The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-01
234 MENDIE
 BY EXPLOSION
  Lamp a Contact With Fire Damp. IMPRISONED IN A MINE Hanna, Wyo.. the Scene of
 the Disaster. Heart-rendering Scenes Witnessed at the Mouth of the shaft -Union
 Pacific Puts All Extra <
 Employes.to Work.

Hanna, wyo., June s0.--Probably the worst disaster in the history of Wyoming occurred at this place at 10 o'clock today when terrific explosion of fire damp in Union Pacific Mine No. 1 shut off the means of escape of 23l men who were mediately broke out is defying the ef- forts of the rescuing party and there Is slight hope of saving any of the men. Twenty-eight bodies of those working near the mouth of the mine have been brought out, all of them horribly man gled and. some still showing bare evil dences of life.
 The scenes at the mine are hear.-rend- ing, wives and children of men who are known to have been inside eagerly hang about the shaft. kept only by the cooler heads from piunging in. The Union Pa ciflc Railroad. which owns the mines. has all of it's extra employees working to reach the imprisoned men. The flames seem to be abating and there is hope of getting most of the bodies out by morning. So intense is the exciteent that no one seems able to say how the disaster occurred. The supposition is that some careless miner allowed his lamp to come into con tact with fire damp.
 Miners Buried Alive.
 The mine was not. fired as was stated in the earlier reports but the explosion was terrific and completely shattered the timbers of the main shaft and numerous entrances filled the working with debris and those of the miners that were not killed outright were buried alive. The explosion was heard for many miles, Huge timbers and railroad iron were hurled from the mouth of the shaft dis tance of two to three hundred feet.
 Superintendent E. s. Brooks and a large force of men went to work at once to remove the debris and reach the en- tombed miners. Their progress was blocked by the foul gases and several times they were forced to return to the surface.
 All day the reaeuing party worked. the force being increased from time to time by the arrival of ranchmen and others from nearby settlements and by those of a relief train sent out from Rawlins. About i clock this afternoon four men were taken out alive and a half hour later they were followed by 4 others.
 Many were unconscious and had to be carried from the workings. Some were injured, but none fatally. Several are in a serious condition but 1t Is believed all will recover. Two hundred and eighty two went down in the mine this morning. and up to a late hour tonight only eighty two have been accounted for. Of this number two are dead.
 First One Rescued.
 It was some time after the explosion occurred that the first man was brought to sie surface. He was followed by o.h- CTS until 1 o'clock when the last were brought out The rescuers were unable to get further into the mine until an ad- ditional opening had been made to permit fresh air to reach the lower levels and clear away the foul gases. The work Is progressing slowly owing to the narrow space in which the rescuers are com pelled to operate, but by daylight tha mine should be opened sufficiently to permit of deep explorations and rescue of the bodies
 Late tonight a party of rescuers reach ed four mules that were alive and this caused hope to arise. Some of the miners that escaped said that they saw twenty dead bodies in entry No 17. They report ed that many of the men were crazed by the explosion and ran hither and thith- CT. Many of these would have escaped, but they laid down, buried their faces In their hands and gave up the fight Of the 234 dead about 175 were married and leave large families About 100 were Fin flanders, fifty were negroes and the bal- ance were white Americans.