouth, effectually
preventing systematic rescue work.
Large quantities of oxygen and many
oxygen tanks have been requested from
the Cambria Steel company, OF Johns
town, Pa, and the United States gov
eminent mining and testing station, al
Pittsburg.
Just what caused the explosion has
not been ascertained, but IL probably
resulted from an accumulation of gas
The scenes about the mine this after
noon are pathetic. Relatives and
friends of the victims are HISTORICALLY
weeping and retarding greatly the work
Of rescue.