Garfield County CO Archives News.....Thirty-seven Blown to Death December 19, 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 12, 2009, 9:26 pm

Akron Weekly Pioneer Press December 19, 1913
Explosion Wrecks New Castle, Colorado, Mine, and Traps All Laborers

List of Dead in Mine

Oxygen Helmet Men Penetrate Workings; Find No Survivors

List of Dead in Mine Disaster
L. L. Crawford, 30, mine foreman; wife and one child.
D. C. Noland, miner, 35; wife and three children.
Louis Fuschino, 33; wife and four children.
Addie Norton, 33; wife.
Arid Johnson, 36; wife and one child.
W. F. Reed, 32; married; three children.
Herbert Woods, 28; wife and one child.
Gale Obester, 27; wife and one child.
Joe La Blanche, 35; wife and five children.
Marion Bonto, 45; wife and four children.
Lee Bonto, son of Marion, 22; single.
Bert Bartle, 29; wife.
William Meese, 55; five children.
Joe Farren, 42; wife and five children.
John Otten, 45; wife and five children.
Ben E. Davis, 24; widow.
R. Wendell, 33; wife and two children.
William Shearer, 26; wife and child.
Lou Walters, 23; fire boss.
Tony Monpelli, 45
Jim Monpelli, 46
Galvel Monpelli, 45
Joe Monpelli, 47
E. McClain, 25
Clint Crawford, 26
George Smith, 22
Wallace Baxter, 38
N. Murphy, 21
R. Filso, 27
A. Csipke, 40
S. Kalononsky, 24
Dave Talmage, 34
Fred Coe, 45
F. McCaln, 33
R. Starbuck, 22
E. Strang, 27
F. Obester, 24

   All but nine of the thirty-seven bodies had been removed from the Vulcan mine
near here early today where every person in the main workings of the mine was
killed instantly Tuesday by an explosion of mine gas.

   Nine bodies remain in the upper lift above the west entry and in this manner
all of the bodies were accounted for.

   One of the rescuers, overcome with fatigue which followed prolonged use of
the oxygen helmet, fell in chamber 23 west, but was taken out alive by his
fellow crewmen who were following close behind in the exploration work. They
carried him to the air shaft where he was quickly revived and taken to the surface.

   Scores of relatives and friends of the victims stood in the snow at the
entrance watching the rescuers carry out the bodies, one at a time.

   The scene was not unlike that of most mine disasters, in that there was not
the slightest hope that any of those caught in the terrific blast had survived.
The chief desire of those who waited was that their loved ones might be
recognizable. In a majority of instances, even this hope met disappointment.

   Virtually every one of the dead miners was born in Colorado.

   All were Americans and many of the unmarried were sons of ranchers and had
lived in the vicinity of New Castle all their lives.

   The exact cause of the explosion is not known definitely but it is the
opinion of the mine officials that the accumulated gas was set off by a miner's
candle.

   The two men in the upper level who escaped injury were W. J. Finley and John
Dawson. An air passage in their part of the mine prevented the gas from forming
there.

   Since 1896, when forty-nine men were killed in an accident much similar to
that of yesterday, the Vulcan has been the dread of all workers in the coal region.

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