The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-23
PHYSICIANS CALLED UPON
 TO APPLY RESTORATlVES
Continued from First Page,


 as they could find, and hasten back to
 the slope with them Then the second
 party would go into the rooms after a
 body or two and then hasten to the
 slope. By that time we were all nearly
 ready to come to the top. The bodies in
 the car were so badly decomposed that
 we had to put them in the last car while
 we came up in the first. There are five
 or six in a string on each tip
 ''It is useless for the men to go down
 until they get disinfectants, for they
 cannot work effectively. 1 never smelled
 anything in my life that was equal to
 the smell in the mines, and it is growing
 worse all the t.me.
 Information was received from the
 mines about midnight that the rescue
 parties had gone back and that the work was progressing as rapidly as possible
 and that fairly good progress was being made The rescuers expect to get to one
 of the chambers or rooms on the fourth
 right" about dawn from which they will
 get about a dozen bodies They are with
 in about 200 or 800 feet of the chambers
 where the bodies are thought to be, and
 they are working as rapidly as possible The disinfectants had not arrived at
 midnight, but were expected early this
 morning and with the arrival of the dis infectants the work will go on with re- newed energy.
 State Mine Inspector Gray stated at
 midnight that the rescuers were having to contend with the stcnch more than
 anything else, and tEat this was delay
 ing them in their work more than the
 "damp.a which has accumulated He stated that at about dawn the rescue party expected to get to a chamber where a dozen, bodies were to be found and that none could be brought to the sur
 face before that time.
 It looked for a while Tuesday and ves-
 terday as if provisions were going to run short at the mines. The commissary sold out all the bread, cheese, canned goods.
 crackers and cakes it had, and none could
 be found. Orders were sent to Bessemer for what was needed and it was sent out
 at once, but the demand was greater than the supply. and orders had to be refilled rapidly
 The hundreds of strangers in the camp have eaten everything in sigh, and some of the people at work in the mines have
 eaten nothing except canned goods and
 crackers since Monday. Some of them
 went from Monday afternoon until Tues
 day afternoon without eating anything at all
 Many Flock to Scene. The constant stream of humanity is SAiil IpWl1iB lo anu IFOm the mine, All day yesterday they flocked to the scene of Alabama's worst disaster, and they
 reached the place in every conceivable manner. The Birmingham Mineral trains, which run past Valley Creek, about two and half miles from the Virginia mines, were literally packed with people bound for the scene of the tragedy. One train carried more than three hundred people to Valley Creek and they walked the re- mainder of the distance. It is still prac- tically impossible to get vehicles and con- veyance from Bessemer to the mines, and many people have walked that distance The woods in the neighborhood of the
 mines are literally filled with horses and vehicles hltched to the trees and the roads in all directions are crowded with vehicles going and coming Not
 less than 10,00O people have been to the
 mines since the disaster, and it is prob- able that the number will go far above that.
 The special train furnished to the
 owners and operators of the mine by the Louisville and Nashville railroad has
 made about a dozen trips to and from
 the mines carrying the dead. and each time, passenger coach, which was at tached. has had from 100 to 200 people
 packed in it. Men and women, children and even babes in arms have been to the mines.
 Not a few women some of them car rying babies. walked from Valley creek to the mines yesterday and day before. and in the. crowds who have made the trip to view the spectacle there have
 been not less than 1000 women.
 Women Still Waiting. At the mines there are women still sitting around on the ground or hud- dled around the small fires waiting and watching for the news that husband,
 brother, father, son sweetheart has been brought from the tomb beneath, | and many are sobbing.
 The funerals in Virginia City will com
 mence today, and for the next few days
 It Will be verify q city of funerals There are about 75 of the dead miners and help CTS who live in the quarters at the mines and the bodies will be buried as rapidly as they come from the undertaking es- tatlishments Tn Bessemer, embalmed and | prepared for burial. It may be Sunday | or Monday before the last of the funerals | takes place.
 NO definite arrangements had been | made last night at Virginia City for the funerals, but they will be made this
 morning, and 1t is possible that q general service will be held today and one to- | fo urhf oil U