Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-17

OF COAL co.
ENTOMBED
BODIES, HORRIBLY BURNED,
ARE RECOVERED
DUST AND TiMRERs BLOWN HIGH
BY SHOCK
Shaft In YoIande, Alabama, Near
Place Where Terrible Disaster
Occurred Years Ago, Scene
of Accident
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
YOLANDE, Ala, Dec. 16--A dis
astrous explosion took place in mine NO.
1. of the YoIande Coal and Coke COM
pany. at 1925 this morning. 1t Is inn
possible to tell at this hour how many
are dead. the estimates varying all the
way from forty to sixty The work of
rescue has been extremely slow because
Of the debris in the mine and the large
seers at the opening.
The explosion is now known to have
occurred in either the fifth or sixth right
entrance. All of the bodies have been
recovered from these entries and some of
them were so horribly mutiated that
Identification is almost impossible. The
bodies of twelve white and seven colored
men have been identified.
According to Superintendent T. C..
Huckabee. the explosion was undoubted-
ly due to windy shots" Mr.. Huckabee
had just made a tour of inspection and
congratulated some of the men on the
condition of their rooms. A few min
utes after reaching the top he saddled
his horse and was about to go for
days hunt, when the explosion occurred.
Parties of miners from Alternate.
Searles, Davis creek and Brookwood are
here ready to help in the recovery of
those who are still entombed. 1t. will
be noon tomorrow before all of the dead
are recovered.
There is little evidence of the disaster
to be seen from the outside at late
hour tonight.
Resculng Fcrce at Work
Under the supervision of Chief Mine
inspector j. M. Gray and his assistant.
James Hiilhouse, forces are at work
clearing away the wreckage. The mines
go down something like 1900 feet. There
was a terrific explosion. the force Of
which was seen outside, dust and timber
being blown out in great quantities. de-
stroying small buildings nearby and also
landing on the station some distance
away. There was terrific heat immed-
lately after the explosion.
Officials of the company on the scene
Immediately took steps to start a rescue
party to get to the men on the inside.
The fans were started and other measures
taken to eliminate the bad air. Within an
hour fourteen men had crawled out of
the mine, and their description of the
inside was heartrending. Several of
these men were badly burned. Two
hours after the explosion it was still i'm
possible to venture near the mouth of
the mine. so hot was the air that was
rushing out.
Scene of Former Accident
The Yolande mines are but few
miles from Virginia City. where a SINH
lar explosion occurred about two years
ago, 122 men being killed at that time.
Yolande is thirty-five miles south of
Birmingham, on the Birmingham Min
eral railroad. The Yolande Coal and
Coke company is headed by DR.. G. B.
Grove of Birmingham. Between 125 and
$50 men are given employment in the
No. / mine
This being Monday morning, the full
force did not go into the mine. less than
100 men going down.
The Yolande mines were among the
Moseley collieries of the Birmingham
district Non-union men were worked
exclusively, but everything possible had
been done to insure the contentment of
the employees with their conditions.