The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-01
2 MINERS
 MEET DEATH N'Fe Explosion of Dust in Nel-
 son Shaft. TEN BODIES RECOVERED
Blown Blast" lgnited Which
 Set Fire to Dust.
Three Men Killed While Standing Outside the Mius-Shed at the Entrance Completely Wreck
 cd by TerriAc Explosion.

Chattanooga, Tenn, March a.-At 4:f o'clock this afternoon an explosion oi mine dust in the Nelson Mine of the Dayton Coal and Iron Company. at Day ton Tenn, ignited the dry coal dust ii the mine and caused terrific explosion Twenty-two. men are known to be dead Ten bodies have been recovered. Twelve bodies are still in the mine.
 The dead-James Franklin. Tom sha- ~e... Js mes Harris, P. G. Travis all white George Grifiss.l Ben. Grif1ss. Reese Dean Norris Piersoil. Morgan Smith, John Rob- inson. all colored; Lark Hunter. white; John Hatney, white. J. J. Hill. colored Bryant, Smith. colored: Mack Foust. col: cred. Alex Toffer, white. and six others names unknown.
 Fatally iujured--w. T. Head, brother of James Head. superintendent of the mine, burned internally; will die.
 Seriously injured-James Riley. white right leg broken. bruised about head and face; Will Presnall. white, badly burned Will Scsrbrough, white. badly burned; Arthur Hughes. white: George Wahord eolored; Tom .Cummins,. white; Henry C;onyop.. white. 44
 nBlown Blast' the Cause.
 Gas exists in the Nelson Mine, and the men are required to use safety- lamps. It is the rule of the company for the miners to, place their fuses ready to be lighted for blasts just before quitting work each day. and there are workmen known as s,fIremen'' who go through the mine after ar the miners arc out and set on these blasts The miners quit work at 4:5t o'clock this afternoon. It takes them about forty-fi9e minutes to get out of the mine The two firemen today who are supposed to have caused the explosion are Lark Hunter and John fIarney. They xhosFthe' blasts about fs45 o'clock befors sli the. nninsrs could set out of thes mine. IL Is supposed that onc of the fuses was defective and resulted in what is known s. a blown blast. The flame. shooting cut from the blast. ienited the gas which in turn ign'ted tho accumulation of dry 'cosi dust In the mine.
 The explosion that followed was horri- ble in It's intenfity. It shot out of the mouth of the mine and completely wreck ed the shed at the mine entrance. Three men were killed while standing outside the mna and two seriously and one fa- tally injured.
 This mine has been the scene of two se- rious explosions In, the past. In 1899 four men were killed and eight seriously tn- jured by an explosion of gas, December 70 1895. an explosion of mine dust occur red in which twenty eight lives were lost. This was caused by miner carrying an open lamp. contrary to regulations.
 Tn May, 1901, an explosion of a similar nature occurred in the Shsllday mine. operated by the same company. in which twenty-one lives were lost. The force of the explosion in the Nelson mine today was terrible Bodies were literally man EIsd and torn to pieces. The company states that there were but scventy-five men at work in the mine today Most of the m were out of the mine when the exA plosion occurred.
 Later--Reports from Dayton at midnight show that eleven dead bodies have been taken from the Nelson mine. The com psuy claims there are but eight more in the mine. Miners claim there are twelve to fifteen more. Rescuing parties are at work but at late hour tonight struck a heavy fall of slate that will delay them for day or two.