The Bottineau courant., 1907-12-06

tuo OulloU COdl Gull pdly VI LulS ClCJ I,
located one and half miles back of
Monongahela City, 81 miles from this
place, is now said to be so. Hope that
the men will be rescued alive has
faded away. Monday the large force
of rescuers had only succeeded in
reaching the nineteenth entry, and no
sign of the entombed men had been
found. There are 81 entries in all and
the men were working far back in the
mine when the explosion occurred
Sunday night. The work of rescue
progressed slowly and with much diff
ficulty. Owing to the poisonous gas
fumes the rescuers are unable to re-
main in the entries more than Is min
utes at time. Several members Of
the relief crews were in a precarious
condition from inhaling the deadly
after-damp, and Superintendent James
Henderson had to be taken to his
home. The big air fan is still going,
but little relief is obtained owing to
the heavy volume of the after-damp
Indications Called Hopeless.
The fact that the after-damp pre-.
vents rescue work is taken as an indi-
cation that every man in the mine has
perished. Under the supervision of
Deputy State Mine Inspector Henry
Loutitt score of expert miners of
the Pittsburg Coal company and the
Monongahela River Consolidated Coal
company are making every effort to
reach the entombed men. The scenes
have been impeding the work of the
rescuers and at noon officers arrived
to keep them away from the pit.
mouth. Every possible precaution is
being taken to keep the big air fan
operating so that in case any of the
men are still alive they will have
fresh air.
Superintendent's Statement.
mot more than so men were work.
ing in the mine at the time of the ex-
plosion, so far as l can estimate" said
Superintendent j. D. O'Neil of the Ma.
omi mine Monday. II have received
but meager particulars of the disaster
myself and base my estimate Of the
working card which we ordinarily fol-
low.
THE men are working heroically to
save their comrades. Mine Inspector
Henry Loutitt was on the ground i'm
mediately after the explosion and or
ganized relief corps. He soon
brought order out of chaos and divided
his men into crews which were or
dered to work one or two hours each
In this way we will be able to make
the best progress possible under the
circumstances, keep the work up and al
the same time save the resources o1
the rescuers."
Spends Night in Anxiety.
A great crowd spent all night about
the mouth of the shaft despite the
cold. Mine superintendents of all the
mines along the Monongahela river
volunteered their help in the work o,
rescue. Their efforts, however, were
impeded by the throng of relatives anG
friends of the entombed men, who rar
up to the very plymouth and cried ou1
in agony of their loved ones.
Special cars with many physicians
and undertakers are present to-day
but so far there has been no work fo1
either.
The Naomi mine is owned by thu
United Coal company of this city
Officers here say the regular Sunday
night shift is so men. Machine Boss
Hopwood of the mine is positive there
are at least 80 men in the mine will
the probability of more.
Operating Officials on Scene.
The operating department of thu
United Coal company left here in ;
body Monday for the scene of thu
mine disaster at Fayette City. Nothing
definite concerning the explosion coult
be obtained from the Office, and clerl
said there was no statement to give
out.
Mine Inspector Henry Loutitt gave
out the following statement Monday
1T is impossible to say just wha
caused the explosion. The mine wa!
remarkably free from gas, but you cal
never tell about such a thing. Gas il
likely to be found in the most unex
pected places. The force of the ex
plosion was terrific, and I cannot thinl
that any man in the Naomi mine es
capped with his life.
"The mine was practically shat
tered, and believe we will eventual,
find thousands of tons of earth block
ing the way to the entombed miners
We have been unable to get into tn,
mine to any great distance; 700 yard!