Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety

FRANKLIN, Wash., Aug. 25.—The inquest into the deaths of thirty-seven miners in the Oregon Improvement Company's Franklin mine opened here today. Coroner Horton summoned a jury of six—John Robeson, Barney Curley, J. C. Sackett, K. E. Makiel, S. J. Collins and E. M. Mathews, three colored and three white. As soon as the jurors were sworn they were escorted to the new, half-finished Masonic hall, where the thirty-seven dead miners lay in rows on improvised benches. Each body was labeled with its name. After an examination of the dead the jury adjourned to the school house, where the inquest proceeded. Superintendent Ramsey was the first witness called. He testified that he was second in authority to Superintendent Corey and pointed out to the jury on a map the place where the fire in the sixth north level was located. He explained the air course and the general working of the mine. He said that the man in charge of the fan on the hill saw smoke coming out of the air course and, not knowing where the seat of the fire was, closed down, thinking that to run would only cause the fire to become more fierce and draw the smoke to the miners. He said the man did just right, and all the miners would have been saved had they not lingered at the fire in breast sixty-two. Prosecuting Attorney Miller continued the examination: 'Do you know that all the bodies have been removed?' 'Yes. There's no more in the mine. The rescuing party went 400 feet farther in from the fire at sixty-two and found no more bodies. It was impossible for the rescuers to get up into the breasts, but we checked up the pay roll and are convinced that the men have been accounted for.' Archie Jones, a colored track cleaner in the north sixth level, said that he was cleaning track about 300 yards inside the fire when Joe Dawson ran up and said: 'Archie, get a bucket; there's a fire in breast sixty-two.' Jones went on: 'I got a bucket and threw some water on the fire, and then I saw so much smoke coming out that I got scared and ran right to the bottom. While I was there I saw some of the men running back and forth. Dawson was a driver, and he is dead.' Asked whether he had seen other men come out, he said yes; when Dawson told them of the fire, a fellow named Jack ran to the bottom for an empty car with which to load buckets of water and put the fire out. Jones said he had worked in the sixth north level right along and had passed in front of breast sixty-two often, but never saw any fire there until Joe Dawson told him. John Morgan, one of the oldest and most experienced miners in the town, gave some of the most important testimony. He said: 'I first heard of the fire by a message coming down between the fifth, sixth and seventh levels, ordering me up forthwith; that there was a fire on the north sixth and I was needed. I got in the car and made all haste possible. I got into the main hoisting slope and, when in less than a thousand feet, I met a man coming out, and we went back. He followed me a little while and then turned back. I met smoke. I heard a man hollering in smoke. I rushed to him. He was almost unconscious. I helped him out to better atmosphere. I went in a second time, but I found the smoke getting thicker and retreated with the man I had rescued to within 300 feet of the bottom. Then I sent a man to start the fan with all haste possible. By this time men had gathered from all parts of the mine. I was of the impression that the men were dead, but I was in hopes they were alive. The fan stopping reversed the course of the air. As soon as the fire started I went in with C. C. Todd. As I walked along I tramped on something. I turned and said to Todd: 'Charley, there's a piece of canvas.' We stopped, but found the canvas was a man, and he was dead.' The witness then explained the finding of the bodies along the gangway and said that at the points where the two dead mules were found six or seven dead bodies were found also. The last was that of a man named Olson, whose head was lying right up against the air course tunnel. He proceeded alone to breast sixty-seven by stooping under the dense smoke. At sixty-seven, he said, he began to weaken and retreated to where Todd was waiting for him. Later he secured cars and mules and carried the dead to the bottom, where they were hoisted to the surface. Continuing, he said: 'I was confident that if any men were in the breasts they were dead, for no one could live in the dense, hot smoke. Had I been even hopeful of their lives I would have made a more determined effort to rescue them, even at loss of more life.' 'Had the fan been left running, would the men have suffocated?' 'Well, I hardly think they would.' 'Was it right to stop the fan?' 'No. Everybody was yelling and giving orders, and I don't know who gave the order to stop the fan. It was not either Mr. Ramsey or myself. It was wrong.' 'If these men had gone from their places immediately, without doing anything, would they have died?' 'No; they could have all escaped.' 