Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1886 — DEADLY FIRE-DAMP. [ARTICLE]

DEADLY FIRE-DAMP.

Terrific and Fatal Explosion in a Coal Mine at Wilkesbarro, Pennsylvania. 1 r.‘Twelve to Fifteen Men Mortally Injured, qnd Thirty Others More or Less Hurt. [Wilkesbarro (Pa.) special.' Forty-two men were seriously burned by an explosion of fire-damp Friday morning, in the Conyngham shaft, owned and operated by the Delaware and Hudson Company. Several other persons were slightly injured-. Of the forty-two men severely burned two have since died, and ten more will probably die. Two miners, whose names are unknown, are missing, and it is believed that they were blown into a sump containing thirty feet of water aud were, drowned. The names of the dead are: Thomas O’Brien, aged thirty, a miner, leaves a wife and large family; Cornelius Boyle, liged thirty-eight, miner, leaves a wife and family. The numeiof those believed to be fatally burned are: Hugh Sweeney, aged 27, laborer; Edward Kerns, aged 29, laborer; Richard Coulter, aged 28, has n wife and. family; Condy Sannou, aged 31, miner, has a wife aud large family; John Cannon, aged 40, minerj has a wife and family; Christopher Brundage, aged 3a, laborer; Michael O’Brien, aged 30, laborer; Daniel Ferry, aged 32, miner, has a wife and large family; John Dougherty, aged 31, laborer; Dennis McCabe, aged 40, miner. The shaft was known to contain gas. No work was done Thursday, and consequently there was more gas than usual in it. The accident occurred at 7:10 a. m., while fifty miners and laborers were sitting at the foot of the shaft, waiting for the inside boss. Tae accident was due to the carelessness of Cornelias Boyle, Who has paid the penalty with his life. Boyle entered a worked out chamber with a .naked light on -his hat, aad the explosion followed. Many mules were killed and wounded, and great damage was done to the inside workings of the shaft. The scene at the colliery while the injured men were being taken from the sha t was terrible. A ciowd of several hundred persons had gathered at the mouth of the shaft, among them the wives,, mothers, and daughters of the injured men. As the victims were taken out of tho pit they were brought to the engine-hoitse, and the women made desperate efforts to gain entrance. The frantic demonstrations of grief were heart-rending, but they were sternly kept outsit 1 .? the building, while the blackened, scorched, and bleeding victims of the disaster were wrapped in blankets soaked in oil. The engine-house floor was covered with writhing human forms so disfigured by fire as to be unrecognizable. As fast as possible they Were, taken to the hospital or to their homes.