New-York tribune., 1908-11-30
DEATH LIST INCREASES
NINE DISASTERS TICTIMS
NAY EXCEED 1873.
Fifty-t1ro Bodies RemoUed - Bride
= Frustrated By Husbands Death
-SurUiUor'S Tale.
-SurUiUor's Tale.
rBr Telegraph to Tne Trihuns. ]

TBy Telegraph to The Tribune
Pittsburg. Nov. 3O-Fifty two bodies had been
removed from the Rachel mine Of the Pittsburg-
Buffalo Coal Company at Mariana. where
terrific explosion occurred on Saturday, up to L
O'Clock this morning Of these twenty-five have
been fully identified.
number of other bodies have been located in
the workings. and are being brought out rap
IDLY possible At the present rate of progress
nearly one hundred bodies will have been
brought out by daylight and it is now hoped
that most, if not ALL will have been found hy
evening. At least one hundred and thirtyeight
men were entombed by the explosion
Chief State Mine Inspector James f. Rod
erick will be here to-day to start an investiga-
ton.
One OF the sad features In connection with the
disaster was the death of John will, the wealthy
young nephew of John H. Jones, owner of the
Mariana mine. Ivill only twenty-three
years old and had started to learn the mine
business from the bottom up. His was the first
body brought up early this morning. His aged
father and an uncle went into the mine for him
and brought up the crushed body.
Mrs. Ivill, bride of month, tainted at the
sight of her husbands body and is in a seri-
Gus condition. Mrs. Twill formerly a tele-
phone operator IN Pittsburg, and young Iyill
fell in love with her marrying her one month
ago. They went East on honeymoon trip and.
returning one week ago bought one of the ia
nous large model houses in Mariana and set
up housekeeping. Saturday the first time
will had gone to work since his marriage
Frank Elinger. a coal cutter. is the only man
to escape alive from the mine. He spent twelve
hours in the dark with the bodies of his dead
comrades, but will retain his reason
Il was passing through one of the entries
about one hundred yards from the foot of the
shaft" EIinser said in describing his expert
ences, when something hit me. / had time
to think | heard no noise. l must have been
blown seventy-fve yards through a passage by
the air from the explosion, and the first
of air must have knocked me unconscious be-
fore the noise of the explosion reached me.
do not know what time I came to- 1t seems
like 8 million years from the time l regained
consciousness until heard them coming for me.
I felt oh! so many bodies and all so cold and
stiff they were, as I crawled round through the
mine in the dark. don't know how It was
that I escaped, but I'm glad that I'm alive
Twenty-Five bodies were brought to the sur
face yesterday and a number Of others during
the early part of last night. Many of these have
not been identified, because of burns or other
mutlations, and 1t may be that some of them
will never be positively recognized.
David G. Jones, of the coal company said that
bodies had been recovered. of which thirteen
had been fully identified The company. he said,
could account for only 13S men in the mine at
the time of the explosion. The search already
made corvinces those the scene that all those
in the mine are dead but many of the bodies
are buried under debris that cannot be removed
for some time.
Yesterday a small fire broke out in the mine
Several fire bosses hurried into the shaft and
succeeded in extinguishing the blaze before any
serious damage was done.
Reports were in circulation yesterday that
a second and heavier explosion IS likely TO occur
at any moment. Although the company Off
cias zsert that this is not true. the presence of
coz ,.,-rable gas in the mine gives weight to the
rumor f danger.
Conditions about the mouth Of the mine were
wretched Yesterday A drizzling rain fell and
the weather grew cold. Many relatives Of the
victims stood all day close to the ropes around
the shaft. but there We're few OF the narrowing
scenes usually associated with a mine explo-
sion Most of the relatives English speak
ing people who bear their grief in silence. 1t is
estimated that one-fourth OF the victims were
Americans by birth.
As rapidly as possible the work of rescue is
being carried At short intervals new men
are sent into the mine to relieve others search
ing for the dead. Owing TO the dangerous gases
and the mass of wreckage in the mine the res
cue work is slow and is being carried with
great precaution. Experts from Pennsylvania
and West Virginia III charge of the work
of exploration. and being materially assisted
by J. w Paul and Clarence Hall. of the United
States experimental and testing station, in
Pittsburg.
notwithstanding the isolation of Mariana,
thousands of persons travelled thither yester
day \ train in ths morning brought many
from Pittsburg and intermediate points, while
over five hundred vehicles of all descriptions
were scattered over the hillsides surrounding the
mine one boarding house the mine
,I,,a., ,.rect.ad nv nersons seakiDs