'Would the smoke have followed them more rapidly than they could have walked?' 'No. Smoke came out someplace ahead of them, and this cut them off. They walked 150 feet from the fire, and then dropped down within 100 feet of each other. I'm convinced that the air course had been reversed, the downcast becoming an upcast, and vice versa. I think that the door of the tunnel was left open, and thus the men, after walking 150 feet from the fire, and believing themselves out of danger, suddenly came into another wall of smoke and dropped down, the weakest first and the strongest last. That made death-dealing smoke. Of course, I can state nothing positively concerning the exact causes leading up to the death of the men; I have only theories. It is my theory. I don't want to give it as a statement of fact. I will give it for its value. I think by some means or other the door to the tunnel was left open. What caused it to be opened or who opened it I know not from actual knowledge, but I think it was open from the position in which I found the men. The air always reverses. I have had considerable experience in mines, and during the hot weather... If anything happens to the fan the air course is reversed; the hanging slope will become the upcast, and the air chute will become the downcast. The downcast is the portion of the slope or chute where the air comes down to ventilate the mine from the surface. The upcast, or the up cut, is where the air or atmosphere drawn off from the mines passes out to the atmosphere outside. From the position in which I found the bodies and the fact that they were 150 feet from the fire proves to me that the men were not carried or driven back from the fire and then captured and killed, as you might say, but that the smoke had got in behind them and the smoke was also encroaching slowly in front of them, so they retreated and went 150 feet in safety. But the moment they passed the chute door, which I believe was open, they dropped into the smoke in which they died. If it was the smoke that emanated from the fire that killed the men they would have died in the first 150 feet somewhere, probably the first 50 feet from the fire, but as they traveled that in safety, not even dropping their dinner buckets, lamps or anything else, and then dropped in the space of 150 or 200 feet, proves the smoke was coming out of the tunnel and that was the smoke I found, that I encountered when I rescued that man and was driven back.' When asked how the fire in breast sixty-two started, Mr. Morgan said it might have been caused by an incendiary. He said that he did not want to intimate that any man with so diabolical a turn of mind could ever have secured employment in the mine, but he could not see how the fire was started unless it was either caused purposely or by the rankest kind of carelessness. He went on: 'Did the appearance of the bodies of the men show they had run or were making a violent effort to save themselves when death overtook them?' 'Some of them were evidently running, but others were not. Some of them were men of good judgment and plenty of nerve. One man was found with his cap drawn down over his face, showing he tried to escape from inhaling the smoke. Another man had his coat down over his head and was lying on his face, indicating that he was perfectly cool. Another man was found in the ditch with the muddy water up to his ears. He had evidently lain down in the ditch with his mouth close to the water, but he died, and his head fell forward and lay in the water. The whole thing indicated that they were making an attempt to get beyond the smoke.' David Moran, a colored miner who was working breast seventy-six of the north sixth level at the time of the fire, said that his partner, Andy Greer, was killed. Someone came to the chute and hollered and Andy went down and said: 'Come on, butty, fire below!' Moran went on: 'I picked up my coat and bucket and followed. I ran and fell. I got up, and another fellow said the fire was in sixty-two. My butties and twelve or thirteen more were watching the fire. I said: 'Come on, butties, you'll get smothered if you stop there.' They said there was no danger, and I told them they'd better come or they wouldn't get out. They wouldn't come, and I ran ahead. In a little while I met a man at the bottom of the main slope, and he said about twenty of 'em were dead from the smoke. I was the last man to start from the fire to the bottom. I saw Ed Maxwell and a fellow named Jim Stanley going in with buckets of water to stop the fire. I told them to come out, but they were both smothered. I was scared and went to the top as soon as possible.' 'Do you think that had you loitered at the fire with your butties you would have succeeded in escaping?' 'No. I would have been dead.' 