Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania January 27, 1891 No. Killed - 109
From report of the State Mine Inspector, 1891, pp. 316-322
The mine was reported in good condition and free from fire-damp on the day before the explosion.
The fireboss made an examination of the mine before anyone was permitted to enter January 27 and found the mine perfectly safe.
The primary cause was fire-damp, mostly, if not all, generated by the fall of No, 3 flat, intensified by coal dust.
Fully 75% of the persons killed were smothered by after-damp. The quantity of the gas fired was not large.
The rescuing parties discovered fires smoldering in several places, but with tubs of water were soon extinguished.
Another account by T. T. O'Malley, 1891, states that only active workings were inspected by the fireboss and that the mine was considered nongassy, being worked with open lights.
The same State Inspector in 1892 instituted legal proceedings against a fireboss of a nearby mine for failure to examine half of the working places before sending the men in. The miners at that mine protested this action against the fireboss.
Source:
Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume I
