TERRIBLE EXPLOSION IN A MINE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1215, 20 January 1886, Page 5

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION IN A MINE.

A despatch from Silver Cliff (says a Denver, Nevada, telegram of the 14th November) reports that an explosion of giant powder occurred last evening in the boiler room of the Bull Domingo mine. A fire originated in the roof of the building, and a portion of the boiler roof fell into the boiler room and on the giant powder, which exploded, blowing a hole in the boiler and dislocating the machinery so that everything stopped at once. Hundreds of men soon gathered on the scene to assist in quenching the fire, and to rescue the imprisoned miners. After working all night and this morning the flames were extinguished, and the debris cleared away from the mouth of the shaft. Foreman Armstrong was then let down by ropes about 400 feet. He found the shaft filied with debris at this point and returned to the surface for assistance. At 5 p.m. he went down to the 550 feet level. Here he found ten men, all dead. Five of them had climbed 18 feet from the bottom of the shaft to the drift, and their dead bodies were found in the mouth of the drift. The names of the victims are :— J. Westfield, Elmer Heicester, D. W. Patton, N. Degrossley, P. Lapoint, John Laube, George Smith, William Strong, Marcus Baptiste, and Oonover. At seven p.m. one of the dead bodies had been lifted to the surface. Three of the dead men have families living here. One was engaged to be married next week. Notwithstanding that the building was on fire, no one was seriously injured by the explosion in the building, but several were stunned and bruised. Engineer Chamberlain was standing at his engine trying to make it work, when he was surrounded by flames, and was carried away by friends. Much indignation is felt toward the superintendent, and there is strong talk of lynching him by the miners, wh3 accuse him of criminal negligence in keeping giant powder in the boiler-room.