, 1900-05-02
HUNDREDS PERISH
COAL MINE EXPLOSION AT SEC
FIELD, UTAH, CAUSES AN APP
FALLING HOLOCAUST.
Two Hundred and Fifty Men Were at
Work and Less Than Twenty Es-
capped With Their Liv IS Believed
That Keg of Blasting Powder Elk
ploded.

Salt Lake. Utah, May More than
200 men were killed in an explosion at
the Pleasant Valley coal mines near
Scofield, 14S miles south Of Salt Lake,
this morning. Just how many died as
a result Of the explosion and how many
died as a result Of the after-damp that
followed it, will never be known.
The explosion occurred shortly after
10 o'clock, when all the men employ
ed in the mines were at work. There
were more than $50 OF the miners and
OF this number less than a score are
nninjured.
Nc. 4 tunnel was the scene of the
first catastrophe. 1t is believed that a
key Of blasting powder exploded and
set fire to the gas.
The result was a conclusion that
wrecked No. 4 tunnel and caved in No.
l. which adjoins and is connected with
it.
John Wilson, who was working near
the mouth Of tunnel No. 4 was blown
200 feet and his body fearfully mang-
led.
On the other hand, Surveyor McDou-
gal, who was laying off lines in No. /,
was found dead at the side of his in
strument, the latter remaining stand
ing. This shows that he died as a re-
suit of after-damp, and not through
the force of the explosion.
News Of the horror spread quickly,
and in response to kilograms help pour
ed in from every side. The deadly af-
terdamp at first made it impossible for
r%escuers to go into the mines.
The first party. headed by Foreman
Hood. was overcome and all narrowly
escaped death. The scene at the en-
trance to the tunnel presented such pic
lures Of woe that men accustomed to
fearful sights sobbed like children. AT
ter the damp had cleared, it seemed
almost pitifully easy to get at the
corpses.
Man after man vas brought out and
laid on the ground in rows that grew
until the entire town of Scofeld SEEM
ed to be transformed into a. morgue.
Not a family in the little village had
escaped affection. Mothers dropped
fainting at the sight Of the blackened
corpses of their sons, wives shrieked
with almost maniacal anguish as the
bodies of their husbands were laid in
the ever growing line. Corpse after
corpse, all with faces distorted with
the death agony, was borne into a lit
tie home on the hillside where only an
hour before had been peace and happi-
ness.
Dazed though they were by the scope
OF the fearful calamity, the people la
bored amid the wreckage, hoping to
find some one yet alive. Such instances
were extremely few.
Here and there a man was found in
whom the breath of life yet remained,
but in most instances the victims will
be helpless cripples for the balance of
their lives. Nearly all the men were
married and many had large families
dependent on them. The coal company
is doing all 1t can to care for the liv-
ing and give attention to the dead.
Two hundred collins were ordered to-
night from local undertakers. 1t was
found impossible to supply the order
and Denver undertakers were appeal
ed to. The company will pay all Of the
funeral expenses.
One Of the sad features Of the TRACE
dy lies in the fact that nearly all Of
those killed were old employees. This