The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-03-02
THIRTY-SIX PERISHED.
Fearful Results of Fire In Wyoming Coai
Mine-Oniy One Man
Escaped.

Cheyenne, Wyo., Feb. 27.-The worst
disaster since the Almy horror, eight
years ago, occurred at Diamondville,
Monday night, when fire broke out in
Mine No. / OF the Diamondville Coal
and Coke Co., which was attended
with great loss of life and destruction
of property. Thirty-six miners per-
ished, and their charred bodies are
still in the mine. A list of names of
the dead is now being made up, and
will be issued in few hours.
Only One Man Escaped.
The fire was discovered shortly af-
ter the night shift commenced work.
Its cause is not known, but the flames
made such progress that only one
man escaped from the two entries in
which it was confined. His name is
John Anderson, and he was frightful-
ly burned in running the gauntlet of
the flames. lie is unable to give any
account of the accident other than
that he was suddenly confronted by
wall of fire and smoke, and wrap
ping his head in an overcoat he ran in
First Notice of the Fire.
The first intimation the miners in
the other entries had of fire was
when Anderson came rushing into the
| upper level, his clothing in flames. He
! fell unconscious, and was carried to
/ the mouth Of the mine. The alarm
was sounded, and hundreds of miners
! Iut in Z I.,
side rushed to the rescue of their inn
prisoned comrades.
The fire had by this time made
such progress that it was impossible
to enter the rooms in flames.
The Entries Sealed Up.
The entire night was spent in con-
tining the fire to the two entries, and
by morning it was necessary to seal
them up to prevent the flames from
spreading to other parts of the mine.
This step was quickly decided upon
after all hope of saving the lives OF
the men had been abandoned. Moth.
ing could live five minutes in such a
ness every minute.
The plugging of the two entries will
smother the fire, but it may be sew
eral days before the barricades can bs
removed and the chambers explored.
Careful Count nnI Estimate of Dead
superintendent Sneddon has made
a careful count, and he believes 81
men lost their lives instead of so, as
has been reported, as large number
of men are missing, some on sick leave
and others in the hospital suffering
from burns, received while fighting
the flames.
HeartrendinG Scenes.
The scenes at the mouth of the mine
during the night and yesterday were
heartrending. Relatives and friend:
of the entombed miners rushed to the
mine, frantically waving their hands
and crying to the mine officials and
miners to save their dear ones. Many
of the women and children were
slightly injured in the crowd and by
falling over obstacles in the darkness
Many Fires, but this the Worst.
Diamond'ille has been the scene OF
a number of disastrous fires since the
coal mines were opened there ten
years ago, but the confiagrations were
never attended with serious loss OF
life.
The DinmondviiIe Mines.
Almost all the mines at Diamond
vile are owned by the Oregon Short
Line railroad. The output of mine
; No. is about one hundred and seven
ty thousand tons of coal per year
and upward of 700 miners are EN-
ployed. The product is sent to Utah
Idaho, Nevada and Pacific coast
points, and a considera ble amount i.
l,trt I,a