Gilpin observer., 1900-05-03
rERRisLE.Loss OF LIFE.
Over Two Hundred Men Kll'ed by nm Ex-
plosion In q Utah Coal Mine,

Over Two Hundred Men Killed by m Ex-
plosion In q Utah Coal Mine
Denver, May "a special dispatch
to the Republican from Salt Lake says:
The mining camp at Scofield, on the
line of the Rio Grande Western road
near Cotton, Utah, was to-day the
scene of a terrific explosion in the Win
ter Quarters coal mines. owned by the
Pleasant Valley Coal Company.
There were $50 men at work in the
mine, and all but about twenty have
perished, as no signs of life have been
heard at any openings of the mine. and
none but sorpses have yet been found
by the rescuing parties.
ScOfield is fifteen miles from Cotton,
on the main line of the Rio Grande
Western, and 14S miles from here.
The explosion occurred shortly after
10 o'clock, when all the men employed
in the mines were at work. There were
more than 25O of the miners and of this
number less than a score are unln-
jured.
No tunnel was the scene of the
first catastrophe. 1t is believed that IA
keg of blasting powder exploded and
set fire to the gas.
The result was conclusion that
wrecked No. tunnel and caved in No.
1, which adjoins and is connected with
it.
John Wilson, who was working near
the mouth of tunnel No. i. was blown
200 feet and his body fearfully
mangled.
Z On the other hand. Surveyor McDou-
gal, who was laying off lines in No. l.
was found dead at the side of his in
strument. the latter remaining stand
ing. This shows that he died rs re
suit of afterdamp, and not through the
force of the explosion.
News of the horror spread quickly.
and in response TO kilograms help
poured in from every side. The deadly
afterdamp at first made ii impossible
for rescuers to go into the mines.
/ The first party. headed 10y Foreman
Hood. was overcome and all narrowly
escaped ueath The scene mt the en-
trance to the tunnel presented such
pictures of woe that men accustomed to
fearful sights sobbed like children. AZ
I ter the damp had cleared, it seemed al
most pitifully easy 10 get at the
cOrpses.
Man after man was brought out and
laid on the ground in rows that grew
until the entire town of Scofcld seemed
to be transformed into q morgue. Not
a family in the little village had es-
! capped afflic;ion. Mothers dropped
fanting at the sight of the blackened
corpses of their Sons. wives shrieked
with almost maniacal anguish rs the
! bodies of their husbands were laid in
the ever growing line. Corpse after
corpse. all with faces distorted with
! the death agony. WIS borne into a lit
tie home on the hillside where only an
I hour before had been peace and hap
piness.
Dazed though they were by the
scope of the fearful calamity, the pco-
pie labored amid the wreckage. hoping
/ to find some one yet alive. Such in
stances were extremely few.
Here and there II man was found in
whom the breath of life We; remained.
! but in most instances the victims will
, he helpless cripplcs for the balance of
their lives. Nearly all the men were
married and many had large families
dependent on them. The coal com
pany is doing all it can to care for the
living and give attention 10 the dead.
| Two hundred coffins were ordered To-
night from local undertakcrs. 1t was
found impossible TO supply the order
and Denver undertakers were appealed
to. The company will pay all of the
funeral expenses.
One of :hc sad features of the TRACE
dy lies in the fact that nearly all of
those killed were old employees. This is
accounted for by the fact that when
tunnel No. 1 was put in operation re-
Gently. the old hands were given their
option as to working in il. or at other
| parts of the mines. Most of them. he
lieving the new tunnel 10 he safer
than the old one. took No. !.