BURIED ALIVE. One Hundred and Sixty Men Lost.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 324, 12 December 1888, Page 5

BURIED ALIVE. One Hundred and Sixty Men Lost.

A Kansas City Journal special from Pillsbuvg, Kas., of November 9bh, says :—-" The most dreadful disaster in the' history of Kansas occurred ab's o'clock this evening. When the men were preparing to leave oh" their work at shaft 2 at the Fonterfac, a suburb of Pittsburgh a terrible explosion was heard-thab shook the earth tor a great distance' 1 and' completely shattered the shaft. ' On investigation it wa£ found that 160 men were* in the 'mine at the time of the explosion. Being: 'll2' feet below the' surface, ; it 'is almost)" certain that all' are ! 'dead, '"' At thia writing tho'only two exceptions known are two men who' were in a. car coming 'up 'and bein£ near the 1 'top of the ,shatt managed to* oscape. l?itfcsburg is" in the centre 6f ' the coal 'mines pf ■ SovitU-

eastern Kansas, and is about 100 miles south of Kansas City, on tho Fort Scott and Gulf .Railroad- , A special ivpva ,Fittsburg, Kan., to the "Republic" gives the following, accountof the coal mine explosion thete this ovening : A terrific explosion that broke windows in this littlo village and spread consternation among the inhabitants ocourred about dusk to-night. The violence of the shock was so great an to hurl the dishes ironi shelves and demolish chimnejs. Half an hour after the explosion the villagers who wero preparing to go to the mines were startled by a i agger! , bleeding man who almost stasfffered into the amis of the searchcis. Ho said that shaft 2 at Fontenac, a milling suburb of this village, had been destroyed bv the explosion and that all the men in the mines at the time, except himself and a Dane whom lie left bleeding' ot the mouth of the pit, were undoubtedly dead. Horses were quickly harnessed to wajjgon.s, and in a iew minutes the villagers were hurrying through the fierce snow and sled, storm that was > aging. At the mouth of the mine the ti emend ous force ot the explosion was apparent. Theio Averc huge seams in the eaith, and the timbers of the hoisting- uppaiatus woo shivered, and burned. Foul ga,se& Avcie escaping. The l>anc who had escaped with the man who hud alauned the villager^ lay in tho mud with his face covered with blood. For a long time it was thought thnb he was dead, but he regained consciousness in a few houi'b, and is now iithis home. ITo cannot speak, and does not know what caused tho explosion. Ilia clothes weio in ribbons. The man who leached (his villago with the first tidings of Hie disaster and who accompanied the re^cuei-. back to the mine said « that the men \\a\o about to quit work for the day when the explosion occurred. Together with tho l>ane lie had ridden in the car to the top ot tho shaft, when the earth seemed to snnp beneath him, and (lie ne^t thing lie realised was the splashing ot snow and water upon his faco as> iic lay uitli his comrade in the wreckage above the mine. There were 160 men in the mine at the time of the explosion, and as they were at work 112 feet below the surface, it is believed that not one survived tho .-hock, as i the explosion must have destroyed everything in the pit. I Big fires were built near the mouth of the pit, and besides these bla/ing piles the wives of the entombed miners placed their childieu, while they themselves btied by j all kinds of entreaties to induce the miners from the other shafts to enter the pit and rescue their relative^. One rescuing party started down the sluift at 7 o'clock, but w as ; ' forced to turn back owing to the foul air. ' Another attempt was made at 9 o'clock, but tho plucky rescuers again weic compelled to return to the mouth ot the shaft. They could hear no sound from the chambers below, and this leads old minoi- to be- i lieve that all the men in the shaft have perished. Other attempts Avill be made to reach the entombed men before morning. Those who started down the shaft early in the morning say that the shock has destroyed the whole diift, and that it is piobabie that the men in the lower level" are buried beneath tons of slate. Klackdamp is supposed to have caused the e\ plosion. Most of the miner* at these shafts came originally troin the mines of Pennsyhania.