The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-03-08
CHE SEARCH
FOR DEAD
CONTINUES.
The Terrible story Losqs Som. q eS.
Horrible Esafrf Number Ict 9
No HOPE FOR TIE ENTOllBHID,
None 81 Whom Are Believed 70 BE
Aiiyo-lEine Thought toihe

Special Dispatch % the Iptqliigencer.
Z CHARLESTON, ~. VA March ~
me most conservative estimates place
the number d killed ~ The RED Ash
Mine disaster At between thirty and
forty. Up to o late hour this afteTpo0n
twenty-onei Of the Victims iiad been re-
noysd. SIX we're taken out this MORN
ing. Ill dead. of the twenty-ofs al-.
ready taken ont fifteen were dead, and
one q fntally injured. rhe other hVe
are seriously hurt, but may get well
no Hope for EntOmbod Miners.
There IS absolutely no hope that any
Of those stun In the mines are alive, and
II IS not improbable that Il may be sew
eral days before they can be reached.
This Is owing to the fact that The Air In
the mine Is 50 very hot 4 IS thought
that the mine may BE on IRE,
Number Yet Unknown.
The number Of victims stu n the
mine Is as vet unknown. General Man
aver Howald estimates that the NUM-
her In the mine at the time Of the exc
pIosion was thirty-si1t. To-day the men
who were employed by the company
but who had not entered the mine when
the explosion occurred assembled etlq
took a tally. This tally revealed ,tnat
thirty-nine men were not present 60
answer 10 their names This Is the
number which the survl lying miners es-'
timata were in the mine at the time OF
the explosion. The reason there were
NOT more was because OF the early
hour. Il was only a little after
when the explosion occurred, and not
al Of the men had yet reported Many
of them had escapes which are nothing
short Of providential.
one miner had Intended 70 60 to the
mine about s o'clock and Set his tools,
having secured employment e. Wnefe..
BE awakened at that hour, but Il was
- dark that he decided 20 walt TIL e
little later. He oyeralept himself, ana
thus saved his lie. Another vent Tor.
hia COW and q o0nrade went for him.
1hey reached the mine just as the eX-
pioalon occurred.
Rescuing pHrties are stin hard at
work. Ar s pumped into the SHAFT by
The Open Lamp Theory.
Theories SIN vary Is TO the possible
cause Of the explosion. The latest tolbe
advanced is that the substitute mine
boss. who was acting in the place OF
his brother. carried an ordinary lamp.
with him, 81 addition TO his safety
lamp, and thus failed 70 detect the
presence Of gas before It was ignited.
II Is said that the men frequently,
against the orders Of the company.
would carry ordinary lamps 70 give
themselves better light II u thought
that great many Of the victims VIII
be found at what IS known AZ the
"Great Parting"
Crowds Of People.
Several thousand people visited the
scene Of the explosion to-day. An day
long the crowds surged up and down
the railroad track between the mouth
OF the mine and the village. half mile
away AS the dead were taken out they
were carried to the homes OF the pereIt
and prepared for burial. In one cot
take an aged father wept over the
corpses OF his two sons.
The i've injured men VIII probably
be removed to hospitals in this city.
keeper Shirley stated that
when the explosion occurred DR.. Smith,
the mine physician, was at once sent
for, and that he and several Others i'm
mediately hurried across the river for
more physicians.
Eye witnesses state that at the re-
port OF the axpiosion the women and
children ruHhed out OF their houses
screaming frantically. Then the ter
rible fact having dawned on them they
hushed, and q stiffness Of death en-
sued. There was not sound in the
little grief-strlcken village.