A Virtual Cemetery created by D. L. Lee

1910 Browder Mine Explosion

THIRTY-THREE KNOWN KILLED. TWO MISSING AND FIFTEEN INJURED AS RESULT OF EXPLOSION IN KENTUCKY MINE. ABOUT HALF OF VICTIMS AMERICANS. ONE HUNDRED MEN WERE AT WORK IN THE MINE AT THE TIME, BUT FIFTY IN THE WEST WING ESCAPED UNINJURED -- SOME OF THE BODIES SO MUTILATED AS TO BE UNRECOGNIZABLE. Drakesboro, Ky., Feb. 2. -- Thirty-three miners are known to have been killed, two are missing and fifteen are injured as a result of the explosion in the Browder coal mine, near here, yesterday. There were one hundred men in the two wings of the mine at the time of the explosion, but the fifty men in the west wing were uninjured and escaped.Those in the east wing felt the full force of the explosion. One or two of the injured are in a critical condition. Of the dead about half were whites, all Americans, and the remainder negroes. PETER KELLY, mine foreman, is among the missing.As a result of the disaster all of the mines in the vicinity closed down today, the men offering their services in rescue work.The explosion is believed to have been caused by a miner's lamp igniting gas in an unused room. The force of the explosion was apparently sufficient to cause instant death to all the men in the eastern wing where it occurred. Cars and heavy timbers were blown about like kindling wood.Within a few minutes after the first news of the explosion the inhabitants of the little mining town were crowding about the shaft. Women and children crazed with grief, pleaded with those in charge of the mine for news of the of the entombed men.They were spared one of the horrors of other recent disasters, nemely long suspense. Within a few minutes after the explosion the fans had sucked the shaft almost clear of deadly gases and rescue parties were able to descend and begin to dig through the wreckage. No fire followed the explosion and the ventilating apparatus was fortunately unharmed by the shock.The rescue parties found a scene of destruction that left no doubt as to the fate of the men. First bodies recovered were in fairly good condition, the men having been smothered to death and not mangled by the explosion but as the party pushed on they found bodies so mutilated that they were unrecognizable. Cars and debris of all description had been tossed about by the explosion. The rescue party worked without interruption all night, while women, children and men formed to the darkness a shadowy ring which never left the mouth of the shaft. Source: Mansfield News Ohio. February 2, 1910 List of the Killed: ALEX RAY BENNETT, WILLIAM RENO, PETER THOMAS KELLEY, MATTHEW LLOYD, E. MACK ENGLISH, JAMES ARTHUR RICHARDSON, RAY MARTIN, HILAS SPROWL COLUMBUS M. SPROWL, ALEXANDER SWEAT, ALEX HUGHES, EZRO MAYFIELD, OBIE JONES, RAYMOND BROWNING, WILLIAM JONES, JOHN DUFFY, GEORGE DUFFY, TERRY CASH, BUD H. SMITH, WILLIAM BERRY, RICHARD HENRY MASON, ESTILL E. CORNETTE, H. EUGENE CORNETTE, BENJAMIN LESLIE, WARNER JOHNSON, ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, ESTILL BROWNING, JAMES MAT ALLEN, WILL M. WHITAKER, JAMES L. WILLIAMS, J. RILEY THOMAS, JAMES DUDLEY EMPSON, LEVY DUVALL.

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James Matt Allen Flowers have been left.

12 Apr 1868 – 1 Feb 1910

Ennis, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

Alex Raymond Bennett Flowers have been left.

22 Oct 1885 – 1 Feb 1910

Drakesboro, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

Raymond Browning Flowers have been left.

22 Sep 1891 – 1 Feb 1910

Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

Enos M. English Flowers have been left.

19 Nov 1876 – 1 Feb 1910

Caneyville, Grayson County, Kentucky, USA

Ira Warner Johnson Flowers have been left.

11 Jul 1884 – 1 Feb 1910

Drakesboro, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

Will Jones Flowers have been left.

10 Aug 1883 – 1 Feb 1910

Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

Peter Thomas Kelley Flowers have been left.

1880 – 1 Feb 1910

Drakesboro, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, USA

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