UMW Journal, 21 September 1923, Vol. XXXIV, No. 18

UMW Journal

21 September 1923

Vol. XXXIV, No. 17

(page ten)

 

Blast in Kemmerer, Wyo., Mine Takes Lives of Ninety-Nine Miners

An explosion that snuffed out the lives of ninety-nine miners and made widows and orphans occurred at Kemmerer, Wyo., on august 14, when a terrific blast passed through mine No. 1 of the Kemmerer Coal Company at Frontier, near Kemmerer.  Thirty-seven men were rescued alive.

The coroner who investigated the explosion brought in a verdict to the effect that the blast was caused by the ignition of gas in room seven, thirtieth entry, when the fire boss relighted his safety lamp.

At the inquest Peter Boam, gas watchman, produced the lamp he found twelve feet from the face of room number seven, which was carried by Thomas Roberts, fire boss, whose body was the last found.

State Mine Inspector P.E. Patterson testified that his inspection of May 17, last, showed the  mine was in good condition, with adequate air.

Immediately upon receipt of news of the terrible loss of life, the international officials of the United Mine Workers forwarded a donation of $10,000 to the stricken families of the miners.

The first report of the disaster was that between 240 and 300 men had met death, and it was several hours until the shifts of men could be checked up.

T.C. Russell, superintendent of the Diamond Coal & Coke Company headed the first rescue party following the explosion.  Alex Inanma and Peter Tapero were among the first survivors to walk out of the mine, coming up the slope.  These men later re-entered the mine and assisted in the rescue work, although painfully burned.

The body of George Womer, pumpman, was the first found.

The first to be rescued were three miners, who were brought out at noon and at midafternoon, twenty-six more were brought up, the remainder of the 37 rescued were out by 6 p.m., but the work of bringing the bodies of the victims of the explosion to the surface was not conclude until Wednesday at 3 p.m., when two more bodies were brought to the surface. 

The last victim to be brought to the surface was Tom Roberts, whose body was found late Wednesday night.  Temporary morgue was established at Odd Fellows hall in Kemmerer, while bodies were also taken to the Fitzpatrick morgue while several were taken to the churches for want of room.

Nearly all the fatalities were on the main slope, the bodies being found head to feet strung along the slope.  Comment has been free in Kemmerer as to the dangerous condition of the mine and the warnings given as to its condition.  The cause of the explosion will e further investigated.  It is but another example of the conditions that is responsible for the determination of the United Mine Workers to some such legislation as will make the operation of coal mines safe for the workers employed therein.

Here is a list of the names of the victims as furnished by the Kemmerer Republican, whose editor has been tireless during the fatality:

T. H. Martin, Tom Rankin, George Essman, John Kiddy, Isaac Roberts, Joe Enright, K. Baba, George Womer, J. A. Walton, S. Kawase, Matt Metsala, F. Mura, K. Ojima, K. Eojoki,  F. Forsman, Nick Smith, K. Kanada, John Georges, Valandro Faustino, Jos MoTo, Henry Kangas, Joe Wainwright, Sr., Mike Hill, John Segar, Mike Siterio, Hector Ghiradelli, John Savant, Eno Erickson, Matt Erickson, V. Coli, Antonio, Ruiz, Joe Rollo, George, Berta, John Segar, Sr., Louis Timpane, John  A. Zumbrannon, Fred Lodda, Paul Dujine, John Castagna, John Gratiski, Livio Cavechia, Louis Andrette, Joe Aleo, Tony Brall, Tony Berta, Frank Martinez, Willim Capalli, A. Beber, Frand Eynon, Pete Palpalmyca, Marton Fontine, S. Masaki, Louis Torisain, Jno. Christian, Joe Cavach, Marion Pernice, A. Oyass, Joe Rodriguez, Jno. W. Zumhannan, J. Magino, M. Kosada, George Lupcho, August Jarvie, Oswaldo Dodorico, T. Nagi, Andrew Impcho, D. Fortunato, Louis Roberts, Robert Toujello, Jalmar Detsala, C. Nagi, H. Nobara, Mike Kusnerick, Frank Tuabbo, John Peroni, S. FInamonti, Carl Christianson, John Coli, E. Sever, Joe Lupcho, Max Palaver, K. Itow, C. Pellegimi, Felix Dodorico, Moroces Magnino, Enio Kare, A. Manapace, Tom Sanches, Henry Desanti, S. Mikani, A. Aleo, K. Kawalara, Tony Veita, C. Takasuegi, K. Kirino, C. Mandini, Yalle Valesian, J. Andretta, Paul Warhol, and Thomas Roberts.

 

Two Letters

            James Morgan, Secretary-Treasurer, District No. 22, United Mine Workers of America, Cheyenne, Wyoming

Dear Sir and Brother:

            I was deeply grieved to hear of the dreadful explosion which occurred at the Frontier Mine.  The heartfelt sympathy of the entire membership of our organization goes out to those who are bereft of relatives and those who have been so terribly injured.

