Mine Safety Training Repository
united states mine rescue association
Mine Disasters in the United States

Tank's Poetry


Father Time
See more disasters
from this year
Calendar Image
Mine Disaster Calendar

Pittsburgh Coal Company
Cincinnati Mine Explosion

Courtney, Washington County, Pennsylvania
April 23, 1913
No. Killed - 97

USBM Final Investigation Report  (5.0 Mb)  PDF Format
Cincinnati Mine Disaster Marker
Location: 40° 13.624′ N, 79° 59.648′ W.
Marker is near Finleyville, Pennsylvania, in Washington County.  It is in Union Township.  Marker is on Union Street (Pennsylvania Route 88) 0.2 miles south of Mingo Church Road, on the right when traveling north.  Marker is at or near this postal address: 2314 Union Street, Finleyville PA 15332
Photographed by Mike Wintermantel
Source: Historic Marker Database
From the Google News Archives:  External Link
(news links open in a separate window)


Successful Rescue

Sixty-seven miners escaped from the Cincinnati Mine following the explosion that claimed 97 lives on April 23, 1913, including one apparatus wearing rescuer.  Two miners were rescued after 60 hours.  Source document


Description

An explosion occurred in the Cincinnati mine, Wednesday, April 23, 1913, at about 12 o'clock noon, in which 97 men were killed, including one of the rescue party wearing breathing apparatus.

Of the number killed, probably 20 or more of them were suffocated, the balance being killed by the force of the explosion.  There were about 167 men in the mine at the time of the explosion.  Of this number about 67 escaped uninjured through old workings, and three were rescued alive - one by the first rescue parties and two sixty hours after the explosion by exploring parties.

Five mules were taken out alive on Sunday, April 27, four days after the explosion.

The coroner s jury placed the legal responsibility for the deaths of the 96 men killed upon the Mine Foreman McNeil, who was killed, for permitting open lights to be used in a section of the mine where gas was being generated in such large quantity; and the moral responsibility upon the Mining Laws of Pennsylvania, which does not render compulsory the use of safety lamps in such sections, but leaves such decision to the discretion of the Mine Foreman.

Source:
Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume I


Rescuer Death

On April 23, 1913, William McColligan, a member of a rescue crew of the Pittsburgh Coal Company, died while making an exploration trip ahead of fresh air after an explosion in the Cincinnati mine, operated by this company, in which 97 men were killed.

McColligan and his crew of five men were equipped with Draeger helmet-type apparatus, which had been carried into the mine by a reserve crew, so that the apparatus men would be in good condition for advance work.  After exploring a series of entries and starting back toward the fresh-air base McColligan collapsed.  The other crew members tried to drag him to fresh air, but two of them went down in the attempt; however, they were able to get to their feet and stumble to the fresh-air base.

Several men from the fresh-air base tried to reach McColligan without the use of apparatus but were unable to do so and his body was not recovered until after fresh air was directed into the place where he collapsed.

Two physicians then worked on him for over an hour, using artificial respiration, electric batteries, and a pulmotor, without response.

The apparatus worn by McColligan was examined by two representatives of the Bureau of Mines, who found that the flexible tube inserted in the thimble, directly over the injector, had been pulled out of its socket, thus permitting the toxic mine atmosphere to enter the apparatus.

Source: Loss of Life Among Wearers of Oxygen Breathing Apparatus (April 1944)  PDF Format


120 Known Dead, 100 Entombed in Mine Explosion
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA
April 24, 1913

Pittsburgh, Pa., April 23. -- There are 120 known dead and 100 are believed to be entombed tonight in the Cincinnati mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Company at Courtney, three miles from Monongahela, where an explosion of gas occurred shortly after 1 o'clock this afternoon.  Faint tappings against pipes and debris in the mine are plainly heard by a frantic crowd on men, women and children outside the mine.

Seventy miners staggered over bodies and debris and into the fading sunlight shortly after 5 o'clock.  Some managed to get out unassisted; others were carried out.  The rescue work is in charge of the superintendent of the mine, William Carter.  His son is dead in one of the headings.

As far as can be ascertained, the miners who died were not killed by the explosion, but by gas, or afterdamp.  An accumulation of gas in the mine is common at this time of the year because of seasonal changes in the weather, and this is believed to have been the primary cause of the explosion.

No attempt is being made as yet to bring the bodies out of the mine.  Rescue hands are being brought from every available source.  The government workers are under the direction of the corps from Bruceton, near Courtney.

Special details of police surround the three entrances to the mine, called the Courtney, Finleyville and Mingo entrances.  Wives and children and other relatives of the dead and entombed miners have to be pushed back to prevent them from entering the burning mine.  Their cries are heard for distances around the little mining community.

