Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1886 — FIRE-DAMP FUMES. [ARTICLE]

FIRE-DAMP FUMES.

A Mine Explosion at Newburg, W. Va., Kills Over Forty Men. Touching Scenes kt the Mouth of the Shaft—The Whole Town in 6 » Mournng. [Newburg fW. Va-J telegram.] A terrible explosion occurred at the Oriel Coal Company's mine nt this place, which has plunged the whole community into deep sorrow. Over forty lives have been sacrificed, many of the dead being our most respected citizens. "While the day shift of miners were at work in the mine, the air was suddenly rent with a most tremendous explosion, the force of which knocked down men in the streets half a mile away, shattered windows and doors all over town,, and even crushed the stout sides of frame houses for a long distance around the mouth of the Oriel mines, while from the deep shaft of the colliery a dense cloud of mingled smoke and vapor arose two hundred feet in the air. A rush was at once made for the mouth of the mine. In a moment hundreds of citizens had congre- L gated about the shaft, their faces filled with consternation and alarm. The shaft at I which the explosion occurred was stink two years ago, and has reached a depth of 350 feet. From the base of the shaft the main heading runs out about half a mile, the rooms diverging from either side. [Second dispatch.; Newburg stands in the shadow of a great grief, and her sorrbw has invaded homes for fifty miles along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for many little communities are represented at the bottom-of the pit- I had but stepped off a belated train from Wheeling and turned toward the mines when I heard the voices of lamentation, women wailing and piercing the air with shrieks of agony. The east-bound train brought a great number from Clarksburg, Fairmont, Grafton, and intermediate points, and sympathizing friends came from as far east as Piedmont. They swelled the hopeless, helpless crowd that hung about the pit’s mouth. Men, women, and children were gathered there—pale, trembling, weeping, staring at the shaft, almost dumb with consternation. Few words were exchanged, and those in tew tones, for the people there knew that they stood above the tomb of thirty-nine men who went down to death at 7 o’clock yesterday morning, In half an hour more they would have been out alive.

Soon the rumor spread that the search party found at the bottom of the shaft Danlel Miller, the eager; his son, 15 years old, a driver; young Timmons, a tapper, and young Clark, a driver. Kinney’s mnle was blown sixty feet out of the stables with his halter on. There could be no certainty as to the identity of the blackened remains. As soon as the shaft was sufficiently repaired the eage was put on to take down a larger working force in the hope of bringing up some bodies and beginning the inquest. It then became apparent that there was little probability of any bodies being brought up to-night. At this hour the crowd still stands about, discussing the chances of life and death — ■people from along the railroad and farmers for miles back in the country, eager to do something, and nothing for them to do. The origin of the disaster is variously determined by experts, who vary in their theories. The generally accepted theory, which j is that of the company’s representatives, is / that Nick Williams, who was cutting a ditch at the extreme’end of the working to let water off, knocked down a door to give him a better chance. The door played an important part in the system of ventilation, which was thus deranged. The foul gas collected in great volume, and was fired by a miner’s lamp. One of the last, men to come out of the mine before the explosion says that he heard Nick Williams say he was going to knock the door down, and as he came out he heard a heavy pounding, as though the door was being battered down. The State Inspector of Mines, on his recent visit here, recommended the company to put in a flue, but this had not been done. There is much talk of an indefinite kind'about foul air in the mine, but the manager says that there has never been any trouble with the air, and that a head of water has always IrtfA’t.'t’ /ATI TUCtV VIOU nnfin dlvQ MCVXI IktJJTW tJLr. XzXtV IVai 11113 llliH tllv entombed men would be drowned, but, fortunately, the pumps have not stopped since the explosion. Mr. James Wilson, the shipping clerk, was standing fifty feet east of the shaft when the explosion came. He says: “I heard a thud, followed by the rising of a dense mass of fog and mud. Before I had time to realize the situation, in half a minute, the shock came, a terrible burst of gas ripping off the weather-boarding and demolishing the upper part of the shaft. This, following the first noise, was all the notice the town needed. The people knew there was something wrong at the mine. There was a rush to the works. The women came flocking, and then began the pitiful scenes which you have seen here. It was a terrible sight. There was hope then, and we at once began putting water down the shaft to scatter the after-damp and create a draught. Men tried their best to get down in the bucket, but they only got part of the way, for their lamps went out. Superintendent Laxton took that part}- down. A big chunk of ice hit him on the shoulder and nearly Steele went down during Thursday night to fix the pump and was overcome by the black-damp. He fell and cut his face and bruised himself badly, but he is still on ♦■duty.” Fireman Can-oil, an intelligent, observing man. said: “There was nothing the matter with the air in the mine. It was good, and you may judge what men thought of it when they could go down at 7 o’clock in the morning i and not come up until 4 in the afternoon. I Sometimes they would sleep down there ! four and five hours.” The calamity falls with terrible force on { this little town. The recent cold weather froze out the miners and they could not I work for ten days, and little, if any, money is coming to the men who are on the deathroll. .Few of them had any savings,-and their taking off will leave their families in destitution. At midnight the people are still gathered in the rain to catch any tidings from below. The company can make no estimate of the money loss from the fact that a solid mass I of coal and' slate eighty feet thick was demolished by the explosion. It is probable that the company will be put to a large expense before work can be resumed. Mr. Blaine, in the second volume of his book, it is said,'will take positive ground in ; favor of silver coinage. ' Michael Gordon, a widower of 40, was 1 married to Annie Hawley, a girl of 12, in New York. ■ „ ! The University Press, of Oxford, has new appliances for printing books in 150 lan- ‘ guages and dialects. Charles G. Vernon, 17 years old, tried to comi4it suicide at Louisville because ha didn’t want to go to school. „ .