            For the purpose of supplying substantial relief of the victims of this explosion, and their families, I am enclosing herewith a check for Ten Thousand Dollars.  This is being sent from the International Treasury and I know it will greatly assist in your work of aiding those who have been the victims of this great accident.

            Please convey to the relatives and the friends of our organization my deep sympathy in this time of distress.

            With every good wish, I am,

                        Fraternally yours,

                                    WILLIAM GREEN

                                    Secretary-Treasurer

 

Mr. William Green, International Secretary-Treasurer, U.M.W. of A, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dear Sir and Brother:

            I have just returned to the office from Frontier where the recent mine accident occurred and found your letter and check for ten thousand dollars awaiting me.

            I assure you, Brother Green, that the prompt response of the national organization was deeply appreciated and a godsend at this time to both the needy at Frontier and the District organization.

            The death toll was 99 members of the Local union at Frontier, and the call for aid was more than we would have been able to meet.  We have made arrangements at Frontier for the relief committee to take care of all matters in connection with aid required and feel that no child or woman will lace for adequate attention.  It will tide matters over until the state compensation claims can be adjusted and there will then be available somewhere around $200,000.00 for the dependents based on what figures we could obtain at the number of dependents.

            It is needless for me to add that the people most vitally interested, our people at Frontier, will ever remember the aid rendered to them so promptly, when aid was badly needed.

            With kindest personal regards and best wishes, I remain,

                        Fraternally yours,

                                    (signed) JAMES MORGAN

                                    Secretary-Treasurer District No. 22

                       

 

Hero of Coal Mine Explosion Goes Insane from Experiences

Evanston, Wyo.—John Pavlizon, Austrian coal miner, pronounced the outstanding hero of the explosion in the Kemmerer Coal Company Mine 1 at Frontier, near Kemmerer, has been brought to the State Mental Hospital here.  He is insane as a result of his experiences.

            At Kemmerer, the day after the mine disaster, Pavlizon related to an Associated Press correspondent how he had to fight with his twenty or more companions on 29 level (about one mile under ground(sic)) to get them to erect barricades against poison gas.

 

Blast in Kemmerer, Wyoming Mine Takes Lives of Ninety-Nine Miners

August 14, 1923

Another Mine Tragedy

The explosion in Frontier mine near Kemmerer, Wyo., in which ninety-nine lives were lost gives added emphasis to the campaign for safety in mines.  Through the effort of one man a score or more of miners were saved, but notwithstanding this, the tragedy was impressive in in its awfulness.

Those who go down in mines and work for their daily bread must take what comes—be it good or ill.  It is part of the game.  The federal government spends much time and money training miners in safety methods, rescue work and first-aid methods, some twelve thousand men being trained annually in this respect.  But despite this training, accidents will happen, as the Kemmerer tragedy testifies.

The blame was put on the fire boss of the Kemmerer Mine for the accident by the coroner, whose verdict was that the gas in the mine was ignited when the fire boss attempted to relight his safety lamp.  This may or may not have been the cause—as the fire boss was killed and he is not here to defend himself.  It came out in the testimony before the coroner that complaint had been made previously by the miners of the air conditions in the workings, but that little attention had been paid to these complaints by the company.  Perhaps there was negligence here.

It has also developed that the mine safety laws of Wyoming are inadequate.  This situation probably contributed to the accident.  The disaster emphasizes the fact that safety first in mines depends about as much on the employer as it does on the employe(sic)In other words, there must be laws and regulations to govern mine safety as well as to teach miners the principles of rescue and first-aid meets and trained rescuers it would help a lot to have no accidents. 

There is much sympathy expressed for the families of the killed and injured at Kemmerer.  The international union officials sent $10,000 to the families of the dead miners.  In cases like this the Union is the friend indeed.  Now that the disaster has come it may be that the state of Wyoming will take steps to prevent a similar calamity.  Or will the tragedy be shortly forgotten except by those who lost the most?

 

14 August 2023, received from Michael R. Dalpiaz, Sr., United Mine Workers of America, International District 22 Vice President

Headline News

Within a short time all roads and paths from town to the mine were filled with wives, 

children, and friends of the imprisoned men. Photograph from Fossil Country Museum.

Homage Is Paid Our Miner Dead

Kemmerer suffered its greatest tragedy in history this week when an explosion sniffed out the lives of ninety-nine men in Frontier Mine No. 1 of the Kemmerer Coal company one mine north of this city.

One hundred and thirty-six miners entered the shaft on the day shift at 7:30 Tuesday morning and within an hour--probably at 8:15--a terrific explosion, caused, company officials believe, by a "blown out shot," rocked the workings, taking the greatest toll of death in Wyoming since the tragedy of Hanna, back in 1903.

