The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1908-04-04
WYOMING NINE HORROR
Great Loss Of Life in Coal Mine exnlo.
sion at Hanna

oiS' - ''op'S-
Hanna, Wyo.-An explosion OF sas
and dust in mine No. i OF the Union
Pacific Coal Company at o'clock Sat
urday afternoon completely wreckea
the woi kings and entombed twenty
men who if not killed Sy the awful ex.
plosiou were incinerated by the con
fagration that is raging far below the
mouth of the shaft
A second explosion occurred at IL: o
Saturday in the east shaft. where d
gang OF fifty relief workers. headed b.
State Mine Inspector David Elias, were
about to remove four Of the victims OF
the first explosion. The shaft was Nile
with debris and all air currents cut Of
The second explosion was even NOR
severe than the first. being felt in al
parts Of town and it is feared THAI
nifty to sixty names have been adde!
10 the death list
When the hrst explosion occurred ey
cry building in town was rocked a.
though by terrible earthQuakt
women and children, idle miners. bus
ness men and others rushed into tn
streets with blanchsd faces, for on
too we'll did they know what that awtI.
roar and the shaking earth meant.
She's OF again" was the low CT
here and there, and then followed a
rush to the outer workings, power
house and tipples Of the mine.
The anxious and almost frantic Ia
Quiriss as to who were in the ill-fated
mine brought forth the informatiun
ha tuQ halnw
The explosion was the result of a fire
that broke out in the tenth level las
Sunday and was promptly walled OF
The 200 miners worked Monday, We
nesday and Friday. and Tuesda
Thursday and Saturday the force ut
seventeen men, comprising the pick Il
the three mines. all experienced me-.
miners and fire fighters, worked dill.
gently to extinguish the undergrouuI
conhagration, but without avail.
Luckily for the 200 miners the fames
did not reach the gas areas on the days
they were At work. for in this event
the disaster would have been even
more appalling than the one OF f,e
years ago.
Immediately after the first explosion
a force was organized and the worh VI
rescue commenced. The air fan and
shaft we're repaired Immediately. aud
soon a current of air was force
through the workings.
Everyone took hope when it was an
nounced that the air was working. lUt
this hope was short-lived. for the sN
perienced men on the outside, man Of
whom passed through the holocaus 0f
five years ago, assured the gather
crowds if the entombed miners were
lt1Ia6 ,frip
edly incinerated by the flames rag NJ
below the tenth level.
Life could not possibly survive that
furnace one and one-half miles down
In the bowels OF the earth and after
the first shrek OF grief the women and
children were taken to their homes by
tender hands and there they calmly
waited for the rescue parties TO bring
the bodies OF their loved ones from the
! ill-fated mine. They are simply be
numbed with grief. dazed and unable
to realize what has happened
. Late at night the bodies Of Joseph
Burton. Peter Munson. Robert War
burton and James Know were found
near the east shaft. They were charred
and dstigured and were probably kill
ed instantly.
When tho second explosion occurred
miners ana CltlZenS ruSne0 10 the east
shaft. where they were joined by the
relief workers who were driven from
the west shaft, which was also caved
in by the explosion, and all set to work
with will to dig out the fifty en-
tombed men
Additional men have been summon
ed from the neighboring coal camps
and all available laborers In Credon
and grading gangs along the railroad
are hurrying to Hanna in special
trains
The scenes in town and about the
mine beggar description
The women and children are now
/ panic stricken and are rushing madly
through the streets and up 10 the
mines. calling piteously for their loved
[ ones
1t was in this same mine that 169
men lost their lives on June 30. 1908.
by a similar explosion The colliery
was filed with debris at that time and
although large gangs worked constant
ly day and night, the last of the bodies
/ were not reached until six months af-
terward and the remains OF Fire Boss
Cox were never recovered.
Power Company to Rush Work.