The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-12-12
$50 MEN ENT0MBED
IN VIRGINIA MINE
GREATEST DISASTER IN HIS
TORY OF MINING.
Ten BODIES RECOVERED
Would Be Rescuers Are Hopeless For
No Human Being Can Face Vol
ume Of Poisonous Gas Pouring Out
of Points of Entry.

of Points of Entry.
Monongah, w. V.-Six charred and
blackened bodies lying in the i'm
provised morgue prepared near the
entrance to the mine, five men in a
temporary hospital, lowering between
life and death from the awful bruises
sustained and the deadly gases IL
hailed, and 800 men imprisoned by
tons of coal, rock and mine debris,
In the depths Of the hills surround
ing this mining town, with the chances
all against single one of them be.
ing alive, is the most accurate sum-
mary obtainable of the results of a
mine explosion, which, in all proba-
bility, was attended by greater loss
of life than any former disaster in
the history Of the bituminous coal
mining industry of America.
The explosion occurred shortly af.
ter the full force had gone to work in
the two mines affected. These mines
are Nos. 6 and Of the Consolidated
Coal Company, located on opposite
sides Of the West Fork river at thi;
place, but merged in their under
ground workings by heading anl
on the surface by great steel tipple
and bridge.
The finding of the six bodies and
the five badly injured men is the only
reward for strenuous and interrupted
work on the part of large rescuin2
force that Immediately set to work at
every possible point.
The five living men are unable to
give any detailed report of the disas-
ter or to even explain how they
reached the surface. They state that
Immediately back Of them when they
began their frantic struggle for lib
erty there were a large number OF
men engaged in similar struggle
while still further back in the work
ings, there was a larger number of
whom they knew nothing.
1t is the opinion of the mine Off
Gals and others familiar with mimi.
that these seven men had not pene-
trated the mine as far as had the ma
jority of the day shift, when the ex-
plosion occurred and that they head
ed and reached the main entrance be-
fore the heavy cave-in that now
blocks the entrance south and 100
feet beyond the opening to mine No
6. AS the miners referred to by the
rescued men as having been alive
when last seen, it is believed that
they were caught back of q heavy
cavern of coal and mine roof and
that they could not have survived
more than few minutes in the deadly
gases with which the entry filled rs
soon as the ventilating system was
Interrupted. There is more hope for
these in more remote sec-.ons OF the
mines, as they may have reached work
ings where fresh air is supplied by
other openings. But, at best, only
the most slender hope is entertained
for the survival Of any one Of the
men in the mine until the debris can
be cleared away and communication
with the outside re-established.
The two mines regularly employed
one thousand men, working in two
shifts, 500 during the day and 500
during the night, and the best infor-
nation obtainable at this time is that
$50 Of the day force had gone to
work. and that all were caught. II
was shortly after 10 o'clock when the
explosion occurred, and at that hour.
even the latest Of the stragglers' force
is customarily at work, according to
mine officials.
There is much speculation as to the
cause Of the explosion, but the most
generally accepted theory is that it
resulted from black damp, scientici-
cally known as methane.
It is believed that miner attempt
ed to set off blast which blew out
and ignited an accumulation Of this
deadly gas, and this in turn ignited
the coal dust, a highly inflamma-
BILE substance, found in greater or less
quantities in all West Virginia mines.
Trdae Conditions.