Today one of the most impressive services in the annals of the state was held in the triangular park, when words of sympathy and consolation were poured out to relatives and friends of the dead men by bishop, priest, minister, and public officials, at a community memorial services participated in by virtually every resident of Kemmerer, and hundreds from nearby towns.

First word of the explosion was brought to the downtown district of Kemmerer about 9 o'clock Tuesday morning.  No details were known at that time, but within an hour the mouth of the doomed mine was surrounded by scores of sorrowing, hysterical women, children and the entombed miners, and men from all walks of life prepared to put forth every effort, even to the supreme sacrifice, in trying to rescue the imprisoned men alive.

Wives, daughters, sisters and sweethearts of the trapped men stood about the portals of the mine, hoping and praying that some miracle would return their loved ones to the surface alive.

No disorder marked the sorrowful scenes at the man-way of Frontier No. 1, only the outpouring of fear and frenzy over the safety of 136 men under ground.  Officials of the coal company, under the personal direction of President P.J. Quealy, rapidly gathered together volunteer rescue workers and the first batch to enter the mine was composed of about 30 men.  Because of the conditions in the mine they were forced to work in relays clearing away the rockfall and debris caused by the explosion and it was nearly 2 o'clock in the afternoon before any of the entrapped men were located.

The first party of workers to be rescued alive were brought to the surface about 3 o'clock.

Tales of heroism, of men giving their lives that others might survive the terrible disaster, abounded on the surface at the mouth of the mine Wednesday , where hundreds, including the wives and children of the dead miners, gathered waiting for the rescue of the men.

Joe Nagi and Tony Babitch, miners, whose bodies were brought to the surface among the first taken from the mine, gave their lives that twenty-two of their fellows might live.

John Sager Jr., fire boss in the mine, also stands out as one of the dead heroes of the disaster.  Nagi and Babitch, trapped with twenty-seven men, locked their companions in chamber twenty-seven of the wrecked mine and went into the gas-filled passages themselves in a vain effort to effect a rescue.  Twenty-two of the miners they locked in the chamber were brought out alive.  Nagi and Babitch died in their efforts at rescue.

Segar, caught with eleven men in the workings, left them in a safety zone while he went out in an effort to find a way to safety for his fellows:
"You wait here, boys" was Segar's parting words as he left his fellow miners.  He never came back.  His body was found with others.

Sam Bott, who has been employed in the Frontier mine for some years, gave a graphic description of his experiences while entombed.  He was rescued after he had been imprisoned for seven and one-half hours, during which he saw a number of his companions suffocated:
"I was in No. 19 entry when the explosion came," Bott said.  "It did not knock us down.  It was like a big gust of wind.  It carried fragments of coal, some as large as my fist through the air.  My partner, Faustino, shouted that there had been an explosion and told us all to lie down on our faces.
"We did, but after a while some of the boys started crawling aways to the slope.  I crawled out to the slope and encountered the smoke and crawled back.  Then I crawled the other way, but couldn't find the outlet.  We found there was good air in the back of the entry.  We stayed there.  On one side we blocked up the passage so the gas couldn't get to us.  Then we hung a brattice across the other end.  Sometimes we called for help, but we didn't shout very long, because we knew that it wouldn't do much good.  Once, when I crawled out toward the slope, I almost lost consciousness and someone carried me back.  On the way I passed six  bodies of men who had been my friends. 
"We almost gave up hope, but finally the rescuers came.  I cannot speak well enough to tell how I felt when I found my wife, my two boys and my two daughters waiting for me at the manway entrance."

Daily News Frederick Maryland 21 Aug 1923

As soon as the extent of the disaster had been ascertained, hurried preparations were made to take the dead to Odd Fellows Hall and Fitzpatrick's undertaking parlors.

The first dead were taken in automobile truck to Odd Fellows Hall, where members of the I.O.O.F. and volunteer workers started the task of arranging and identifying the victims.

Eighty-eight bodies had been recovered from the mine at an early hour Wednesday morning, and it was a ghastly scene that met the eyes of visitors at the two temporary morgues, where the bodies had been about evenly divided for identification.  Strong, upstanding men, miners, merchants and professional men worked in sorrowing silence as they arranged the bodies to be prepared for burial.  Only a few were burned, the vast majority of the victims having been suffocated from the terrible black damp--the coal miner's menace.  This made the work of identification a comparatively easy task, although some little confusion arose because several identification checks had been mixed.

