Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1907 — CASEE OF APIT BLAST [ARTICLE]

CASEE OF APIT BLAST

Mine Inspector Says it Was Probably the Carelessness of a Miner. DROPPED A SPARK IN POWDER ' * • .. * * Little Trace of Gas or Fire Damp ill the Mine—Princeton's Elevator . Company Failure. , Indianapolis,.Tan. 31.—The explosion in mine No. 7, of the Deflng Coal company, near Clinton, on the morning of Jan. 14, in which seven miners were killed and four Injured, was due, in the opinion of James Taylor, a state mine inspector of Illinois, to powder, and not gas, fire damp or* coal dust As an expert witness, Taylor gave testimony before a joint committee of the senate and house, which is investigating the disaster. “God alone knowjj what caused the explosion,” the wit ness said, “but in my opinion fire dropped from the lamp of a miner into a keg of powder, which he had l opened with a pick, and his body was found not far from where the explosion originated.” He Found Little Trace of Gas. The Illinois inspector said that the explosion originated in what is known as entry No. 10. It was not a terrific explosion, be said. He found seven (powder kegs, but could not tell how much, powder they contained at the time of the explosion. He also found other kegs which had also been opened by miners with picks and these kegs had gone through the explosion without their contents being touched off. He said he tested for gas and fire damp and found little trace of either. Coal Dust Cannot Explode. “There was no evidence of an explosion of coal dust,” he said. “In the history of Illinois coal mining there never was a coal dust explosion. Coal dust cannot explode of itself, but it can act as a feeder to gases in a mine, but the dust must first find a flame which will distill the gas it contains. Then it can explode, or Its gas can.” The witness said that at no time and under no conditions should a miner be allowed to use eight pounds of powder In a blast to bring down the coal. Inspectors Have Too Much to Do. No state in the Union,,he said, which produces as much coal as Indiana has as few inspectors. The Inspector in Indiana has many more duties to look after than does an inspector in any other state. "Under the present inspection methods in Indiana,” the Illinois man said. “It is a physical impossibility for the mines to be duly inspected." THAT PRINCETON FAILURE President of the Elevator Company Cannot Account for the Absence of Assets. Princeton, Ind., Jan. 31.—One week ago Henry E. Agar, ex-representative in the legislature and one of the bestknown grain men In southern Indiana, disappeared from a boat on the Wabash river near Mount Carmel, 111. Search was made at once for the body on the supposition that he had been drowned, but it could not be found. Now the president of the Princeton Elevator.company, of which Agar was secretary and treasurer and practically managed the business, has appeared in the circuit court and asked for the appointment of a receiver. He said lie could not account, for the complicated condition of the affairs of the company, as there ought to bo thousands of bushels of wheat in elevators in which there is none, yet there is nothing to show what became of the wheat if sold or of the money if the grain was turned into cash. It is now questioned if Agar was really drowned when he disappeared from the lamt. Fatal Locomotive Blow Up Fort Wayne, Ind., Jan. 31.—Pennsylvania railroad engine pulling a freight train exploded twelve miles west of here, killing two men, s(>rlously injuring another and practically demolishing tlieentire train of twenty empty stock cars. The engineer of ttie train W. C. Bender, of Ft. Wayne, had ids head and shoulders literally blown oft’. Fireman Ervin Lowe was terribly bruised and scalded, dying within an hour. The head brakeman, 11. J. Hogan, of Fort Wayne, was seriously injured about the spine and shoulders. Grand Jury Will Investigate. Evansville, Ind., Jan. 31. Coroner Edward Laval has rendered a verdict that the death of Agnes Saulman, a telephone operator, a week ago Saturday was caused by mercurial iwlson. Suspicion is cast on no one. The investlgntion will not stop with the coroner’s verdict, as the grand jury Is ex--1 pected to summon all witnesses who appeared before Laval. Roy of 12 Tries Suicide. Greenfield, Ind., Jan. 31.—Because his mother punished him for going skating after she had forbidden him i to do so. Frank Hill, 12 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Hill, of this city, ■wallowed carbolic acid, and his life was saved only by prompt medical attention. i Accident Still a Mystery. Terre Haute, Ind., Jnn. 31. The Indiana railroad commission has concluded Its Investigation of the disaster at Sandford on Jan. 19, and left for Fowler to Investigate the accident ; there. The Inquiry here did not devsL | op the cause of the accident