Osage County KS Archives News.....Carbondale Horror - Fatal Mine Accident 1881
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The Osage City Free Press Thu May 12, 1881 Pg 1 1881
The Osage City Free Press Thu May 12, 1881 pg 1
       THE CARBONDALE HORROR
    Nine Men Smotered to Death
   THE BURNING OF GREEN'S SHAFT
    Gross and Criminal Neglect
       FULL PARTICULARS
   At 2 o'clock Friday afternoon, a coal shaft belonging 
to W. L. Green, of Carbondale, which is located about 
three quarters of a mile from the main part of the city 
was discovered to be on fire. There were nineteen men
in the mine, a few of those regularly employed having
gone out of the mine that morning owing to the foul air.
   To remedy this the pit boss directed a boy, who had
charge of the fire at the bottom of the pit to add a
large amount of fuel to it, in order to increase the
draft and purify the air.
   The fire was first discovered by Charles Davis who
was at work sinking an air shaft about one hundred feet
from the main entrance. An attempt was, at first, made
to extinguish it by knocking some boards off the 
bottom of the shaft which only increased the draft and 
the whole structure was at once enveloped in a mass
of flames and smoke. 
   It seems the men were not alarmed at first. If,
instead of first trying to extinguish the fire, the
cage had been lowered,  the alarm given to the men,
it is almost certain that all might have escaped. As
it was, when the shaft became enveloped in flames and
smoke, the men were simply shut up without any avenue
of escape left. There was no other means of ingress or
egress to the mine except the shaft that was on fire.
   Charles Davis is a clear headed bravee fellow, who 
was well acquainted with the mine He knew of an opening
that had been made between the mine and the adjoining
one and he hurriedly got ten of the men together at the
opening where they remained until they were enabled to
escape.
   The men give him great credit for his coolness, his
bravery and his unselfish efforts to same his comrades
from a horrible death.
   In his effor to save Frank Ralston, who had been over-
come with suffocation, he almost lost his life; and when
he had finally dragged him beyond the immediate sense of
danger to the opening between the mines, he fell exhausted
and senseless, ad did not recover until nine o'clock at
night.
   As soon as the men in the mine realized their condit-
ion, their cries and prayers for help were heartrending
beyond description. The news soon spread throughout the
city of Carbondale and into the other mines, and in a
short time the ground around the blazing shaft was covered
with five hundred excited and frantic men, women and
children, whose relatives and friends were locked up in
that terrible prison.
   Evey effort was made to extinguish the burning shaft,
but it was fully two hours before the work of rescuing
the imprisoned miners began. Sixteen men, three of them
dead, and the others senseless from suffocation were
taken out of the pit Friday afternoon and three others
could not be found.
   A good many miners remained around and in the vicinity
of the smoking mine all Friday night. The news has spread
to Scranton and early Saturday morning many of the miners
from that locality were on the ground and about 4 o'clock
five of them recklessly descended to the bottom of the
pit to search foor those who had not yet been found. Only
two of them escaped, the other three were suffocated and
their stark, rigid, lifeless bodies told the story of 
their daring but thoughtless conduct.
   All the bodies were finally recovered and it wss found
that eight men and one little boy had been sacrificed in
order to save a few dollars that should have been expended
n providing the proper means of escape for the brave men
who are obliged to work in our coal mines.
    By the time we arrived upon the scene of the terrible
accident this morning some of the bodies had been removed
to the houses of friends. Five of them still lay in a 
small building near the shaft. They were strong, fine 
looking men. There was little evidence of suffering,--
two of them had received some slight bruises on their
foreheads which might have been produced by a fall, or
by striking them against the walls of the mines in their
last struggles. 
   The names of these five men were as follows:
   Neil McGonigal, a large, strongly built young man,
about 28 or 30 years of age, whose home was Lasalle, Ill.,
and who had been in Carbondale only one week.
   George Evans, a stout, pleasant, boyish-faced young
man, whose father is on the Philadelphia police force,
had been at work at Scranton, and was one of the five who
went into the pit in this morning.