In discussing the cause of the explosion, President Quealy, of the Kemmerer Coal company, gave out the following statement:
"The cause of the explosion at Frontier No. 1, has not yet been determined, but everything indicates a blow out shot probably in entry thirty, the last entry of the mine.  One hundred miners and 36 day men were in the mine at the time of the explosion.  Thirty-seven were taken out alive.  We believe ventilation has been fully restored throughout the mine.
"The fan was not displaced, outside of the stoppings that were blown out of the slope.
"Men entered the mine immediately after the car that was on the way down the slope was derailed--directly after the explosion."
Mr. Quealy announced immediately following the explosion that absolutely no outside aid, from Red Cross or other sources, would be necessary to care for dependents of the stricken workmen.  In addition to provisions of the state compensation law, which adequately provides for widows and children of killed workmen, Mr. Quealy intimated that the company was prepared to see that no one suffered any inconveniences aside from the terrible bereavement they had undergone.

Mr. Lester Pratt, secretary of the Kemmerer Coal Company, declared that the physical condition of Frontier Mine. No. 1 was unchanged as a result of the explosion.  Except from debris, rockfall and a small cave in about midway of the tunnel, little damage has been done.

Mr. Pratt said the company's greatest concern was over the loss of lives and expressed the deepest sympathy, personally, and on behalf of the company for the stricken widows and children.

Mr. Pratt said Frontier Mine No. 1 had undergone periodical inspections and announced that State Mine Inspector Pete Paterson, of Rock Springs, Wyo., had arrived in the city on the date of the explosion to start another periodical inspection of the all the mines in the Frontier camp.

State Mine Inspector Paterson had no statement to issue pending inspection of the mine where the explosion occurred.  He spent some time in the underground tunnel aiding in the rescue work.

Despite grim tragedy stalking through Kemmerer as a result of the disastrous explosion, the towns folk remained calm under their great burden.  Hardly a family in the community but was directly affected through the death of the 99 men.

As the work of identification and preparing bodies progressed at the Kemmerer Hardware and Furniture company's morgue in Odd Fellows Hall, and at Fitzpatrick's parlors, long lines of mourners, wives, daughters, and other relatives, passed through the aisles, lifting the white canvas sheets that covered the corpses, seeking to identify the departed one who had been the family bread winner.

Deep grief pervaded the frame cottage houses that are scattered along the northern end of the city, from whence the father and brother had departed to their untimely death in the Frontier mine.

The hysteria which followed the first few hours after the explosion quickly disappeared.  When the news of the disaster swept through the little town, women and children in all manner and state of dress ran to the mouth of the mine, weeping and calling for their loved ones trapped in the workings.

From all sections of Wyoming relatives and friends of the explosion victims came to Kemmerer Tuesday.  A roped barrier was stretched at the mouth of the mine to hold back the hundreds who gathered around it and prevent hindrance to the efforts of the rescue crews.

At the mouth of the mine, officials established a first aid station, and as survivors of the disaster were brought out, emergency treatment was administered by a corps of doctors, nurses and Red Cross workers.  These remained at the mouth of the mine throughout the day and night ministering to those who were not beyond human aid.

On going into the mine, after the explosion, the first thought of the rescue crew was to search for the living.  The dead, found scattered through the workings, remained untouched until it was determined that all the men who had not died from deadly blackdamp had been taken from the various chambers in which they sought safety.
At 8 o'clock Tuesday night, when it was established definitely that no more than thirty-six men were alive in the mine, the work of recovering the dead began.  The first bodies were brought to the surface soon afterward.

Within the mine signs of the brave struggle for life made by the explosion victims were found by the rescue crews.  In places they found the discarded tools of the miners, thrown away as they vainly sought shelter in some one of the mine chambers, only to be enveloped soon afterward by the deadly gas.

Wednesday virtually all wreckage had been removed from the mine.  The interior is not nearly as badly wrecked as was first believed.

One party composed of thirty-two men brought from the mine alive made a gallant fight for their lives.  When the report of the blast which wrecked the mine was heard in a chamber which they occupied, the men set to work immediately to perfect a barricade which would keep back the dreaded black-damp.

With bits of canvas and clothing torn from their bodies, they closed every crevice in the barricade and hours later rescue workers found them alive in the chamber.  All were laying on the floor, apparently none the worse from the experience.  As they left the mine, these men passed beside the dead bodies of their companions who, it is said, had failed to heed the safety measure adopted by those who came out the disaster alive.

The other men brought out of the mine alive adopted similar emergency measures.  They were found lying on the floor of the chamber.

Another miner, was reached too late by the rescue crew, which found him lying in the main slope.  He was alive, and was rushed to the surface.  Before he reached the mine portal he had expired.  Doctors at the portal of the mine spent considerable time in an effort to revive him, but the task was finally given up.  On the 1700-foot level of the workings smoke blackened embers of mine cars, buried in the cave-in, gave rise to the belief that fire had broken out.  This was later found not to be the case.

Fully 100 voluntary workers went into the mine to rescue the living and remove the dead before the arrival of the United States bureau of mine rescue crew.

