St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-03-29

| There are no hopes for the entombed
miners whose families are left penniless
and homeless.
NO SOUND OF LIFE.
At midnight it was decided to make an-
other attempt to enter the mine this
morning by an unused drift which con-
meets branch shaft filed with rubbish.
Men have gone into this branch and
sounded the walls with hammers, hoping
to hear some signal from below. The
tapping was kept up for more than an
hour without avail and was then aban-
doned The general opinion is that if the
men were not killed by the explosion they
have been suffocated
THE SCENE.
Pocahontas is TIT miles west of Lynch
burg, the mining village being located at
the foot of Flat Top Mountain. It is the
western terminus of the new river branch
of the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The
town is new one of frontier character,
and it has an ordinary population of two
thousand.
THE EFFECT.
What effect the disaster will have on
the operations of the mines can only be
coniectured until the full extent of the
damage is known. The mines have not
long been opened here, but the company
had gotten well under way and were sup
plying large section of the country with
coal. The prospect was most encourage
ing. A large coaling station for the sup.
ply of ocean steamers was in the course
of construction at Norfolk. While the
accident will have the effect of retarding
work at the mines, it is not believed it
will cause permanent discontinuance, as
a great deal of money has been expended
there by Northern capitalists, composing
the Southwest Improvement Company.
The mine in which the accident oc-
CURED is known as the Flat Top mine,
and is situated in the northeast portion
of TazeWell county, at the base of Flat
Top mountain, which divide that Sec
ton of Virginia from West Virginia.
The company working the mine was
known as the Southwest Virginia I'm
provement Company, but the mines were
really under control of the Norfolk &
Western Railroad Company who have
branch road of the New River division
running from New River to Pocahontas,
about sixty miles. John c.. nsey, of
Pennsylvania, is President of the Improve
ment Company, and VIM. A. Lathrop,
uperintendent.
WAITING.
PoCAHONTAs, Va, March IA, l A. NJ
Nothing in the way of rescuing the VIC
tins or searching for the dead is being
done at this hour, and nothing can be
done now. The entire mine is evidently
burning, and old miners say the bodies
will probably all be consumed.
COFFINs.
A force of thirty carpenters have COM
menced to make collins foE the dead. |
They are working in a plateau to the |
east of the drift and are surrounded by
torches. AS the rude collins are com.
pleted they are distributed to the forty |
families who have found |
Or think they have found some portion of |
the corpse of one of their relatives. There |
have been several disputes about the |
bodies as owing to their mangled con-
dftion identification is exceedingly diff
cult.
THE CAUSE.
Nothing has been done in the way OF /
ascertaining the cause of the disaster, /
but it is surmised that one of the miners
1t work struck a gas assure, and that the
escaping gas ignited from his lamp.
NUMBER OF VICTIMS.
The company employ some $50 to 400 /
men, but the best estimate is that there
we're in the mine 153 miners, besides
1umber Of the camp or town officers
ind bosses, bringing the number of VIC
inns up to nearly $50 persons. No hope
S entertained by anybody of rescuing
my of the poor fellows.