In 1910, as in the present day, the drama and tragedy of mine disasters attracted extensive news coverage. In the aftermath of the Starkville explosion, this article appeared in a local newspaper published in Trinidad, the largest town and main commercial center of the southern Colorado coalfields.
VICTIMS OF EXPLOSION RECOVERED; BODIES INDICATE INSTANT DEATH OF ALL 55 MINERS
Charred and bloated beyond all semblance to human beings, the bodies of 11 of the miners who met a horrible death in the Starkville mine disaster Saturday night were brought out of the ill fated mine yesterday after nearly 72 hours unceasing toil by rescuers.
A sight of horribly distended features of the dead caused strong men, inured to scenes of violence and disaster, to turn weeping from the spot. Their eyes bursting almost from their sockets, hair on end and lips, face and torso bloated to hideous proportions, some with arms crooked, others with legs twisted, and all blackened and baked with a terrific heat, the condition of the bodies indicates beyond the pale of doubt that death came upon them instantly as they labored. So badly are some of the corpses bloated and twisted out of human shape that one, at least, that of Jan Klimek, will have to be buried in a specially provided box for the purpose. . . .
Weeping wives importuned the officers to allow them to enter and view the bodies stretched cold in death on the slabs rigged up to receive them but were as gently as possible told that they would not be allowed to go inside. With many a lingering pathetic glance backward they slowly retraced their steps to the cheerless cabin homes.
It is now considered absolutely certain that the men met instant death when the great blast of heat tore through the inner workings of the mine. . . . The men whose bodies were recovered yesterday were working a considerable distance from the other miners and it is pointed out that if the bodies now brought to view in such terrible shape the condition of those further back where even a greater force was expended must be appalling. It is believed by some that when the others are reached they will be found blown to fragments, the flesh cooked from the bones.... The townspeople, either in ignorance of the discovery of bodies or indifferent to it, remained away from the mine during the early morning hours. Perhaps it was due to the strict enforcement of orders to permit no one at the mouth of the mine. Guards intercepted all not connected with the mine and turned them back at a point a quarter of a mile from the entrance.
Source: “Bodies Indicate Instant Death of All 55 Miners,” Trinidad Advertiser, October 12, 1910.
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