   Abel Benedict, a robust intelligen looking young man,
who was to have been married to-day and whose heart
broken affianced bride shed bitter tears over his live-
less body a short time after his death.
   Andrew Warner, brother to the wife of Hon. D. B.
Burdick, who was only married a short time ago. By his
side was the lifeless body of his brother-in-law, Chas
Jones, whose family lives in the vicinity and is 
highly respected.
   Four of the bodies had been removed by their friends:
   Jacob McDonald, about thirty years old, who leaves
a wife and one child. 
   Michael Mullen, about fifty years old,
who leaves a wife and five children. This
man and his little boy Patsey were together
at the bottom of the pit and the old man
had made desperate efforts to escape through
the burning shaft and his body was badly
burned, but the boy was drawn up from his
death bed and placed in the arms of his 
mother--who, after looking upon the mutilated
body of her husband, was praying aloud 
that her boy should be returned to her alive-
without a scar or a scratch, but cold and
lifeless.
   The other man was John P. Hungate, a citizen, who leaves
a wife and two children t battle alone with the world.
   This is the story, hurriedly and imperfectly told. It is
sad enough. Those who witnessed the terrible scenes at 
Carbondale yesterday and to-day will never forget them.
   Shall we stop here?
   Is there nothing further to be said? Are those who are
responsible for this great wrong to go unpunished and un-
censured? We understand that the other mines in and around
Carbondale afford no better protection to the men than 
this one did. Nine valuable lives have been inexcusably
sacrificed. Even the poor law that is now upon the statute
book was wholly ignored and no pretense of its observance
is made.
   Why was not this shaft furnished with the lawful means 
of escape? Was it on account of indifference and careless-
ness, or was it to save a few paltry dollars?
   Who is to blame?? that is the question. Who is respons-
ible for the murder in cold blood of these nine people? 
Do the laboring men propose to simply shed a few idle tears
over the lifeless bodies of their comrades and make no
effort to right the great outrage that has been committed?
   In a few months this matter will be forgotten. Efforts
will be made to hush it up and, if the men whose brawny 
arms and hardened muscle have addedso many thousands upon
thousands of dollars to the wealth of Osage county, propose
to close their mouths, sit still and do nothing, it will be
hushed up. Apologies have already been suggested for it, 
yet, before Heaven, we do not believe there can be any
apology made for it that any reasonable man could afford to
accept.
  It was a heartless wicked, and inhuman piece of indiffe-
rence to the lives of men that the widows and orphans of 
the brave men who lost their lives, can never forgive if 
all the balance of the world does!
         (continued on Fourth Page)

    (continued from First Page)
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CORONER'S JURY
    A cornoner's jury was impannneled Saturday morning
by the Coroner, Dr. Willey, and the following is a verbatum
copy of the evidence taken before it:
          TESTIMONY OF WM. THOMAS
   John McCardell, and Wm. Nickels, were at the bottom of
Green's coal shaft and they told me the shaft was on fire. 
I was topman at the shaft. I told Wm Nickels to go and tell
his father. His father was in the mine. The men at the 
bottom of the shaft tried to put the fire out with water
but failed. I did not know of any other way for the workmen
in the mine to escape except by way of main shaft. I think
it was impossible for the men to come up the main shaft 
alive after fire had been burning a short time. There were
twenty-two men and three boys in the mine at the time of
the fire. I was present when all the dead me were brought
from the mine. John Love was in charge of the mine last
night after the fire was over and I do not know whether 
he had orders to prevent men going down the shaft to 
rescue others or not. I would not have been likely to see
the fire until it reached the top of the shaft if I had
not been told of it. 
                        (Signed) WM. H. THOMAS
              TESTIMONY OF CHARLES DAVIS
   I am a miner by occupation. I think there was no other
way to get out of Green's mine except by way of the main
shaft. The air shaft was built in connection with main 
shaft and very close to it. I do not think that there was
any escapement shaft. There might have possibly been a
way to escape but I hardly think there was. I was one of
the miners who was brought from the mine insensible.
