Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-04-06
THE zE|GLER, Ill.,
MINE EXPLOSION
Upwards of Thirty Miners Are Saio
to Have Lost Their Lives.
SHOCK FELT TWELVE MILES.
Searching Parties Unable to Pene-
trate h Nine, Owing to the
Demolition of the shaft and
Mass of Debris.

Benton, Ill, April 4.-Some forty
miners were entombed, Monday, is Jo-
seph Letters mine at Zeigler, by a ter
rlnc explosion Of gas, and it is prob
able that thirty Oh more of the buried
men are dead.
The explosion was due to the fact
tnat the Letter mines are not worked
on Sunday, thus allowing gas to ac-
cumulate in the lower workings.
When between So and 40 miners had
descended into the mine. Monday
morning, to resume work, a terrific ex-
plosion blew the timbers about the
mouth of the mine high into the air.
One of the steel cages was blown to the
surface from the bottom of a 56O-foot
shaft. The shock of the explosion
was felt at Benton, IL miles distant.
n miner was killed and four were
severely injured at the mouth of the
shaft in which the explosion occurred.
Inc work of rescue was begun at once
by miners who were arriving when the
explosion took place, but the main
shaft was demolished, so that rescue
work has to be carried on through the
air shaft. This has hindered the work
OF aiding the entombed men to such
an extent that when darkness fell Mon
day night only three bodies and one
injured man had been brought to the
surface. These bodies were found 40
feet from the bottom of the air shaft.
A committee of union miners from
Duquoin and other n%eighboring towns,
headed by District President Morris,
fastened to Zeigler soon after the ex-
plosior and offered their aid.
The bodies of the dead are so black
ened that they can not at one be iden-
titled. Rolly Campbell is the injured
miner brought out of the shaft, and it
is said that he can not live. Camp
bell is conscious, but he is unable to
give any explanation of the accident.
There was much excitement among
the miners when the accident became
known, because there had been a strike
of long duration and many conflicts
had occurred between strikers and nom
union miners.
An all-day investigation tended to
show that the catastrophe was due to
the accidental explosion of accumulat-
ed gas.
Up to ten o'clock Monday night Is
dead bodies had been recovered. The
work of rescue is made very difficult
and dangerous by the foulness of the
air in the mine. Only two of the bod
les found show marks of the explosion.
Death in the other cases having evil
IDENTIFY resulted from asphyxiation.
The Latest Estimate.
Benton, ILL.,, April 4.-The number
of dead is estimated at "a; wounded,
8. 1t transpires that there were two
explosions close together. The first
explosion took place in the air shaft,
and was followed by a much greater
upheaval in the main shaft. There
were employed in the mines only
1870 men, 100 being at work days.
Four cages containing ten men of the
day force had gone into the mine, and
were supposedly at the bottom when
the catastrophe occurred.
Of the "a men thought to be dead,
only Is had been taken out at ten
o'clock Monday night.
Superintendent Herd says the shaft
is a wreck, and that the main entrance
is so disabled it will take a week to
repair it.
In the effort to recover the entombed
men, five rescuers were overcome by af-
ter damp. All the searchers for the
men below We're let down by hand. In
two instances the men above were near
w overcome by gas,