Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1883 — DEATH IN A COAL PIT. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN A COAL PIT.

Terrific Explosion of Fire-Damp in a Mine at Coultervllle, Ill.—Ten Men Instantly Killed. An explosion of fire-damp in Jones A Neebit’s coal mine, near Coultervllle, 111, caused the death of ten persons. A correspondent at the scene of the explosion furnishes the following particulars of the sad disaster: The excitement in view of the terrible explosion in the Jones A Nisbet raine has subsided. Ten strangled and burned bodies lie in the public hall dressed and arranged for burial. Their nmea are: Nicholas Kohl, Frank Brown, Henry Fury, Thomas Hanson, Henry Starr, Sr., Robert Dunla , James W. King, A. H. Combs, Frank Shanford, Henry. Starr, Jr. Eight of them were married Among them they leave twenty-five orphans. The explosion was heard at the top, and when the hoisting cage was pulled up a few minutes later a man and boy staggered from it, blackened with sinoke„and so exhausted that they had to be supported The man was Sylvester Mason, the fore’man of the mine. Ten other gien were known to be In the pit The details are* meager, the dearest account of the catastrophe being that given by Sylvester Mason, one or the survivors. Mr. Mason said that the shaft was 320 feet deep, and. at the bottom a oorridor s,even feet wide leads eastward for over 200 yards. On each side of .the qorridor are tbe mining rooms where the men work during the day, drilling into the seVen-foot vein of ooaL It is customary to fire the blasts all together late in the afternoon. Each man lights his fuse, and then all hands run for safety to some niche, the blasts alt being fired at a time. Foreman Mason safd that he went down, the shaft shortly after. 4 o’clock and found that thirteen charges were ready to be fired He told the men to light the fusea After giving the order he started for the mot of the main shaft, 200 yards away, accompanied by William Htorr, a boy whose father and brother were at work in the pit “I stood at'the foot of the shaft," said Mr. Mason, “waiting for the men to come out, so tha£ I could check them off and see that none would be left I heard three shots a .few. moments apart, and then a fourth, roll wed in an instant by a terrible -explosion in the gallery, wheie the ten nu n were Next came a rush Of air, followed by a great volume of fire that filled the whole corridor. I was blown against the aide of the shaft, and my leg badly hurt The hew Starr was stunned. First I thought I would wait aud endeavor to save some of the men, but the flames were coming up to me very fast The fumes became almost stilling, even in the shaft, and I felt that It would be suicide to remain any longer. I stepped on the cage, dragged the boy, who was insensible, after me, and rang tne hoisting bell When we reached the surface I was almpst strangled, and tbe bot was apparently dead. Three of the men were badly burned; the other seven were dead from suffocation. One'of them, Frank Brown, was found ctQitohed trpon hie knees, his bead close against the Moor* "to, get away froimthe smoke, and his clothes and his flesh were burned from his bock. The corpses were hoisted up two ’at a time At the top of the shaft the bodies were washed, the legs were tied together, and the victims were carried to spring wagons to the town, where they were laid out In the assembly-room of tbe Coultervi le Band. It wis midnight before t.e work woe over.. The town to-day is in mourping. Tha explosion was evidently caused by fire-damp. The mine was extremely badly ventilated, there being but one opening end no alr-sh ft at aIL Nesbit A Junes opened the mine about ten years«ga