                         (Signed  CHAS. DAVIS
                TESTIMONY OF THOMAS MCNEISH
   I am a coal miner. I am one of the five who entered the
mine this morning to rescue those who were confined there.
If there had been an escapement shaft the workmen would
have stood some chane to get out. I did not know of any 
other way to escape except by the main shaft. I found three
dead men together. If there had been any way to escape I
think the workmen wold have got out. I think I heard some
one say, the fire started about one or two o'clock. I think
that damp and smoke together caused the death of the men
who died in the mine.
                  (Signed)    THOMAS MCNEISH
             RE-EXAMINATION OF CHAS. DAVIS
   John Rabie is our pit boss. I think the deaths were
caused by damps. There was a little air circulating where
I was which came from the old shaft. I was a boss for
W. L. Green last winter and I never asked for anything
necessary to the shaft that he refused to furnish me. He
always supplied me with all the material I asked him for.
A mine is very dangerous unless it has an escapement shaft.
Yesterday morning the air as bad in the mine and some of
the men left because of it. The pit boss ordered the road-
man's son to make a big fire in the furnaces and the boy
threw some props on the fire. This was the origin of the
conflageration.
                      (Signed) CHARLES DAVIS
              TESTIMONY OF DANIEL WOOD
   I am a miner. I have never worked in W. L. Green's coal
mine. Have been in the mine but twice. Once last summer 
and once this morning. I went down this morning to get men
out. I know there was no escapement shaft to the mine. I 
have had a great deal of experience with black damps. The
damp in Green's mine was caused by the burning of the shaft.
There was no circulation of air in the mine this morning. 
I think that if a partition of canvass had been made in
the shaft to force air down as soon as the fire was out,
that most of the men could have been saved.
                    (Signed)   DANIEL WOOD
            TESTIMONY OF JOHN MCARDELL
   I am a coal miner and have worked in W. L. Green's 
shaft, the one which burned yesterday, about two months. 
I was one of the first to see the fire. I do not know of
any way to get out of the shaft which was burning except
the main shaft, and have never heard of any way. A board
close to the furnace burned first. Somebody pulled the
burning board off and then the fire went up the shaft fast.
About a week ago I old the topman that some day that there
would be an accident at the shaft. I thought so from the 
way the lumber of the shaft was effected by the furnace. 
I know positively that there was no way for the men to
escape from that mine when the main shaft was afire. I
think the deaths were caused by damp and smoke. My 
opinion is that if there had been an escapement shaft to
the mine all of the men would have been saved. I don't
think there is any doubt about it. The men were notified
that the shaft was on fire as soon as possible but they
did not have time to escape because the shaft was all in
a blaze two minutes after the fire started.
                  (Signed) JOHN MCARDLE
           TESTIMONY OF CHARLES HERD
   I am a miner. I live on Green's hill. I quit working 
at the shaft that burned, about the last of April. I am
acquainted with the shaft. There is but one way to get in
and out of the mine. The furnace is close to the bottom
of the shaft. part of the main shaft is used as an air
way.
                    (Signed)   CHARLES HERD
             TESTIMONY OF JOHN RABEY
   I am a miner. I am the pit boss of the burned shaft. 
I was in No. 2 shaft and somebody hollowed to me that 
shaft No. 4 was on fire. I went down alone to the bottom
of the shaft as soon as I could get down and proceeded to
search for the workmen. I found three men brought them to
the bottom of the shaft and set them up. I felt exhausted
and went to the top myself. The smoke suffocated me. I 
went down again and found about twelve more men. I told
them men to get out if they could. I tried to get some of
them out but got weak again and was hauled up. The air was
foul yesterday morning and to make it better I told a boy
to make a good fire. I went off and don't know what he did
to the fire. There was no other escape way then the main
shaft. The furnace was built on rocks about two feet high.
I think the deaths were caused by smoke and damp.
                       (Signed)   JOHN RABEY
               TESTIMONY OF ROBT. MITCHELL
   I am a miner. Have been working in No. 2 shaft. I did
not notice any escape way to No. 4 shaft. I went down 
with John Love to get men out. I found the men snoring
as if they were asleep. They were overcome by the damp
and smoke. I found four men. We got them all out alive
but they were insensible. I think the deaths were caused
by damp and smoke. If there had been an escape way the
men would all probably have escaped alive.
