The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-12-25
TNent y.nine Miners Killed. 3 L

sCIIATTANooGA, Tenn, December 20.-
TWEnty-fouE miners lost their lives to-
dayin the Nelson mine, Entry 10, near
Dayton, Tenn, by an explosion Of fire.
damp. The explosion was succeeded BY
atelfi6c crash, which indicated that the
roofof the passage through which the
men shsd entered had fallen in. No ave-
nue. 81. f.escape was left, and there is no
possibility that any Of them will be found.
The mine is the property Of the Dayton
Coal and IRON company three mtleSfrom
the town OF Dayton, and is reached by q
spur track. !. The men. both white and
including several boys, entered
stE8nine TO go % work at 2 o'clock this
snn0sHspg, but nothing of the aw99l catas-
;trophe mas known until IL o'clock, when
the TeSs into Entry 10 found their way
block by q aolid wall OF coal and slate.
.Ehe Nekon mine has been worked for
IL years OF more, and the entry where
the unfortunate miners are entombed ran
back more than two miles from the mouth
eof the mine. The mine Is of the kind
common In Southern coal fields, known
as DRIFT or level veined mine and work
ed In the direction OF the veins straight
into fhe faca Of the mountain, hut before
entry is reached q long slope extends to
a level OF several hundred yards below at
an angie OF about 20 degrees. The cars
arsS pulled up from the foot of the slos8
where the train OF cars drawn by mules
connect with it to the outside by acabfe
which hauls the coal mp with remarkable
fapidity. g. u.
Rsscning parties have been working sll
day like grim death, trying to reach the
miners, but 1t is probable that they will
be several days forcing an opening
fhrough the wall OF falling roofing, which
must be made safe as they proceed. The
foul cir qnickly exhausts thaworkmen
who are relieved by fresh hands. The
-work5Will continue day and night till the
bodies are recovered. At the Drift mouth
hundreds OF women and children soon
gathered, and the picture Of grief and
despair is heartrending. Mothers wiring
1pg their hands, weeping daughters and
;headed parents all in the great distress,
for they have been told that there Is no
hope, tits spectacle from which one
turns sick at; heart. The mine isventi-
lated by air shafts or passages, 30 the
eaYiug Of the wall In the entry cut off the
draft and death Was certain to those who
;breath he'd the poisoned air. 4l
q Tha latest details and correct account
at4 O'clock this afternoon say that a wsy
had been broken through the debris in
the passage Of Entry 10 and the blackened
corpses Of the dead miners were carried
ont one By one TO the outside, where the
work Of identif began. The num-
Iber: of victims, first reported at rs, has
reached g.
Two bodies recovered are those OF me-
eroess which have not been recognized.
Wm. Raddy, o colored lad. was one OF
the last to be brought out. Life had long
been extinct in all the poor remnant Of
humanity stretched at the mouth OF the
tunnel. Latest records Say that the gas
was the first iglited in No. 8 by Tom
Hawkins, gas inspector, on his usual
morning round Of the mines. Flames
were rapidly communicated to Entry No.
10 By means of side passages. ALI tho
men aG work in Entry 8 escaped except
Hawkins. In No. 10, which forms an
angle in, the banks and connects the out
side world at the foot Of the lower slope,
the deadly gas drifted and congested, do
Ing its work 30 well that not one OF the
men at work In the rooms Of this cross
passage Is alive to tell the story. Oscar
Hawkins, one Of the first men 10 get out
of No. 8 will also die, making the 18th
life sacrificed. Leech and West6eld, TWO
negroes, were found just outside the en-
try, having fallen desd just as they were
beyond the reach Of flames.