Connecticut western news., 1884-03-19
DREADFUL MINE DISASTER
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIvE MEN
 KILLED BY AN ENPLOsIuN.
Not One of Those Rt Work in OF About the Mine Left to Tell the Tnle-Thc AInchin- cry nI the Mouth OfIhe Shaft Blown 300 Feet Awny-The Mine on Fire.

Feet Awny-The Mine on Fire.
 A terrible gas explosion occurred at one o'clock Thursday morning in the Laurel Creek mine, operated by the Southwest Improvement Company in Pocohontas, Va. One hundred and fifty five men were at work there at the time, and such was the force of the explosion that everyone was killed, and the fan nIng machine, engine, and cars were blown 800 feet from the entrance. The engineer at work near the mouth of the mine, as we'll as his assistant and col ored boy, were blown hundreds of feet away, and their mangled bodies were found scattered in every direction. The engineers head was found in Q ravine, and his legs and arms were picked up near the mine. Of those at work in or about the mine not one was left to tell the story.
 The little hamlet, whose population numbers about 500, and made up en- tirely of the houses of the miners, was resting quietly when the explosion oc- cured, but soon afterward the whole place was reused, and the scene which followed beggars description. The few living beings who saw puff of smoke shoot from the mine, and the sudden upheaval of the engines and cars, has, tened into the town with loud cries for help. Men, women and children were reused, and as soon as they compre- hended the dreadful news they made a wild rush for the scene of the disaster. Despite the cold night, women, as well NfF oIo1 rienced miners, on reaching the scene, were satisfied that no men in the mines were living. A slight rain and snow was falling, which added to the horrors of the situation, which has been intensi- fled by the discovery that the mine is op fire.
 The Laurel Creek mine is the only one in that part of the State, and has been operated for about two years. It con- sists of tunnel running three quarters of mile in the mountain side, and Q railroad runs the entire length of the mine. There are lateral galleries at in- tervals. The mine is situated above the water level, and for this reason it has until now been free from accident, not a single fatal casualty having occurred since operations were begun. W. A. Lathrop, the superintendent, is an ex- pert mining engineer and has had many years experience. The mines have been worked by reliefs every six hours.
 A train of cars, drawn by a small en- zine, was near the entrance and moving in the mine at the time of the explosion. Four cars and the engine were blown out, and a car axle was propelled by the force of the explosion into the side of a small frame house occupied by two miners, William Amony and Jake Sex ton. Both were asleep, having left the them. Their escape was wonderful, the iron wheels of the car falling by the side of their hunks. They struck a light, and, so far as can be learned, were the first to realize the situation and to give the alarm.
 The cause of the explosion is not yet definitely ascertained, as the entries to the mines are all full of bad mir, but the presumption is that one of the miners struck Assure of gas. Several parties ventured into the mines, but could not endure the foul atmosphere. A number of bodies were discovered horribly man. gled, some of them with their heads torn from the trunks, and others with the limbs all gone, representing horri- ble spectacle. The work of destruction was not confined entirely to the interior of the mines, but houses 200 or 300 feet removed from the mines were over. turned, and in several instances entirely demolished.
 The large ventilator of the Southwest Improvement Company was blown tc atoms, and the mines cannot be entered until another is constructed for the pur. pose of freeing the atmosphere of the suffocating fumes. This work is now progressing speedily. A large force is engaged on the outside of the mines constructing cofins and perfecting othel arrangements for the interment of tho dead. Those who were not killed out right by the terrible force of the explo sion most likely perished from the after 1 damp.
 The men employed in the mines wer, mostly Hungarians without families. 4 number of, negroes from Lynchburg anC the surrounding country were also em ployed.
 What effect the disaster will have or the operations of the miners can only be conjectured until the full extent of dam. | age is known. The mines have not been long opened, but the company had gotten well under way, and was supplying c large section of country with coal, and the prospect was most encouraging, g large coaling station for the supply oi ocean steamers being in process of con structure at Norfolk. While the accident will have the effect of retarding work al the mines, it is not believed that it will cause @ permanent discontinuance oi operations, as a great deal of money has been expended there by Northern capi. talists composing the Southwest Improve. ment Company.
 The latest intelligence concerning the explosion in the Pocahontas mines is tC the effect that about 150 men were killed | and that the accident was caused by the mems going too far into the mines witt their lamps. A relief train, with physi clans and force of workmen on board has gone to the scene of the accident from Petersburg. A dispatch has beer received at Petersburg asking that safety lamps be sent to Pocahontas at once tC facilitate the work of recovering the bodies.
 A correspondent who visited the mine said no one dared venture any consider able distance into any of the openings. Crowds of men, with melancholy, black enad visages, surrounded the shops and buildings, discussing the disaster. Only few women were seen in the vicinity, and these came more out of curiosity than in search of missing relatives.
 The indications of the fiery blast from the mine on the surface show that it shot with tremendous velocity from all the entrances southeast and north. Heavy mine cars, weighing more than a 1 ton Rtnndinn Gnn unrls within thn an.