All of the men brought from the workings alive were blackened by smoke and suffering intensely from bad air.  None of them is expected suffer permanently from the gas and smoke encountered in the interior of the great hole.

Alec Inama and Pete Tapero were two of the first men to be brought from the mine alive.  They had been at work in a section near the shaft.  By groping their way through the intense smoke and darkness, dust and gas, they reached the point from which they were rescued within a few hours.

First intimation to outside workers that a disaster had occurred came shortly after 8:30 o'clock Tuesday morning, when dense clouds of smoke begun pouring from the fan house.

Immediately investigations were began, and an effort was made to learn the plight of the men trapped beneath the surface.  Quickly the news of the disaster spread to Kemmerer and environs, and within a short time all roads and paths from the town to the mine were filled with wives, children and friends of the imprisoned men.

Intensely pathetic scenes were enacted at the portal of the mine.  Hysterical women, weeping children and friends, whose tear-filled eyes gave unmistakable evidence of the grief, surrounded the black mouth of the mine, waiting and hoping that all might be well with those below.

Scenes at the mouth of the mine as the living men came to the surface were touching.  Women who had believed themselves widowed by the disaster, and children who had given up hope for the rescue of their fathers, rushed into the arms of their loved ones.  Close by, watching these scenes of rejoicing, stood other women and children, hoping against hope that they, too, might have the good fortune of greeting a husband or father alive.

This was not to be, for soon rescue workers appeared at the portal, bearing the dead of the disaster, blackened by the dense smoke and burned and blistered.  As the rescue crews appeared there was a great forward charge of the hundreds gathered outside the barricades.

In their grief they tore away the rope barrier erected to hold them back and surged about the rescue crews to look at the dead or seek news of those still within the wrecked interior.

Even while Kemmerer was a city of sorrow, with grief plainly written on the faces of those who were fortunate in losing no relatives in the disaster, and while the scraggy lawns surrounding the small frame cottages in which many victims lived were dotted with groups of sympathizing friends, plans went forward Wednesday and Thursday for the burial of the dead miners.

Funeral arrangements were under the direct auspices of Frontier Local No. 2360, United Mine Workers of America.  

At a meeting of this local Wednesday night, attended by Harry W. Fox, president of the Wyoming State Federation, it was decided to hold a public memorial service in the city park at 2 p.m., Friday.

All fraternal and civic organizations in the city have been invited to participate and the local civic authorities have issued a proclamation calling upon the townsfolk to observe the day as one of general mourning.

A platform will be erected in the center of the park, upon which will be the speakers and city officials.  Caskets containing many of the dead will be set around the three sides of the triangle.

Rev. Father P.P. Szymanski, pastor of the local Catholic church, will offer prayer and benediction; Bishop Jenson of the Mormon church, will read a lesson from the Scriptures; Rev. Thomas Evans, of the Methodist church, will give the oration, and President Fox of the state federation of labor, will deliver an address of sympathy.

In the meantime, a score or more of bodies of the victims were buried in the hillside cemetery at Kemmerer, Thursday afternoon.

From early morning Thursday more than a hundred volunteer grave diggers, mostly former co-workers of the dead men from Evanston, Rock Springs, Elkol, and other Wyoming mining camps, had thrown dirt from the ground to make places for their departed brothers.

Brief funeral services were read by Father Szymanski and Rev. Evans.

One long tunnel was excavated as the burial place for 17 Japanese victims of the explosion.

Several bodies were shipped out of the city for burial. 

E. W. Holmes, Lincoln County coroner, has empaneled a jury which will meet at 10 o'clock Friday morning to hold an inquest and try to determine the cause of the explosion.  The jury is composed of Thomas Russell, superintendent of the Diamondville Coal and Coke company, George Brown, superintendent of the Union Pacific Coal Company, and William McAllister, a former miner and member of the Wyoming legislature, and now a justice of the peace.

Source:
The Kemmerer Camera, 17 August 1923, pages 1-2.

Frontier No. 1 Mine Explosion

Shaft of Flame Swept Mine; Starting in the Thirtieth Entry

Ninety-nine miners lie cold in death in Kemmerer's two morgues, IOOF hall, and private homes this morning, victims of an explosion which swept Kemmerer Coal Company No. 1 mine almost from end to end about 8:30 o'clock, just after the two trips bearing the 136 miners to their working places had been made.

There was no intonation above ground, the first sign of all not being well underground being when dense clouds of jet black smoke were emitted from the fan, located in a building above ground.  Simultaneously with this it was found that the telephone line and signal wires were out of commission, by the hoisting engineer.

The alarm spread and it was only a matter of minutes until many had gathered at the entry, awaiting the word from a leader to direct them.  The smoke from the fan house was enough for the expert miners, who at once proceeded to organize for quick and effective work.

