The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-01
DEATH IN COAL MINE
TERRIBLE GAS EXPLOSION AT DAY
TON, TENN.
TWENTY-FIVE MINERS KILLED.
PREMATURE DISCHARGE IGNITED
COAL DUST.

Ten Bodies Recovered and Twelve
More Believed to Be in the Mine.
CareIessness of "Firemen" or De-
fective Fuse Believed to Have
Caused Exploston-Men Were
Leaving Mine When Explosion oc-
curred-Fierce Blast Shot From
Mouth of Mine and Killed Three
Men Outside.
Chattanooga, Tenn, March S1.-At
4:45 o'clock this afternoon an explosion
of gas in the Nelson mine of the Day
ton Coal and iron Company at Day.
ton, Tenn, ignited the dry coal dust
in the mine and caused a terrific ex
plosion. Twenty-Five men are known
to be dead Ten bodies have been re-
covered and twelve bodies are reported
to be yet insthe mine.
The dead: James Franklin, Tom
at+ar, James Harris. P. G. Travis,
.Memnhe: George Griffiss, Ben Griffiss,
Raldwin,s IAN, Norris Piersoll, Morgan
old nv cha nm Robinson, all colorea:
NIortoon,er,, X white, John Harvey,
nv short bea Hill, colored; Bryant
1.4S1h way To Mack Foust. colored,
head before Elo1Nte; six others, names
against the whner
the sensational nri w. 7. Head, broth
The Monteonerv1 superintendent of
fourth e.eNnt on / internally; will die
thirteenuslfses facced: James Riley
I Ioillop rigf adaed roken, bruised about
SearcJ and face Will Presnell. white,
5, why burned; Will Scarborough. white.
4 toby burned; Arthur. Hughes, white;
oacoorge wafford, colored: Tom Cum
.fo,lins, white; Henry GonSon, white.
- Gas exists in the Nelson mine and
the men are required to use safety
lamps. 1t is the rule of theAcompany
for the miners to place their fuses
ready to be lighted for blasts just be-
fore quitting work each day, and there
are workmen known as ''firemen" who
go through the mine after all the minN
ers are out and set off these blasts
The miners quit work at 4:30 o'clock
this Afternoon Ii takes them about
forty-five minutes to get out of the
mine. The two ''firemen'' to-day, who
are supposed to have caused the explo-
sion. are Lark Hunter and John He =
ney. They shot tie blasts ABOUT 45
X o'clock before all the miners could get
out of the mine 1t is supposed
that one of The fuses was
defective and resulted in what is
known as blown blast" The fame
shooting out from the blast ignited the
gas, which in turn ignited the accum-
ulatien of dry coal dust in the mine.
n The explosion that followed was hor-
rible in its intensity. 1t shot out of
the mouth of the mine and completely
wrecked the shed at the mine entrance.
Three men were killed while standing
outside the mine and two seriously and
one fatally injured.
The Third Serious Explosion.
This mine has been the scene of two
serious explosions in the past.
4 In 1883 four men were killed and eight
seriously injured by an explosion of
gas. Later. in 1895, an explosion of
mine dust occurred, in which twenty
eight lives were lost.
In May, 1901, an explosion of a SINH
lar nature occurred in the Shalliday
mine, operated by the same company,
in which twenty-one lives were lost.
The force of the explosion in the Mel
son mine to-day was terrible. Bodies
were literally mangled and torn TO
pieces.
The company states that there were
but seventy-five men at work in the
mine to-day. Most of them were out
of the mine when the explosion oc-
CURED.
Eleven Bodies Recovered.
Reports from Dayton at midnight
show that eleven dead bodies have
been taken from the Nelson mine. The
company claims there are but eight
more in the mime. Miners claim there
are twelve to fifteen more. Rescuing
parties are at work, but at a late hour
tonight struck a heavy fall of slate
that will delay them for a day or two.