St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-15
THE MINE ON FIRE.
Fire Now Adds It's Horrors to
the Work of Destruction.
The Mine to be Sealed so as to Smother
the Fire that the Bodies May
be Got Out.
A Graphic Account of the Great Havoc
Wrought by the Explosion.
THE NINE HAS TO BE SEALED.

| THE MINE HAS TO BE SEALED.
| PocAHoNTAs, Va, March 14.-The mines
are still on fire. The only means of putting
it out is to close and seal it. This is now be
ing done, and the mines will remain seal
ed probably two weeks. No additional bodies
were recovered.
A THRILLING ACCOUNT.
CENTRAL, Va, March 14-News Of a
! frightful explosion at Pocahontas coal mine
spread rapidly throughout the surrounding
section and to-day crowds have been hockinCr
to the scene of the disaster. The arrival of
every train increased the number, and the
constant stream of humanity indicates the
direction of the mines from the village The
special train which left Central last night,
with the Midlothian relief party and newSpa-
| per Correspondents. ran into slide twenty
three miles east of Pocahontas, and the party
were belated five hours. The track
is still blockaded, making
| transfer around the wreck necessary. A
visit to the mines this morning presented to
the gaze a spectacle that battles all attempts
at description. From the mountain peak to
the base there were evidences of the frightful
havoc wrought by the explosion.
THE WORK OF DESTRUCTION.
The hill sides, in every direction, ARE strewn
with debris, backened coal dust, blown with
terrific force from the entrance to the mines.
| 1t was scene of destruction, of humiliation
and of deSolation appalling to the last degree,
and when the attention is attracted
| to the blackened and smoking entrances to
| the mines, and one reflects upon the horrible
| fate of 154 human beings, whose charred
and mangled remains are buried and smould-
| -, rIs,N Oh.
be astonishedif the stoutest hearts quail, and
| people shrink from nearer approach to the
awful scene. The very trees ON the mount
ain sides that have withstood the storms of
ages, were shriven, torn and blasted, and
| their branches scattered in every direction.
Portions of the wreck were blown clear over
the mountain ridge fronting the approaches
to the ruins and picked up more than half u
| mile distant
THE FORCE OF THE EXPLOSION.
Even the coal dust was blown over the
mountain and covers the earth on the oppo-
site side to depth of half an inch, and the
| blackened and rent over-coat Of one of the
dead miners was picked up in gulch nearly
half mile away. All the laborers shanties II
the vicinity are more or less wrecked, and
those in the line of the mine approaches
| are completely demolished. So terrific was
| the explosion that the windows in the house
| of farmer two miles off were shivered. A
few minutes before the explosion Il train of
coal cars had been backed into one entrance
of the mine, and the locomotive had moved
some distance down the track Many
of the cars were hurled down
the track and other wrecked and the debris
thrown great distance up on the mountain
sides. Heavy aXles were wrung and twisted
into all sorts of shapes, and wheels cracked
and broNen. The gulches in front of the
mines were filed with wreckage. The Poca-
hontas mines embrace an area of twenty-five
miles, that is to say. person traversing all
the chambers and galleries of the mines
would have covered that distance. There
are five entrances, every one of which seemed
as an exit for the pent fury within.
| FOUL AIR.
The entrances are all filled with foul air,
which renders the recovery of the dead bodies
impossible. Every attempt TO enter the
mines has been attended with bad results,
and in several instances the men barely es-
capped dying, and the physicians were kept
busy yesterday ministering to such cases.
The farthest entry effected was by Hunga-
rian, whose son was buried in the mines.
He is nearly crazed by grief. He conld not
be restrained, and penetrated to a considera-
BILE distance, but eventually he
was forced to retire. He
reported seeing number of bodies in one
chamber, torn and mangled. One was that
| of youth, aged thirteen, employed as a door
boy, who was the pet of the mining camp.
The little fellow had just entered the mines
when the explosion occurred. Col. George
Dodds, of the Midlothian lines, and other ex-
perienced mining engineers, visited the
mines this morning, and made careful eX-
| animation.
| TO BE CLOSED.
After consultation it was decided unsafe
to attempt to use the fan, and orders were
| Immediately issued to have the mines closed
and sealed as the only means of suppressing
the fire, which is still burning. The regular
coal drifts are not burning. 1t is the fine
coal at the bottom of the mines which is
atire. In one entrance tube will be insert
ed to permit the escape of gas. 1t is impos-
sible to get from the officials OF the mining
company the amount Of damage, which must
be enormous. The mines will re.
main sealed for at least two weeks,
and when opened there must be extensive re.
! pairs before q resumption or work. Fortu-
nately, the mining company has a consider
able supply of coal on hand, and will not
suffer loss in the matter of supplying trade.
| Most of the miners killed were unmarried.
The night force was mainly composed of the
youngest and most vigorous men. Hampton,
night foreman, leaves an invalid wife and
several children. One of the young men
killed was the only son of a widow, whose
husband persisted in the mines several weeks
ago. Physicians were sent up from Lynch
| burg.
THE CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION
The generally accepted explanation Of the
explosion is, it was occasioned by fire damp.
Some claim, what has always been contra
dcted by mine officials, that there is gas in
the Pocahontas coal, and that the explosion
was causedby miner striking gas fssure,
On the contrary, experienced engineers sag
they have never known a case of explosion
from striking gas assures in a mine above
the water level, as is the case with the Poca-
hontas. Those who contend for the first
mentioned theory, cite an instance of the re-
cent killing of two men in the Pocahontas
Mines as alleged, from the effects of gas exc
plosion. The men were blasting, and after
a charge had been fired, retired behind
ledge, where they would be afe from the
flying debris, but both were killed, and it is
believed by gas.
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