By 9 o'clock the first relief expedition was in the mine.  At the 15th level the body of George Wormer, pumpman, was found with life extinct.  This was enough to indicate what happened below, and the belief was at once expressed that it would be fortunate if many would be found alive.  However, about this time Pete Tapero, and Alex Inama, company men, who were working at about the 9th level, walked out, and when they heard what had really happened, they at once re-entered the mine and assisted in the rescue.  Then hopes ran high for other miners in the trap.

It took some time to get an accurate check on the number of miners who had entered the mine that morning.  Ordinarily, the mine employs nearly three hundred men, with the larger crew on day shift, but on the ill-fated day, it developed after a checkup that between 135 and 140 (miners) only had entered.

Trip was Wrecked

The first rescue parties encountered a wrecked trip at the 15th level.  It was evident that the explosion had blown the trip from the track, and the track itself was torn up for some distance, and debris marked the course between the 15th and 17th entries.  One party of rescuers climbed over this wreckage, safeguarding themselves with helmets, when they soon realized that it was a holocaust.  Dead bodies were strewn all along the slope head to feet, lying where they had fallen after breathing the awful gases.  This party went as far as the 20th entry.

Others of the relief expedition at once set out to clear the wreckage at the 15th entry, and to repair the telephone, lighting and signal wiring that had been damaged at this point.  It was only a matter of a few hours until all wreckage had been cleared away, and free access to all parts of the mine was possible, although caution was necessary at all times, as gases were encountered in many places.

Hundreds of willing hands stood in readiness for any emergency, and the organization  of the workers was excellent.

About noon the charred and blackened cars, that figured in the wreck at the 15th level were brought up, which cast gloom upon the crowd as the people realized that smoke and flame had swept the mine.

Most Deaths on Slope

Further investigation proved that most of the deaths had occurred on the slope from suffocation, while those at what is believed to have been the scene of the explosion, were burned and charred, many in terrible condition.  Many more would be alive today, had they remained in the rooms or at the face of the entries.  Indications are that the explosion was gas, and that it occurred in the seventh room of the 30th entry, where the body of Thomas Roberts and a Japanese were found.

Removal of Dead

After two hours of fruitless search for any who might survive the flame and gas of the morning, at 8 o'clock Tuesday the first funeral cars were sent into the mine--those same cars that had carried the men to their doom that morning--to bring them out for the last time.  The first cargo of the dead reached the surface shortly after 9 p.m., and 23 corpses were transferred into seven trucks and borne to Kemmerer, where they were taken to the Fitzpatrick funeral parlors, the Embree funeral parlors, and to IOOF hall, an improvised morgue.

At all three places many volunteers assisted in preparing the bodies for burial, and a score of persons assisted the four undertakers.  Despite the number and the arduous task, many of the victims were thoroughly embalmed, but the utter impossibility of this with the limited number of the undertakers changed the operation to another and quicker method, sufficient to preserve the bodies for several days.

88 Corpses to Surface

Trip after trip continued to bring bodies to the surface and at the early morning hour, 88 corpses had been recovered, leaving 11 more in the mine until the following morning.  The work was resumed Wednesday morning, and eight more were brought forth shortly after noon that day.  That left three more.  Two of these, L. Andretta and Paul Warhol, were recovered late in the afternoon, which left only Thomas Roberts in the mine.  It was decided, when a council was held, after the large crew had become tired out, that the work would be abandoned for the day, but James Roberts, brother of the missing man was insistent that the search be continued and with three others he did so.  The body was finally located after midnight yesterday morning in the 7th room of the 30 entry.  It had been passed by many times by the searchers.  This brought the total dead to 99.

A pall of gloom settled over the entire local mining district Wednesday.  Widows and orphans by the score enacted scenes of hysterical grief that are indescribable, and many last night were attended by physicians. 

Gruesome Sight

The scene at the mine opening Tuesday night was gruesome, as the blackened corpses, some of them terribly burned, were brought to the surface and carried by the dozens from the trip cars to waiting motor trucks.  Incongruous was the sign that had not been removed, "Work Tomorrow," as it stood out in bold relief on the mine office under a glaring electric light.

No reason for the explosion has been officially given out, but this point probably will be settled this morning at the coroner's inquest which is set for 9 o'clock.  The explosion no doubt occurred in the last working level, the 30th, following which the flame and gas carried into the other entries clear up to the fifteenth.  Indicative of this is the fact that the men found in the 30th entry were badly burned, showing the force of the explosion, while others farther up the slope and in some of the entries, showed plainly that suffocation had brought death.  Most of the men died in the slope.

The Oldest Mine

99 Victims of Explosion
37 Rescued from Greatest Local Mine Disaster

Mine No. 1 is the first mine operated by the Kemmerer Coal Company, having been started 26 years ago.  It is now over a mine in length, with a 16 degree pitch, and considerable complaint of gas has been made of late years by the miners, who state that it has become so large that it is difficult to convey the air properly.  It has 31 entries, the last being a sump, owing to a heavy water flow.  Three pumps convey the water to the surface, and are operated at full time during the spring season, but about half time at this season of the year.