                      (Signed) ROBERT MITCHELL
              VERDICT OF THE JURY
STATE OF KANSAS}
County of Osage} ss
   An inquisition holden at W. L. Green's coal shaft
near Carbondale, in Ridgeway township in said county
and state on the 7th day of May A. D. 1881, before me
J. A. Willey, Coroner of said county on the bodies
of Michael Mullen, Patrick Mullen, Geo. Evans, Abraham
Benedick, Neil McGonigal, Charles D. Jones, Andrew
Warner, J. P. Hungate, Jacob McDonald, there lying
dead by the jurors whose names are hereunto subscribed,
the said jurors on their oaths do say that Michael Mullen,
Patrick Mullen, Chas. D. Jones, Andrew Warner, J. P.
Hungate, Jacob McDonald came to their deaths through 
the criminal neglegence of W. L. Green and John Rabie
in not complying with the law and providing the necessary
means of escape as required by an act providing for the
safety of persons employed in the coal mines, and that
Neil McGonigan, Geo. Evans and Abraham Benedict came to
their deaths by suffocation caused by smoke and damps
while trying to rescue the miners in No. 4 shaft.
                          GEO. PARKS, Foreman,
                          WM. MCMURDS,
                          JACOB BRAUM,
                          EDWARD his X mark O. RILEY,
                          THOS. SHAFFER,
                          JERRY CAZIER,

             Press Comments.
           THE CARBONDALE HORROR
   We publish in another column a full account of the
"Carbondale horror," from the FREE PRESS extras. We note
the charge of criminal carelessness against the mine
owners. We endorse it all; but we go further and charge
that the last legislature of Kansas run, as it was, by
a Republican caucus, is to blame for this catastrophe at
Carbondale. Last winter the miners of Osage county 
demanded the passage of a law to prevent and properly
punish such criminal carelessness. A law that would have
saved these nine lives but this was the plea of labor
against capital, the poor agains the rich. It is the
laboring man who is compelled to take these chances or
let his family starve. The Republican legislature did 
not heed this appeal--they gave it the deaf ear, and now
the blood of these men are upon their heads.--Kansas
State Journal.
    The present editor of the FREE PRESS prepared the
bill that the mners of Osage county asked the legislature
last winter to enact into a law. It was, without question,
the most important bill that the legislature was asked
to act upon. But, it contemplated protection to poor men
and their families, and the legislature appeared to be
too deeply engrossed in other matters to give it any 
attention.
   We have seen it stated, however, that every Greenback
member voted against it on its final passage. Will the
JOURNAL explain that? We have no apologies to offer for
the Republicans who voted against it, or who were indif-
ferent to it. Some of them, who had promised to urge
its passage, acted in extreme bad faith about it, and
when the time comes, if it ever does, we propose to hold
them to a very rigid account for their conduct.
               "MURDERS" NOT "ACCIDENTS"
             (From the Leavenworth Times)
   The "accident" in the coal mine at Carbondale, Osage
couonty, last Friday, cost ten lives. All such things
as these are put under the head of "accidents." In the
majority of instances they are simply murders, yet no
one is ever punished. We do not pass judgement upon this
Carbondale matter because the facts regarding the accid-
ent have not probably been fully developed, bt this much
we can say, and that is that the Kansas legislature is in
a great measure responsible for the creation of these
widows and orphans by Friday's disaster. So busy was
the  body of state law makers that it had no time to
pass a bill for the  protection of miners, when, had
this bill been taken up and considered, it might 
possibly have led to a prevention of these too frequently
occurring horros. The bill might not have done all that
was claimed for it, but it was a least a step in the 
direction of mercy.
