Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1892 — MANY MINERS DEAD. [ARTICLE]

MANY MINERS DEAD.

TERRIBLE RESULTS PROM A MINE EXPLOSION. r*— . . Prom Forty-five to Fltty Men Lom Their Live* In a Slope at Rosyln, Wash.—The Explosion Caught Two Shifts, and None oi Them Are Alive to Tell the Story. f An Awliil Disaster. The most horrible explosion ever known in the Pacific Northwest occurred at the coal mines of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Roslyn, a smalltown about four miles from the main line of the Northern Pacific, 107 miles from Tacoma. At least 42 men are believed to have been killed. Excitement in the towD borders on a state of frenzy and has extended throughout the State. Nothing like it has ever been known anywhere in that portion of the country, and from all parts of the State news of intense interest in the matter is being received. Many dead bodies, aooording to a dispatch, have already been taken out, and hundreds of people have gathered arouhd the scene of the accident; wives and children of buried men are at the mouth of the mine and acting like maniacs in their terrible distress, Every body that has been taken out uo to this time is terribly disfigured, and many of those buried have been crushed beyond recognition. Some are horrible masses of flesh without a trace of their identity left, while many of the unfortunate men are believed to have been blown to atoms. Nearly all of the men were married and a large number of them had large families.

It is thought that the explosion took place when the men were changing shifts. The concussion shook the ground perceptibly and the noise was heard a long distance. Smoke belched from the shaft almost immediately, showing that the mine had taken fire. All the inhabitants of Eoslyn were on the grounds in an incredibly short space of time, and the friends and relatives of the men known to have been in the slope crowded about the mouth of the mine, the women and children crying and the men wringing their hands in helplessness. Hopes were stretched to keep the people back, and a rescuing party was hastily formed. In their grief many of the men acted like maniaos, and as one body after another, each horribly mutilated, was brought out the wild exclamations of horror and sorrow were terrifying. At midnight seven bodies had been recovered, some of them crushed beyond recognition, and it was known that none of the entombed men were alive. Thirty-three of the dead were married men and had families who swarmed about the opening of the tunnel, hoping against knowledge of their loss. While the wives and children of the victims waited for the rescue of the bodies a car load of coffins, sent from Tacoma by special train, was unloaded, and the coffins were laid side by side near the tunnel awaiting occupants. If anything could add to the horror of the situation it is the fact that most of the families of the dead are in destitute circumstances. For several weeks the camp has been dull on account of the light demand for coal, and as few of the men were provident, it is feared that much suffering will be experienced unless aid from elsewhere is sent. When the work of rescue began it was founds that the entire interior of the mine was clogged with debris, and nothing could be done until a new air shaft could be put in. Deadly fumes Issuing from the mine stilled all who entered. When the thiid level of the slope had been reached and several bodies had been found, badly mangled and blackened, the presence of a small fire which was roasting some of the corpses was noticed. This gave rise to the belief that the explosion was caused by fire in the mine. Manager John Kangley, formerly of Illinois, says the gas accumulated in the slope where new levels were being driven and before connections were made with the air Bhaft the exposure of damp to a blast or match could have caused the explosion. Inspectors were continually on guard in the mine and reported no aocumulation of gas on the levels and Kangley says it will probably never be known exactly what caused the explosion.