The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-08
DEAD NUMBER 85.
PancOaSt Mine Disaster Worse
Than at First Reported.
All the Victims SuffOcated by
Smoke or Gas.
THE DAMAGE is LIGHT
The Fire Did Not Reach the En-
THE DAMAGE is LIGHT
The Fire Did Not Reach the En-
tOmbed Men.
Many We're Foreigners Known
Only by Their Numbers.

| scranton, Pa, April S.-At noon it
Is estimated the dead at Pancoast
mine. Throop will reach 85, a num-
Der of missing workmen not yet being
accounted for. These are believed to
have been in that part of the mine
where the fire ragged. Seventy-three
bodies have been taken out.
The fire, which started in one of the
| hosting engine rooms, in the China"
| vein $50 feet beneath the surface, the
| lowest working in the mine, did not do
| as much damage as had been believed.
The fire did not reach the entombed
men and the condition of their bodies
shows that death was due to suffoca-
ton from smoke or asphyxiation from
the accumulated gas.
Many Were Foreigners.
Fortyfour of the dead have been
identified. Many of the victims were
foreigners and known only by a num-
Der or nickname. Heading the list of
victims is Joseph E. Evans of West
Scranton, who was foreman of the
United States rescue car, which was
sent to the mine from Wilkesbarre. He
was 35 years old. DIR. ]. A. Holmes, di-
rector of the United States bureau Of
mining, who arrived during the night,
accompanied by D. w. Roberts of the
instruction department of the bureau.
paid a high tribute to the heroiSm If
Evans, who was leading a. rescue gang
into the smoke-laden mine filled with
black damp. 1t was the first time that
the federal rescue system was brought
into action in the anthracite region.
It has not yet been definitely eStab-
liShed how Evans came to his death.
One theory is that in adjusting his het-
met after humping it against the low
roof of the smoke filled gangWay, he
released 1t slightly from his head and
in doing so inhaled black damp. An
,kl. Iax-T1 Jnl g.
that Evans may have died from carbon
dioxide poisoning. He said the air ex-
haled in the helmet is generated by tha
oxygen and breathed again. A wearer
of the helmet, DIR. Holmes said, who
overexerted himself might meet the fate
that befell Evans, If there is much gas
in the mine.
The Dead.
The revised list of the English
speaking victims, in addition to Evans,
is:
WALTER KNIGHT. mine foreman;
married, five children.
ISAAC DAWES. fire boss: married.
four children
JOHN PERRY. miner; married, one
child. He was a Scranton city coun-
Gilman.
JOHN MAY, company hand; mar
JOHN GREGSON, company hand;
single.
EDWARD HART. tender; married,
three children.
JAMES WALLACE, company hand;
married, six children.
THOMAS MACWATERS, miner;
married, five children.
MICHAEL GALL. miner: married.
HARRY ROTHWELL. miner; mar
LAWRENCE RITZ, door man; mar
ried, one son.
Others among the victims are:
JOHN STROYAK. who had five
children. Two sons, Stephen and john
jr.. one door boy and the other
driver, perished with him.
VICTOR WASDENIK and his two
brothers. Emil and John, all miners,
were also among the victims.
Search for Bodies.
All through the night the rescuing
gangs kept at their task of picking
up the dead who lay strewn along the
farther parts of the tunnel of the Pan
coast colliery, from off which was the
chambers and headings into which
they had entered for their days toll.
Before midnight 21 bodies, includ-
ing that of Foreman Evans of the
government rescue car had been
placed in an improviSed morgue in
the engine house near the head of
the shaft. At 4 o'clock this morning,
there was another garnering of Il ad-
ditional bodies and these were hoisted
to the surface and carried into the
temporary morgue erected by the
company. AS fast as an identification
was made the body was passed out
into one of a score of dead wagons
which undertakers from all parts of
the Lackawanna valley had lined up.
The eagnerness with which these were
grabbed up by the undertakers and
their employees called forth indigna-
ton from the onlookers some yelling
body snatchers'' at them as their am
balances were hurried away.
Bravo Deeds by Rescuers.
Stories of brave deeds done by res
cuers are being told today by miners
who had been warned of the fire in
time to make their escape. 1t is re-
lated that Councilman Perrin, Mine
Foreman Knight and Fire Boss Dawes
perished as result of their going in
to the depths of the mine to warn
others of their danger. They were
overcome before they could return to
safety. There is difference of opin-
ion among the mine workers as to
whether the dead men could have
been saved
Some think that if all men in the
under workings had been inm ediately
notified there was a fire in the mine
all could have gotten out before the
workings became filled with smoke
and gas. Others believe that it was
impossible for any man, or boy in the
blind gangway to have made his es-
cape as the black damp quickly pen
etrated every part of the China" vein
beyond the fire zone. It gets it's name
from the fact that it is the lowest vein
in the mine and therefore nearest to
China The bodies of the dead show
that all had made hard struggle for
life. burying their faces deep in the
culm and wrapping their coats about
their heads in an effort to ward off
the poisonous air.
The disaster was the worst in the
history of the hard coal fields in this