The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-23
GAS EXPLOSION
IN COAL SHAFT
Terrible Accident at Century, a
Small Mining Town IN
West Virginia.
NUMBER OF DEAD UNKNOWN
TEN BODIES HAVE BEEN RECOV-
Erred so FAR.

Fairmont, w. Va, March 22.-Ten
men are known TO be dead, twenty-five
injured and from twenty-five to seven
ty-five missing and believed to be dead
as the result of an explosion of gas in
the shaft of the Century Coal company
at Century, a small mining town stu
ated fifty miles south of Fairmont. on
the Bellington & Buckhannon branch
of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The
explosion took place at 4:30 this after
noon, but owing to the telephone wires
being put out of commission by the
high winds of today. details are lacking
and the names of the victims six of
whom are known to be foreigners, were
not secured at a late hour tonight.
But Few In the Shaft.
The Century mine, which is owned
by Shaw Brothers of Baltimore, is one
of the largest independent operations in
northern West Virginia Over $50 men
are employed daily in the shaft, and
had the explosion been an hour earlier
the loss of life would have been aD-
palling. AS il was. there were but a
few remaining in the shaft, the main
body of the miners having quit work
for the day. The giant fan which fur
nishes air for the shaft was partially
wrecked by the force of the explosion
but was repaired Immediately and
within an hour after the accident Su-
perintendent James Ward had a relief
gang in the mine.
Could Give No Details.
The first trip out brought ten men
five dead and five badly burned. They
were found in the main heading near
the bottom of the shaft. The living
could give no details of the explosion.
saying they were on their way to the
surface when the explosion took place
behind them.
A second expedition Immediately
went down and explored the main head
! ing which was found To be uninjured
by the explosion, except that the brat
.tices were blown out.
Work of Rescue Pushed.
Four more bodies were found i'm this
heading, and twenty injured men were
making their way toward the bottom of
the shaft and were brought to the sur
face by the rescuers. Fourteen sub
/ headings at midnight were yet unex-
plored, and Superintendent Ward. who
was still in the mine, sent word out
/ that owing 10 the prevalence of gas
he was undecided at that time whether
or not TO push the work into the sub
headings for an hour or so. The mine.
however. was being readily freed from
the fumes of the explosion by the fan
and the work of rescue will be pushed
on throughout the night.
House-to-House Canvass.
Immediately following the explosion.
the officials began house-to-house
canvass to ascertain the number of
men to be found on the surface This
resulted in $50 being found who had
come out previous to the explosion. 1t
is believed that there are many more
outside who have not yet been account
ed for. If this is not true there are still
SeVenty-five men in the mine with 1T
tie hope of their being alive
Relief trains bearing physicians were
hurried from PhilipDi and Buckhannon
and the doctors Immediately took care
of the wounded in the office building
which was transformed into a tenn
pOraTy hospital
Pathetic Scenes.
The families of the dead. wounded
and missing men gathered quickly at
the opening and the pathetic scenes
always witnessed at such accidents
were enacted. Several foreign women
insisted upon going into the mine, and
were only prevented by force from en-
tering the cage. Many of the women
are still lowering about the opening
at midnight. refusing to go into the
camp store or other places to escape the
biting cold.
An official of the company who looked
after the work on the surface said at
midnight that the company was doing
all in its power to ascertain the names
Of the dead and wounded. and that a
list would be made up some time dur
ing the night.
Recognition impossible.
The official stated that owing to the
horribly mutilated condition of the
dead it was impossible to recognize
them at that hour.
The Century mine employees were
about equally divided between Ameri-
cans and foreigners and a report was
current here that it was the belief of
those at the scene of the explosion that