'When I left the burning breast I saw Ike Clemmens there. He is dead.' James Scott, a white miner, was in breast eighty-six in the north sixth level; he said himself, Peter Hay, Jake Olsen and John Q. Anderson were the men furthest in the gangway. He said: 'I was in there and Evan Davy yelled there was a fire. We started out together. I walked ahead and didn't stop at the fire, but kept right on to the bottom. They were about 300 feet behind me. It was pretty smoky in the gangway, and I couldn't see very far. When I reached breast sixty-two I saw an Italian watching the fire, and I told him to move on. He moved out and was saved. He never saw his butties again until they were brought out dead. They could have all got out had they acted as I did and taken no risk. I think they stopped to put out the fire. The door to the air chute was closed when I passed. It must have been opened by someone who followed after me.' Brazil Grantilla, a boy of 15 employed in bringing cars to the bunkers, said that he ran up on the hill and told George Washington Smalley that the north side was on fire. Smalley was at the fan on the hill. He said: 'The engineer sent me. I didn't tell George Smalley to stop the fan. Jim Cave and the fireman were there. Smalley told me to tell Mr. Ramsey the north side was on fire, but Jim Cave got there first and told him himself.' Jim Cave testified that he was at the fan yesterday morning until 11:30, when he noticed smoke coming out of the chute. The fireman said it looked just as it did when the fifth level was on fire, and they talked about the incident and examined the fan. The fan was slowed down to enable them to look for fire, and none being found it was again started. Then the Grantilla boy ran up and said: 'Smalley, the whole north side is afire. Shut down the fan.' Cave then said he ran down the hill and told Mr. Ramsey. Ramsey told him to hurry back and start the fan again. As soon as he could get back he had the fan started up, about fifteen minutes intervening. C. C. Todd, who worked with others to rescue the imprisoned, said that when he reached the bottom of the main slope he found Mr. Morgan and Smalley ahead of him. Said he: 'Adams, Smalley and Morgan and myself went in quite a distance, Morgan leading the way. On the way in we tripped over something on the track. We found it was the body of John Q. Anderson. We kept on, finding bodies in bunches and in all shapes. We finally reached the fire, and Morgan went in until he got weak and dizzy and came back. He then went to the top and I remained on the bottom looking for more dead.' 'How was the air working when you were there?' 'All right. The draft was up the chute.' THE ONE WHO WAS RESCUED. A good deal of suppressed excitement arose when J. L. Snyder, the only man who was rescued alive, was called to the stand. He is a powerful man, standing six feet in height and weighing 200 pounds. He said his work lay in the north level. Said he: 'The drivers told me there was a fire in breast sixty-two, and I started out to raise the alarm. After giving the alarm at the top I ran back again and saw a lot of the boys standing at breast sixty-two watching the fire. I went in a car and returned with a lot of water in buckets, the same driver driving me back. When I got back again there were at least twenty-five or thirty men around the fire. There was lots of smoke coming in all of a sudden, and I started to go to the air chute door, but before I got there I met John E. Johns and another man. John said: 'I've opened the tunnel door.' I turned around and hollered at him: 'For God's sake, close it or you'll smother us all!' He didn't hit anything, but rushed through the smoke towards the door. Pretty soon my light went out and the smoke was so dense I couldn't see anything. I don't remember what happened then.' 'That tunnel door should have been closed under any and all conditions. It's never left open. Opening it is what caused the air course to change. I remember that my light went out, and then I felt along the side of the gangway for the tunnel door, but someone had opened it. I could not close it. John opened the door before the men told him to.' 'You mean the men in the level shouted for someone to open the door?' suggested Mr. Burleigh. 'Yes. They thought it would put the fire out.' 'How did you get out?' 'Well, when I was hunting for that tunnel door, of course, I was coming toward the bottom all the time. When I couldn't find the door I suppose I kept straight on going. Mr. Morgan came into the smoke and helped me out.' Enos Hyde, the engineer at the hoisting engine, said that the first he knew of the fire was about 11:45, when Smalley came in from the hill and telephoned to the sixth level that fire was in the north side and smoke was coming from the fan. In about five minutes someone telephoned back from the sixth level that the whole north side was on fire. Smalley having gone, he sent young Grantilla to deliver the message. He did not say to stop the fan. Charley Scott, a colored miner working in breast eighty-four, away in from breast sixty-two, said: 'Oscar Miller and I both got out. We were in eighty-four. I was just about to put a blast in, it being shooting time, when I heard someone hollering. I was so far up I couldn't hear, so I came down to the mouth of the breast. Jimmy Scott told me sixty-two was on fire. John Q. Anderson, Jake Olsen, Oscar Willis and me all reached the gangway