Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-11-04

GItCldi " lilC lNtSiSbCA'
PHILIPPI, w. Va, November 3.-The
Berryville mine of the Southern Mining
& transportation Company, at Berry
vile, a mining settlement, six miles
south of here, was the scene at 1870
this morning of a frightful explosion
in which twelve men lost their lives in
stantly and two others were so badly
injured that there is no hope for their
recovery.
Nothing but the fact that the ex-
plosion occurred at night, prevented
the disaster from being one of the most
horrible in history.
In daytime from $50 to $50 men are
employed in the mine, and the nature
Of the explosion was such that hardly
any one VINO might be in the mine
could escape.
The mine is comparatively new, be-
ing one of the operations recently
opened by the Southern Mining q
Transportation Company, and is pro-
Niutu VIII uuOuSlA oPpAloANSO OONAA
for safety and for getting out coal
cheaply. 1t is a single long tunnel ex-
tending into the mountain side for
over mile, and from this tunnel short
tunnels branch off to the rooms where
the men work. In a mine of that size
a gang of men is employed at night to
put machinery in order, open new tun-
nels and do work that cannot so well
be done when the regular force is en-
ployed in daytime.
II Was This Force of Men
that the explosion all but extermin-
ated. The regular force of miners are
nearly all negroes, but the repair and
equipment gang was made up mostly
OF white men who are more skilled in
mine craft.
Just what caused the explosion will
never be known. The repair gang had
with it dynamite, used in blasting
rocks, ordinary blasting powder used
in mining coal not being Of sufficient
strength. 1t is supposed, and the
theory is borne out by the statements
ofdhe two men who are still alive, that
some one in the repair gang exploded
dropped a stick of the stuff The
shock from this exploded the remainder
of the dynamite in the mine, which aid
the destruction.
The repair gang was working toward
the south of the mine and got the full
force o. the terrific blast of air forced
Il ard the entrance, the point of least
resistance.
The entry tunnel furnished an unob-
structed tube, like the barrel OF a rife
and along this everything movable was
thrown. There, were three mules in
the mine and half a dozen or more
mine cars, These were lifted bodily
and shot out of the tunnel
Like bullets From II Gun.
The mules were torn to pieces of bro
ken and bruised flesh, and the mine
ears went tearing through the tunnel
In splinters. Several of the men were
torn TO such bits that recognition was
impossible, and one man was broken
and torn in two at the hips. The 9TH
ers were knocked against the walls of
the mine, and bruised and crushed out
OF all semblance of human form.
Fortunately the outer works of the
mine were not located fairly in front
OF the tunnel shaft, and escaped with
but little damage, the force of the
awful discharge passing harmlessly
over into the valley, carrying the
freight of wreckage hundreds OF yards
from the mouth.
Inside of the mine hardly any dam
age was done, the supporting pillars
not furnishing sufficient resistance TO
the force of the blast to tear them out.
In the rooms the force was sufficient
to have crushed a human being to
death, but was not eXerted in such a
way as to bring down the roofs.
The Force of the Explosion
was felt here in Philippi. six miles
away, and for miles the earth trem0led
as if from an interior disturbance. The
two men who were spared TO tell the
story of the disaster, were carried by
the force of air sixty feet from the
mouth OF the mine, the blast fortu-
nately striking them broadsides and
carrying them out without their COM
ing IN contact with any obstruction.
1t was fully half an hour after the
explosion before they were found no
one thinking to look for survivors at
such remote spot.
The instant the explosion occurred
people f1ocked out from their homes
and then to the mine. 1t was but the
work of a short time to get the fans
to work and put fresh air into the
mines. a telephone message was sent
to this city for aid, and before day
light all the doctors in Philippi. and
others living between here and the
mine, were on the scene, but there
was little for them to do, the frightful
work of destruction having placed all
but two men beyond human aid. and
they
beyond Hope of Saving.
It is expected that the mine will re-
sumo as usual on Monday. The coro-
ner will begin an inquest tomorrow
nut there appears to be no evidence of