Another Mine Horror
Another Mine Horror
One Hundred and Thirteen Lives Lost in Nova Scotia.
Halifax, N. S., Feb. 23.--The first great disaster in the history of the Cumberland coal fields occurred Saturday afternoon, when an explosion took place in the east slope of the Spring Hill mines, resulting in large loss of life. Many of the bodies were terribly mutilated and it is known that 113 persons lost their lives, and some families are mourning the loss of two or three members. As soon as the news went abroad the mouth of the pit was surrounded by shrieking women and children, and the scene was one to stop one's heart beats. It is the greatest disaster ever known in this coal field. The two previous calamities were the explosion at the Ford pit, Itellarton, ten years ago, when forty-five lives were lost, and the disaster at the Drummond mine, Westville, seventeen years ago, when sixty-five men were killed. The Spring Hill mine is owned by English and Montreal capitalists. It employed 1,000 men and had an output of 500,000 ton a year.
The Mine Completely Wrecked.
The mine has been completely wrecked. Choke-damp set in immediately after the explosion, and did its deadly work well. Rescuing parties were organized, and brave volunteers were not wanting to go down to recover the bodies of the dead and save those who might be alive. All night long the work went on, and as corpse after corpse was brought to the surface the despairing wails of the bereaved rent the heavens. Many of the dead were almost unrecognizable. The first exploring party found the bodies of two so badly mutilated that the could only be taken to the surface in bags. One body was cut in two across the abdomen, one arm was missing, the face was a mass of blackened, burned flesh, and the only thing to denote that it was a human body was a tuft of hair on the back of the head. The brain was exposed to view, and presented a sickening spectacle.
Terribly Afflicted Families.
Jessie Armishaw went down No. 2 slope Saturday night and found his three sons and a brother piled together in a heap in one corner of the mine. The sight so unnerved him that he had to return to the surface without his boys. Two sons of Robert McVey, both under 14 years, occupy one coffin. Hugh Bunt loses two sons. These sorrowful households are only a few of the large numbers from which bread winners have been so ruthlessly snatched. The deepest gloom has settled over the whole community.
The scene of the explosion was in the immediate vicinity of No. 6 and 7 slopes. The greatest number of deaths occurred there. This part of the mine was visited by Deputy Inspector of Mines Madden Friday morning, and he says there was no gas to speak of at that time.
In a railway collision at Berestoff, Russian Poland, Monday, sixteen persons were killed and many seriously injured.