about the same time and started for the bottom. We stopped a little while at the fire, but only a few men were there. I and Willis then went on out. The tunnel door was shut when we passed it. Hayward, Willis and Jim Gibson, all butties, were killed. When we came out some of the drivers were eating dinner.' Con Taylor, Hiram Campbell and Frank Hall, all of the rescuing party, told their stories. Elisha Brown, colored, was at work in breast eighty when the alarm was sounded, and got out safely. He walked right out, not stopping at the fire at all. Nearly all the miners said the fire in breast sixty-two had a mysterious origin. They could not account for it. The jury wrestled with the problem all afternoon before arriving at a verdict. THE COMPANY GIVES AID. Superintendent Corey has hardly taken time to eat since he arrived here Friday, and he has not slept any, spending his whole time looking after the needs of the bereaved. At his order the Oregon Improvement Company has stood all the expense of funerals, new clothing and coffins for the dead, and has agreed to ship the bodies to any destination desired. Mr. Corey today visited the family of John T. Puge. He leaves a wife and six children, the oldest child being but 8 years old. The family will not be permitted to suffer. Other families visited were those of Frank Willis, widow and two children; John Grantilla, mother and six brothers and sisters; Andy Eugaabl, who leaves three little motherless children; Ike Clemmens, wife and three children; John Q. Anderson, wife and three children; William Secor, wife and one child; Peter Hay, wife and six children; John E. Johns, wife and five children; John Morris, wife and four children; Jacob Olsen, wife and one child; David D. Jones, wife and four children. While many of the men dead were single, they leave mothers and brothers and sisters who not only will miss their companionship, but are liable to feel heavily the financial loss, their earnings being needed every month. Mr. Corey has been rendering every assistance in his power, and will continue to do so. Mr. Burleigh, the general counsel of the company, has also passed among the people, doing all that he could to alleviate the distress. The above list makes a total of sixteen women and forty-eight children who were directly dependent on those who were killed. THE BRAVE RESCUERS. It is difficult to get a list of the brave men who aided in the work of rescue at risk of their own lives, but among those whose names have not been mentioned who accompanied Mr. Morgan into the stifling smoke and brought out bodies were: Miners Frackett, Meyers, Twine, Longuer, Chapman and Q. A. Jones. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. Two car loads of coffins were used and some bodies were brought down. A number of friends and relatives of those who perished in the disaster and a number of the curious left this city for Franklin yesterday. The trains for Franklin, both passenger and freight, carried a large number of passengers. A number of the curious applied to the officials of the Oregon Improvement Company yesterday for passes to go to Franklin in order that they might see the scene of the disaster and take a look at the victims, but as they could give no good and valid reason why the accommodation should be extended to them the request was refused. At 1:30 o'clock yesterday morning nineteen coffins, a car load in all, were shipped to Franklin for the remains of the victims of the disaster, and at 8 o'clock another car load, consisting of eighteen coffins, was dispatched. At 4:10 o'clock yesterday afternoon thirty-seven boxes for the coffins were shipped. In order that the coffins might be trimmed and got ready a large force of undertakers was kept busy all night, and the same force had quite a job to get the boxes ready in time to ship them on the afternoon train. Four bodies arrived from Franklin on last evening's train. They were those of John Anderson, Jacob Olsen, Edward Johnson and Frank Larsen, and were placed in Bonney & Stewart's chapel. Two dispatches were received from Franklin in regard to the funeral of Olson and Anderson, one directing the undertakers to hold the funeral at 10 a.m. on Sunday and to notify Lodge No. 81, I.O.O.F., to turn out and take charge of the funeral. A later dispatch requested that the hour of the funeral be changed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, and directed the undertakers to notify the Odd Fellows of the proposed change. Up to a late hour last night no word had been received as to the disposition of the other two bodies. A special train will leave this city at 7 this morning, by way of Newcastle, for Franklin. This train is for the accommodation of those who desire to attend the funeral at Franklin and other points along the road. A dispatch received from Renton last evening stated that the funeral of William Secor and Frank Hughes would take place at Renton today. The services will be held in I.O.O.F. hall, beginning at 9 o'clock a.m. The body of John Hill will be interred at Spring Brook at 10 o'clock this morning.