Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1905-02-24
A TERRIBLE
NINE DISASTER
More Than Hundred Miners
Entombed in a Shalt Near
Birmingham, Ala.


Birmingham. Ala, Feb. 21.-By an
explosion in the Virginia mines, about
Is miles southwest of Birmingham,
more than a hundred union miners
are entombed and ii is believed thaC
the entire number suffered an awful
death Scores OF vigorous rescuers
are at work digging into the mine TO
relieve their friends and comrades on
the inside.
The explosion is thought TO have
been caused by an accumulation of
dust. 1t is also believed that as the
entire quota has probably been killed,
the details of the cause of the disaster
will never be known.
birmingham. Ala. Feb. 22.-The
scene at the Virginia mines where
terrific afterdamp explosion impris-
oned 160 men 700 feet below the sur
face, was the most gruesome and har-
rowing that has ever been witnessed
in the mining section OF Alabama. OF
the miners who entered the mines so
far only 40 bodies have been recov-
cred. AS time grows. notwithstand-
ing the Titanic efforts of the rescuers
to reach the entOmbed men, the recov-
cry already of so many dead bodies
precludes any idea that any living
men remain among the unfortunates
still in the mine.
The corpses are frightfully mangled
and disfigured and Identification is al
most impossible. Many of them are
so badly bruised and twisted and dis
colored that negroes can not be told
from white men. All day long at the
mouth of the mine the wailing and
moaning of the women and children
whose unfortunate relatives were in
the mine has been the most heartrend-
ing feature of the disaster. One hun
dred families and 800 children are left
destitute and without means OF sup
port by the calamity and they are of
the best class of mining families in
Alabama. AS the bodies of the vic
Tins which, in many cases, have been
gathered together a piece at a time,
are brought TO the surface, they are
placed in rows.
The work of the diggers at the mine
has been an inspiration to the specta-
tors and every one has done all in his
power to facilitate the work of rescue.
The excavation OF the debris has been
handicapped from the start. The foul
gases which had collected in the slope
made necessary the use of safety
lamps. and it was found that less than
q score of safety lamps were available
in the district. Union miners went to
the scene from practically every min.
ing camp within a radius of 25 miles
of Virginia City to aid in the work OF
rescue.
= - Z ess,:sa the 45 bodies recovered sc
far one was found which was barely
alive. The body was carefully taken
from the mfae and heroic methods re
sorted to to bring the man to con
sciousness. He is still alive, but scani
hope is held out for his recovery
One of the most gruesome sights
carried out of the mine in a dinner
basket 1t was found in this position
and the flesh was almost entirely
burned away from the skull. Legs
arms and mangled trunks were
brought out in succession in this man
>ner. After nightfall the entrance L
the mine was converted into VERT
able chamber of horrors, the awful
ness of which was intensified by the
Pickering of the lamps as the feeble
rays fell upon the mangied and bleed
ing fragments of human flesh strewI
about the entrance in sickening con
fusion.