Hometown History

April 27, 2023

110 Years AgoThe lives of more than 100 miners were snuffed out shortly after noon today (April 23, 1913) when a disastrous explosion occurred in the Cincinnati Mine at the Monongahela Consolidated Coal and Coke Company at Finleyville, about 27 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. More than three score of workmen in the mine made thrilling escapes to the surface, crawling most of the time on their hands and knees through deadly gas fumes and over debris. Many of the men sustained burns. By 11 o’clock tonight 70 bodies of victims had been recovered having been located by rescuing squads of the United States Bureau of Mines and the coal company. The fire which followed the explosion has been subdued, it is said. From 76 to 78 men made their escape. Only a few of the miners who reached the surface were in a condition to talk. Seven foreign miners, who crawled from one of the entrances, all seriously burned, said the mine was “full of dead people.” Of the known dead, all are Americans. A gas explosion is thought to have caused the disaster. The force of the explosion was terrific. Mine cars were splintered and a 15-ton motor was turned over. Many feet of mine track were twisted and ripped from the ties.

April 1913