The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-20
Scarcely a Ray of Hope That Any of 500 Miners Buried by Terrific Explosion
 Are Alive.
MANY FOUND MUTILATED
Debris Encountered May Prevent the Prompt Recovery of Men En- tombcd a Mile and Half
 from the Opening.

Jacobs Creek, Pa, Dec. l9.-An ex- plosion of gas in the Darr mine of the Pittsburg Coal company, situated here, to-day entombed between 200 and 500 miners, and there is scarcely ray of hope that single one of them will be taken from the mine alive.
 Partially wrecked buildings in the vicinity of the mine and the condition of the few bodies foud early by res- euers indicate an explosion of such terrific force that 1t seems Impossible that any one survivea 1t. All of the thirteen bodies taken out up to this time are terribly mutiated
 About 1,50O feet from the mouth of the mine heavy fall of roof was en- countered by the rescuers. It is be- lieyed that most of the men will be found nearly a mile and half be- yond this point How long it will re- quire to remove enough of the debris to open passage to these remote workings can only be conjectured. for lt depends upon how numerous these falls are. It is hoped from the progess made up to now that the farther sec- tion will be reached early tomorrow.
 This is the third mine disaster since the first of the month in the veins of bituminous coal underlying western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for the Naomi mine near Fayette City and the two mines at Monangah, W. Va. in which the earlier explosions hap pened are in the same belt as the local workings. To-day's catastrophe swells the number of victims of deadly mine gas for the 19 days to between $50 and 600
 That to-day's disaster does not equal or even surpass in loss of life and at- tendant horrors the mine in West vir- ginia Is due to the devotion to church duties of a considerable number of the miners. In observance of the church festival many of the 100 or more regu- larly employed at the mine did not go to work this morning. Those who es- capped for this reason are members of the Greek Catholic church and they stopped work to celebrate St. Nicholas day.
 As was the case at Monongah, the explosion followed a brief suspension of the Darr mine, it having been closed Tuesday and wednesday, Just at 11.So o'clock when loaded cars had been brought out to the tipple, there came ali awful rumbling sound, followed irn- mediately by loud report and con- cussion that shook nearby buildings and was felt within a radius of several miles. Simultaneously there came out |of the mouth of the mine an immense cloud of smoke and dust that foated across the Youghiougheny river.
 Mrs. John Campbell wife of the mine foreman, whose home is about 30 wards from the mouth of the mine graphic ally describes the explosion, She said:
 About 11;3O o'clock there was a loud report and the dishes in my cupboard and on the table were rattled and knocked out of place, while the glass in the windows was shattered. h. stinetively knew what had happened. have for a long time feared an ex- plosion in the mine for I knew it was gaseous, My husband and had talked of it and he often referred to the gas in the mine. My husband was just about due for his dinner when this loud report came and I looked out the back door towards man-way from the mine through which he always came to his meals. Instead of my hus- band I saw a great cloud of dust and smoke pouring out of the mouth of the mine and through the man-way. It fioated upward and disappeared across the river. I am sure Mir Campbell will be found in the entry not far from the mouth of the mine, for know he must have been on his way to dinner"