The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-03-08
Twoscore Lives Lost In the
Mine Explosion.
Efforts Being Made to Fix the
Responsibility.
Governor Atkinson Declares
That Those at Fault Will
Be Punished.

1lNION, w. va, March lit is
practically a certainty that ~ lives were
lost in the explosion at the Red Ash
mines, reported in these dispatches yes
terday. The cause of the explosion is
unknown, but is supposed to have occur
red from miner entering an unused
room in the mines with an open lamp.
There were AZ men in the mine at the
time of the explosion, and if it had re-
suited 20 minutes later the loss of life
would have reached $50 or more
So far 20 dead bodies have been recov-
ered of which the following have been
identified: B. b. Long, John Day, Joe
Elliott, Hat Quarlcs, Sam Jackson,
James Hackney, boss driver, and VIII
liam Day.
The others who have been taken out
could not be identified. The work of res
cue is being pushed as rapidly as possible,
but the after damp being very strong, the
men can work but few minutes ut Il
time.
State Mine Inspector J,iSles w. Paul
has arrived here and is in the Red Ash
mine, rendering what assistance his eX
pericnce enables him to give
Governor Atkinson and Secretary Boggs
have arrived also. The governor declares
his intention to fix the responsibility, if
possible. and see that proper punishment
is meted out y large number of ears
were strung out from the mouth of the
opening and down the hill.
The lumber in most of them was re-
duced to kindling wood. One man was
blown out of the mine clear down the in
cline Tim Crumpton, blacksmith. was
shoeing mule outside of a side opening.
He was thrown to the ground with great
violence. Three hundred feet up the
river from the mouth of the mine the
force from within threw up the dirt and
made an opening from the outside. There
was connection from the Red Ash to
the Rush Run mine, just above this
place. and the force of the gas was so
great from the Red Ash into the Rush
Run that the men had to stop work.
There was no fall of the roof in the Red
Ash, but wherever there was anything
loose in the mine or wherever there was
anything that the rush of air could take
hold of and tear loose ii was picked up
and carried toward the mouth of the
mine until it met with some immovable
obstruction. The electric fixtures were
entirely wrecked, and the compressed air
pipes were wrenched and torn into a
thousand pieces. No one has paused to
calculate the money damage, but it will
be very heavy.
The Red Ash mine is large drift. and
the explosion occurred near the entrance,
which was thus closed by the falling
slate, entombing a large number Of min
ers.
The scene of the disaster is between
Fire creek and Thurmond, on the South
branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail
way, and every assistance possible was
rendered by the railway company and by
the adjoining mining towns. Relief par
ties from great distances arrived as soon
as possible. State Mine Inspector Pinck
ney with a corps of experts and many
workmen was on the ground during the
day rendering all assistance possible and
devoting his attention more toward re-
lief than to an official investigation as to
the cause of the disaster.
At the mouth of the mine the scene
was beyond description. The wives and
children and the neighbors of those who
were known to be entombed were there
| in full force, and their anxiety and dis
tress were most intense. While they
| were all seeking to help those who were
| rescued and to get the mine reopened, yet
| these bereayed people were for the most
part in the way of the rescuers and had
| to be held back from the entrance. The
mine is one of the largest in West Vir-
ginia and was very heavily timbered in
| the different drifts. 1t was for this rea-
son feared that those who had not been
| killed by falling debris at the time of the
| explosion would be pinioned by these
| connected timbers and suffer death from
| suffocation.