The mine itself was only slightly damaged by the explosion, and today is in a position to produce coal the same as it was the morning before the accident. No statement has yet been made as to the future plans of the company as to operation of the mine. 

Source:

The Kemmerer Republican, Friday, August 17, 1923, page 1.

Graphic Story of Phillips of 29th

 The most graphic story of the experience of the miners of the 29th entry  is given by Clifford Phillips, whose presence of mind and cool-headedness had a great deal to do with saving the twenty-odd men from this entry.  Phillips has been in three mine accidents before, two explosions, and one cave, where he and a companion were imprisoned for three days.

Phillips and several other miners were in the 21st room of the 29th when the explosion came.  He first felt a rush of air, then the concussion.  With others he ran toward the slope, until smoke was encountered.  Immediately they returned, and at Phillips suggestion made for an air course not far back of the entry.  Here they found a cave-in, which perhaps had a lot to do with saving the men, as it was blocked and kept much of the smoke out of the 29th entry.  "Let's go back to the face," said Phillips "and bulkhead ourselves in the safe air."

On the return the miners encountered bad air to more or less degree, and caught like rats in a trap, they floundered about into rooms, up slants, through crosscuts, and managed to build four bulkheads, two of which were later torn out by other frantic miners seeking places of safety from the gases.  Knowing the air courses perfectly, Phillips and a few others with him decided to build a large bulkhead.  Seeing it was an impossible task for so few men, Phillips volunteered to go from the 29th top entry to look for help.

On going to the top 29th he encountered about 20 miners sitting down, as they had given up hope.  Phillips asked them to accompany him on his return to the back entry and assist in building the large bulkhead, at which place gas already was accumulating.  All the men refused to go, saying they were doomed and couldn't do anything further.  Phillips was insistent, and for a time the only response he could get from the hopeless men was maledictions.  Patting a few on the back, cajoling and entreating he got some of them started, so the remainder languidly followed, believing that the worst might as well be over.  All were at the time very weak from gas.  They finally reached the scene of the partially constructed bulkhead at the lower 29th entry, near the 15th room.  Phillips took charge of the workmen and it was decided that each man would put up ten shovels of rock and dirt  in turns, so weak they were.  One man fell carrying a rock weighing not over ten pounds.  August Hakala, a large man, was able to shovel only three times before he gave out.

First after the explosion it was terror, then as the weary minutes and hours wore on  the men lost hope and cared not when the end came.  Then, a few whiffs of fresh air would seize them.  Finally the bulkhead was finished, the last parts being coats and other clothing from the miners' persons, which they crowded into the remaining apertures.  They sat down to discuss--those who could talk--what was being done above to save them.

Terrorized, Phillips heard a rumbling and imaginative cracking, and decided the mine was afire.  Without a word to his companions, he asked Hakala to accompany him, and the two left to explore another part of the mine,  where he knew there had been slants and crosscuts that might let himself and companions through to the upper abandoned entries of the mine, where fire could not get to them.  It was on this trip that he encountered the better air and made his way toward the slope.  In the distance he saw lights.

His heart leaped into his throat.  He knew the rumbling he had heard was the trip containing rescuers instead of fire.  Running toward the lights he soon met one of the rescuers, "Hello," said the rescuer, "are you all right."  It was only a matter of moments for Phillips to lead the rescuers to his companions, and thus between 20 and 30 men saved that but for Phillips' efforts might today be listed among the dead.

Source:

The  Wyoming Press, 26 August 1923, page 1.

The Kemmerer Republican,  17 August 1923, page 1 and 2. 

Body of Roberts Last  Recovered

The Body of the last victim of the explosion, Fireboss Thomas Roberts was not recovered until yesterday morning at 12:40 o'clock, 40 hours after the explosion, when it was found more by accident than otherwise by his own brother, James Roberts.  The body was found in a kneeling position in room No. 7 of the 30 entry, where it is believed the explosion occurred.

Frantic search had been made for Roberts' body, after two other of the remaining three in the mine, Paul Warhol and L. Andretta, had been taken out Wednesday afternoon at 3:45 o'clock.  The mine was thoroughly explored, and it (was) afterward developed that Roberts' body had been passed many times during the search.

Late in the night, the searchers, fatigued and weak had almost decided to give up until the following day, when James Roberts said, "I cannot leave this mine without word concerning my brother."  The pathos affected several of the men, so Night Foreman William Allan, Sam Lycett, and another miner whose name is not known volunteered to remain. 