Scene of Former Explosion

The scene of today's horror is about ten miles from Marianna, where five years ago 154 miners were killed in an explosion.

A special train was run from Pittsburgh to Courtney by the Pittsburgh Coal Company, bearing physicians, clergymen, undertakers and supplies of all kinds for rescue work.  All rescue facilities from a radius of 50 miles were summoned and rushed to the mine.

The explosion was so powerful that windows within several hundred yards of the mine were shattered.  The mine is a slope digging, and has no shaft.  The explosion deranged the fan house and destroyed all ventilation facilities.

English Speakers Employed

Many English speaking and American miners were employed in the Cincinnati.  The remainder of about 350 employees were Slavs of various nations and negroes.

Every possible effort was made tonight to reach those who are entombed.  The Courtney entrance is clogged up with debris, and behind this it is believed that there are scores of men who will die unless help reaches them within a few hours.  At present there is no way of sending them water or of giving them air.  The tapping is continued, and is evidently being made by many men.  The crying and shouting is growing fainter.

Unless fortune is with the rescuers, who are doing noble work, the death list is practically certain to run over 200 and perhaps 250.  It is one of the worst disasters of its kind this part of the country has known.  It is not the first time the Cincinnati mine has exploded and been afire.  The worst accident to it occurred thirty years ago, when the fire extended for distances around and under the Monongahela River to the other side of the stream.

The part of the mine where the explosion occurred is nearest the Courtney entrance and is burning fiercely.  It is believed that most of the miners got away from this section, for those who perished were found by the rescuers several hundred yards away from the scene of the explosion.

It is said by the officials of the company tonight that the mine was equipped according to the latest and best ideas of safety.  Safety lamps were used by the miners.  The cause is believed to have been natural and unavoidable, due entirely to atmospheric conditions.

One of the first men to stagger out of the mine was Joseph Carter, son of Superintendent Carter.  As soon as he could talk he gasped out the information to his father that he had crossed over the dead body of his brother, Thomas.  Joseph is aged 22 and Thomas 25.

Superintendent a Rescuer

Superintendent Carter, the busiest of the rescuers, heard his son's story, then went immediately back to the work of rescuing others.

S. T. Holmes, a negro, aged 55, was another of the first to reach safety.  He was near the chamber in which the explosion occurred and was driving a train of mining cars.  His two sons were working nearby.  All three were hurled to the ground by the force of the concussion.  One of the sons was killed.  The remaining son and the father arose and tore and crawled; there was more than 600 yards to a passage which led them to safety.

Joseph Green, another miner, who reached the surface at 5 o'clock, reported that he had stepped over the dead body of his brother John, when he rushed away from the burning chamber.

Forty bodies were found in one section of the mine by the rescuing parties.  All of those who escaped or were rescued came out of the Mingo and Finleyville entrances.  The Courtney entry was impossible.

The body of Emile Leroy, a Frenchman, was the first to be identified, and is the only one so far.  Most of those who were rescued were badly burned and were rushed off to hospitals.

Many of the rescued men, who were only slightly burned, as soon as they were revived went back into the mine with the rescuers to guide them to where their unfortunate companions were lying.  Three sections of the mine were found to be literally strewn with dead bodies, most of them so badly burned they could not be recognized.

Robert Carter, a track layer, who escaped, tonight told the following story:
I had been working at the head of No. 16 entry.  After eating lunch I resumed work at 12:30 and had driven only two spikes when the explosion occurred.  The concussion knocked me down and I was unconscious for 15 minutes.

After recovering I met Assistant Foreman Brown, who told me to get out of the mine as quickly as possible.  Other men quickly arrived where I was.  Followed by about 15 men, I started down No. 8 motor road, one of the main roads of the mine.  We had not gone far before we found there was so much smoke we could go no further.  We tried number seven motor road and found this also choked with smoke and debris.

I then told Assistant Foreman Brown I was going to try No. 16 entry.  He told me I could not make it.  Followed by the rest, I tried.  Less than 100 feet in No. 16 entry we found our way blocked with debris.

We turned back and I had penetrated No. 15 entry some distance when we were again blocked by debris.

After investigating I found a hole at the top of the debris.  I crawled through this on my stomach for a distance of 200 feet and the others followed.  I held a small safety lamp as high as I could so that the light would fall behind me to guide the others.  Finally I reached No. 4 motor road which was clear.  I stopped and a colored man was beside me.  We listened for the others, but could not hear them.  After a time accompanied by the colored man, we started for the surface.  Before reaching there we met Tom Thompson, the night boss, whom we told about what had happened.

Thompson started back into the mine to lead the others out and we continued on down the slope to the open air, 3000 feet from our starting point.
Later the other men reached the open.  All were ill and dazed on account of the fumes in the mine.




See more about these products