                   THE LAW
The following is the full text of the act in relation
to coal mines which took effect May 15, 1875:
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
   SECTION 1. That the owner or owners or lessee of each
and every coal mine or colliery in this state, which
is worked by means of a shaft, shall make and construct
and escapement shaaft, making at least two distinct 
means of ingress and egress for all persons employed or
permitted to work in such coal mine or colliery. Such
escapement shaft, or other communication with a 
contiguous mine, shall be constructed in connection
with every stratum of coal worked in such coal mine or
colliery; and every escapement shaft, or other commun-
ication with a contiguous mine, as aforesaid, shall be
so constructed as to be accessible from every entry,
plane or level in said coal mine or colliery, in case
of fire or other accident to the main shaft: 
Provided, That the provisions of this law shall not
apply to the coal mine at Leavenworth until the 
chambers, drifts, or passages shall have reached the
east side of the Missouri river.
   SEC 2. That the time allowed for such construction
shall be four months for the first fifty feet or
fractional part thereof, and three months for each 
and every additional fifty feet in depth of said 
escapement shaft so to be constructed. And every such
escapement shall be separated from the main shaft by
at least one hundred feet of natural strata; and all 
owners of coal mines or collieries that are in opera-
tion before the passage of this act shall, on or
before the first day of July, A. D. eighteen hundred
and seventy-five, proceed to construct such escapement
shaft or other communication with the contiguous 
mine as aforesaid.
   SEC. 3. Any owner or owners of lessee of any coal
mine or colliery, who shall neglect or refuse to comply
with sections one and two of this act, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to a fine of not
less that one hundred nor more than one thousand 
dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not 
more than three months, or by both such fine and impri-
sonment.
   SEC. 4. Any miner, workman or other person who shall
knowingly obstruct or throw open any airways, or carry
lighted lamps into places that are worked by the light
of safety-lamps, or shall move or disturb any part of
the machinery of the hoisting engine, or whim, or 
open a door in the mine, and not have the same closed
again, whereby danger is produced, either to the mine
or those at work therein, or who shall enter into any
part of the  mine against caution, or who shall disobey
any order given in pursuance of this act, or who shall
do any wilful act whereby the lives and health of
persons working in the mine, or the security of the 
mine or miners, or the machinery thereof is endangered,
shall be deed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, 
at the discretion of the court.
   SEC. 5. The terms "owner" or "owners," or "lessee",
as used in this act, shall include the immediate pro-
prietor, lessee or occupier of any coal mine or coll-
iery, or any person having, on behalf of any owner or
owners or lessee as aforesaid, the care and management
of any coal mine or colliery, or any part thereof.
                 COMMENTS ON THE LAW
   It will be seen that the provisions of the present
law are ample so far as cases of this kind are concerned.
If it was strictly complied with no such a sad, inex-
cusable "accident" could ever happen.
   The difficulty, however, lies in the fact that there
is no one to see that the law is complied with and as
long as the danger is not plainly imminent, the miners,
who to a great extent, are at the mercy of their em-
ployers, for the most natural reasons in the world, 
make no complaint until they are arroused to madness 
and fury at the presence of the bodies of their comrades
who have been wantonly murdered in cold blood.
   The bill prepared last winter, which the legislature
was called upon to pass, remedied this, as well as many
other defects, by creating a public officer whose duty
it would be have been to have seen that the law was
complied with in all cases and in all respects.
               THE GOOD-FELLOW BUSINESS
   Mr. Green, the owner of the burned mine, is a prom-
inent, influential citizen of Carbondale. He is highly
respected and has a great many warm friends. There is
a great deal of sympathy felt for him on all hands.
    He was sick in bed at the time the accident occurred
and the excitement occasioned b it made his condition
much worse. He is however, we understand, much improved
and has expressed a desire and intention to do every-
thing in his power to atone for this sad occurrence. 
We certainly sympathize with him in this hour of trial
and trouble. We also sympathize with the relatives,
families, widows, and orphans of the poor men who, 
without a moments warning, were sent into eternity, on
account of his failure to observe the requirements of
the law, and we have felt called upon, as a conscient-
ious journalist, to speak plainly upon the subject.
   If a "good citizen" should thoughtlessly go upon
the streets of a city, and in open defiance of the law,
carelessly discharge fire arms and kill people, with-
out any intention to do so, there might be circumstan-
ces that would arouse our sympathies for him, as well
as for those who were the victims of his recklessness.
