Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1911-07-13
800 DEAD in
MINE DISASTER
Fire in POrCupine District
Sweeps Unchecked Leaving
Millions In Ruins
RICHEST MINES IN
SECTION WIPED OUT
By The United Press.

BY The United Press.
COBALT. Ontario. July 1S-with
deaths exceeding the three-hundred
mark and property damage ranging
into the millions, the fire in the
Porcupine district of New Ontario is
still unchecked, devastating miles
of country.
Many Of the richest mines in the
Porcupine region have been complete
ly wiped out and their operating
forces have met death in the flames
which, famed by heated winds, are
rushing like lightning through the
thousands of acres Of heavily timber
ed lands that stretch northward and
westward from Porcupine Lake.
It Will be several days before the
death list and property loss can be
learned with any degree Of accuracy,
but indications today are that the
solocaust is the greatest in the his
tory Of the Dominion.
Employed in the Dome mines were
800 workmen. When the fire reached
the scene, the entire property was
surrounded so quickly that the only
means of escape was down the shaft.
The outside shaft was fully timbered
and it caught fire after thirty foreign
ers took refuge within. All lost their
lives, their bodies now being piled on
the first level, according to Manager
Meek. who escaped. The fate Of the
others is in doubt
The Known Dead;
At West Dome-Twenty-s
foreigners entrapped and smothered
to death in the West Dome Mining
Company's shaft; Assayer Angus Butt
and wife; Manager Robert A. Weiss
wife and three-year-old daughter
Chief Carpenter James Mcqueen and
wife; Captain Jack Hamilton.
At the United Porcupine mine
Foreman and three workmen
At the Philadelphia mine-Captair
George Dunbar and four others.
At the Dome mine-Thirty laborer:
cut off in shaft and smothered.
Drowned in Porcupine Lake--Nath
an Haas. Andrew Larme. Marvin
Strain, William A. Moore and r.
! Mondue. all OF Spokane, Washing
7 ton
/ The latest estimate of dead in tn
/ Porcupine mining district is two hun
r dred. A majority of these are for
? eigners.
Mines reported completely or partl,
observation-disclosures. North Dome. Pres
ton East Dome. vipond. Fole.
OBrien, Philadelphia, United Porcu
pine. Standard Imperial. West Dome
Success, El Dorado, Porcupine-
Miraculous escapes are reported
from many of the destroyed mining
properties. At Preston East Dome
the men crawled down an untimbereC
shaft. They took water and food witt
them and by burrowing in the earth
managed to live until the force of tn,
flames had passed.
Other refugees took to the creeks
and small lakes and lay in the watei
until the fire leaped over their heads
Tom Geddes, pioneer of the Porcu
pine camp lost his life by going bacl
{ into the town to get clothing.
William Gohr was on the roof try
ing to save his place and fingered TOT
long. He perished with his clerk, NJ
p Smith. Gohr's wife stood in the lax
b with water up to her waist, holding
& IN her arms her infant child, waiting
!. for her husband She refused to NOV
until he came. Sc was taken ava.
when he was found dead. Captain
Dunbar also perished trying to &c
u clothes.
Women and children of South Por
E cupine we're being hustled to safet.
! to Golden City when a gang Of for
!, eigners made rush for the boats moor
\ ed at the wharf. They threw over
: board other passengers. Joe Gardi
ner, a druggist with a revolver mad
the foreigners wait till all the wome
and children were safe.
AT Golden City, when the town wa
threatened, many men refused to figh
the flames. Constables Piercy swor
in a couple of special officers, close
all saloons and. with a revolver
each hand, forced the men on tn
streets to put out fires and this save
the township.