Slowly they started into 30 entry.  Searching carefully they found the lost one's dinner pail in the fifth room.  they proceeded to the sixth, thence to the seventh, with James Roberts slowly leading the way.  Ninety feet up in the room, James exclaimed, "Here he is!"  The body was at once brought to the surface, thence to the Fitzpatrick morgue, which brought the total of dead removed from the mine to 99.

Source:

The Kemmerer Republican, 17 August 1923, page 1.

Force of Explosion

Mike Paylish, survivor of the explosion, told of the force of the explosion.  Mike is a shot-firer, and was near the face of the entry, or the 32d room when he heard a noise, immediately after which the wind was felt so strong that the ear drum seemed crushed by the concussion.  The wind striking the face of the entry rebounded, and every man was knocked down.  So strong was this wind that a tub full of water, used for watering the horses,  was blown the full length of ten rooms.  Following the explosion many hours were spent by the men seeking safety, at many times giving up hope.

Source:

Kemmerer Republican, Friday, 17 August 1923, page 2.

Several Buried

Owing to the condition of the Fireboss Thomas Roberts and L. Andretta, both found in the the lower level of the mine hours after the explosion, burial was made yesterday, following  short services at the grave.  A number of others were also interred yesterday, including a number of Japanese, who were frightfully burned.  Officiating at the services for the Japanese were priests of their own land.

Source:

Kemmerer Republican, Friday, 17 August 1923, page 2.

Efficient Safety Lights

No. 1 mine recently was electrified throughout, the miners wearing a light on their caps, which was connected with a storage battery attached to their waists.  These lamps are charged for 16 hours, yet when L. Andretta's body was found at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the fatal 30th entry, his light was still burning, after 32 hours--just twice its allotted time.  It was a sad sight to see the lights, some of which were still burning when they were taken into the morgue.

Source: 

The Kemmerer Republican, 17 august, 1923, page 2.

Their Last Reports

Both fire bosses of No. 1 mine were killed in the blast, Thomas Roberts and John Sager.  These mine workmen enter the mine several hours before the working crew, and come forth with reports on the condition of the entries and rooms, and the mine generally.  Roberts' last report was that there was 50 cubic feet of gas in the 27th entry, but no information could be secured on what Sager reported.  From appearances it may be that Roberts was endeavoring to brattice off gas in the 30th entry when the explosion occurred.

Source:

The Kemmerer Republican, 17 August 1923, page 2.

Kemmerer Mine Horror
Latest News of Disaster in Neighboring Grief-Stricken City

The greatest gloom in the history of the State of Wyoming was cast over the Kemmerer Coal District on August 14th, when an explosion occurred at the Frontier Mine No. 1 at 9 a.m. which caused the death of 102 miners (number of victims was misprinted) and the escape of 34 others, some of whom were badly burned.

Relief crews were organized immediately and under the direction of P.J. Quealy, vice president and general manager of the Kemmerer Coal company, and T.C. Russell, superintendent of the Diamond Coal and Coke company, an experienced mine rescue expert the work of exploring the mine began.  Russell entered the mine at once, and as volunteers rushed to the mine from adjoining properties of the company and from other mines a radius of 15 miles of the camp, more men were sent into the slope until more than 100 rescuers were at work.  The exact cause of the blast remained a mystery early today, although officials of the Kemmerer Coal Company, in a statement issued late Tuesday, declared a blown-out shot was responsible for the detonation.  Another theory is that a careening "trip" car, jumping from the track on the 1700 foot level, where the explosion occurred and caused a spark which ignited a cloud of dust or gas.

Disastrous as was the loss of life, the interior of the mine was only slightly wrecked by the explosion and rescue workers who plunged into the smoke-filled passageways early Tuesday, were hampered but little by debris.  At Entry 15, it was necessary to clear away a cave-in which had buried six mine cars, and beyond, at Entry 17, the workers were forced to relay stretches of track torn up by the concussion.

Most of the dead are lying in the Odd Fellows' Hall, and may of the bodies will buried tomorrow.

Several parties from Evanston visited the scene of terror and reported conditions about as reported above.

Source:

The Wyoming Times, 16 August 1923, page 1.

More Than Hundred Miners Die in Wyoming Blast
Only 37 of 138 Who are Caught in the Mine Saved by Rescuers
Every Portion of the Workings Penetrated and all Living Brought Out. 
It is Indicated; No Fire Followed
Cause of Disaster is Believed to Have Been "Blow-Out" Shot

Thirty-seven of the 138 miners entombed in Frontier Mine No. 1, of the Kemmerer Coal Co. at Kemmerer, Wyo., have be rescued, according to a message received tonight by D. J. Parker, of the Pittsburgh office of the Bureau of Mines, from H.E. Munn, engineer in charge of the mine rescue car No. 2, at the scene of the disaster.  The number of the dead will exceed 100 the telegram said.

Source:
Daily News Frederick Maryland 21 Aug 1923, page 1.