   But, would that palliate, excuse or justify the act
or warrant the public officers in failing to execute
the laws?
              WHAT THE MINERS HAVE DONE
   The miners at both Carbondale and Scranton have called
meetings and provided was and means for the prosecution
of the parties who, it is thought, are responsible for 
the death of these people.
   The county attorney has been waited upon by a miners'
committee and requested to commence the prosecutions
at once.
   Mr. Bradford's duty is plain, and he will not, we are
satisfied, shrink from the faithful and rigid performance
of it. If nine human lives have been criminally sacri-
ficed, let the guilty parties suffer, though the Heaven
fall.
                  THE PIT BOSS LIT OUT
   We are informed that John Rabey, the pit boss, who it
will be seen testified before the coroners jury that the
miners had no means of escape and, who flippantly said
that "I told a boy to make a good fire. I went off and
didn't know what he did to the fire," left last Monday
for parts and unknown.
   That was what we expected and therefore we urged Dr.
Willey, the Coroner, to issue warrants for the arrest of
the parties at once, last Monday morning. He had, how-
ever, been differently advised and, no doubt was justified
in declining to do so.
                  GENERAL COMMENTS
   Nine people were murdered last Saturday in Carbondale.
Six of them without any fault or neglect of their own.
   This is not the first "accident" of the kind that has
happened in this county. 
   It is time to speak out. We have done so plainly. We
have, no doubt, offended many people by doing so, who 
will harbor malice against us for years on account of it.
We have, however done our duty. We have no apologis to
make to any one for it.
   It has been suggested that men are to blame themselves
for going needlessly into danger. That if the operators
neglect to provide their mines with the proper and necc-
essry means of escape in cases of fire or other unforseen
accidents, that should refuse to work.
   In reply to this, it is sufficient to say that many of
the miners in this county and everywhere else have no
choice but to work.
   They are not in a condition to dictate to or to even
complain of their employers. They are poor--without
money, have families to support and clothe and when they
lose a days work, their wives and children are without
bread. They understand no other business--they have noth-
ing else to do but to dig coal. They are obliged to do 
the best they can, no matter how bad it is. When their 
families are hungry and naked they have no time or 
disposition to stop and parley with their employers on 
account of the dangers they are obliged to face.
   Even the terrors of death are not half so terrible
to them as the cries of their innocent children for bread.
   They have no choice!
   It is, therefore, the duty of the law makers, the law,
officers and the public generally who grow rich and proud
and fat--are enabled to live in fine houses, wear fine
clothes, feast upon luxuries, educate their children and
live lives of comparative ease and splendor, upon the
products of the toil and sweat and blood of that unfort-
unate portion of the human family who are doomed to wear
their lives out under the yoke of the slavery and des-
potism of labor, to see that these valuable people have,
at least, as considerate and as kind and as careful
treatment as is usually accorded to dumb animals and
beasts of burden.
                 SOME CORRECTIONS
   Mr. Robert Craig, assistant Superintendent of the 
Osage Carbon Company, has called upon us and made
the following statements:
The Osage Carbon Company in this city, at Peterton
and Scranton have complied fully with the law in regard
to providing its mines with the proper means of ingress
or egress, in every instance.
   The Kansas Carbon Company at Cabondale has also done
so. This Company has four shafts and Carbondale all of
which are amply provided with escape shafts, one having
three outlets.
   County Attorney Bradford also states that the people
of Carbondale think we have discriminated against that
place in our statements in regard to the condition of
the mines located and in operation at that point.
   We certainly desire to treat every locality, fairly
and impartially. Mr. Bradford says the mines at that
place are in as good condition generally as those at
other points in the county.
   But, we have the best authority for saying that, 
many of the operators in the county at Carbondale,
Scranton, Burlingame and this city have been  openly
defying the law in these respects. We shall feel it
our duty to publish the names of the owners and the
location of any mines in the county who are not 
complying with the law and we shall be obliged to 
parties who will furnish us the information.

Additional Comments:
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