Evening journal., 1895-02-28
GREAT MINE DISASTER.
Thirty-seven Men Probably Kill
ed by a Fearful Explosion.
ENTRANCE TO THE MINE CLOSED.

Eleven Miners Were Found. Hours After
ward. Dying Amid the Smoke and Noxlous
vapors-wives and Children at the Pits
Mouth Frantic with Grief.
ALBUQUERQUE, n NJ, Feb. 2s.-The
White Ash coal mines. three miles from
Cerrillos, were the scene Of a terrible ex-
plosion. Thirty-seven men were working
in four levels when the disaster occurred.
Eleven Of these have so far been rescued,
oil in a dying condition. The remaining
20 have doubtless perished. Over a dozen
dead bodies have been recovered.
The scenes at the Identification OF tho
wounded and dead were heartronding
The miners are all married men. When
the news Of the disaster spread, wives and
children hurried from Waldo and Madrid.
Not until evening were the searchers able
10 descend owing to the poisonous vapors
In the course Of half an hour several dead
were sent up. Then it was feared not
soul Of the 81 had escaped.
Later in the evening II dying miners
were discovered in bunch They were
probably overcome in an effort to escape
The explosion Is thought TO have been due
60 accidentally breaking intoa abandoned
chamber charged with gas.
A special TO Tho Republican says Ow-
ing to the smoke, dust and noxious vapors
that filed every approach to the workings,
two hours elapsed before any progress
could be made toward effecting a rescue,
and up to 2 clock but one miner had been
reached. His dead body was found near
the entrance. Three hours lator the res
cuers succeeded in reaching the left fourth
level, and the dead bodies OF several men
were brought out.
A Heartrending Scene.
The sight about the mine was heartrend-
ing in tho extreme. Frantic wives many
of them carrying babies in their arms and
having children clinging to their skirts,
stood at the entrance of the mine for hours
amid tears and prayers, watching and
waiting while hundreds of men vainly
struggled to gain an entrance further into
the mine
So dense was the smoke at one time dur
ing the afternoon that maDy thought the
mine had taken fire, and the conduct OF
the wives and mothers when this was an
nounocd as probability was painful in
the oxtrcme. Up to o'clock the gas con-
tinued 10 pour forth from the single open
ing in the mine in such a volume as TO
make the progress of the rescuers very
difficult, but an hour later the noxious
vapors cleared away, and the work of re-
covering the head bodies began to prove
more successful.
Twenty-Five mon are still in the lower
workings OF the mine, and it Is not thought
possible they arc alive The work Of res
cue goes on bravoly. oIany heroic scenes
were witnessed during the afternoon, and
at night a growsome spectacle was pre-
sented.
Many campfrcs dotted the scene and
the anguish of the women and children
hovoring about thon, hoping for the best
and urging the mon ON in thoir endeavors
TO reach the entombed, while others were
clinglng to their dead or ministering to
those brought out alive, presented pic
ture Of human anguish seldom witnessed
Tho mine was worked through a single
incline shaft extending 5000 feet in at an
incline Of 80 degrees and seems to have
been defective as respects ventilation. The
mouth Of the shaft is the sole means Of
egress.
At late hour last night 25 bodies had
been taken out horribly burned, mutilated
and difficult of Identification. One Of the
resoued-JGhn Stupper-says that he heard
the explosion, and that he and five COM
radios started for the main slope, but could
not get out and went back into the mine
to pool Of water, where they immersed
themselves, and by agitating the water
managed to get air enough to live through
the four hours of their confinement but
when the resouing party reached them they
were in the last stages of asphyxiation.
No one seems 60 know just how many
men went into the mine Wednesday morn.
ing Ordinarily 100 men are employed
but the day being Wednesday, It is said
scarcely half the usual quota Of men wer,
at work. Representative Laeden, lately
employed there, said today no is confident
that not less than so men must have beer
in the workings at the time Of the explo
sion.