The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-30
COAL MINES TRAGEDIES
ONE MANS CARELEssNEss MAY
 COST HUNDREDss OF LIVES.
ExpIosions Drive Concusriens Through All the PassaHes, Moving Down
 victims--Entombed Miners, if Alive, Eat Candles.

| Ess AAA aAE H4HS8Mtoy hAVNsA"& 1sVFv& I victfms--Entombed Miners,
 if Alive, Eat Candles.
 I When one reads the news Of a,mine disaster. giving the number of dead the supposed cause, and the simple statement. "a rescue party was imme- diateiy formed" one. has had only the barest outlines of as terrible a human tragedy as could happen, says The New York Post. Not even snipwreck at sea can compare in actual horror or despair with serious explosion In a mine. when men are trapped like rats them; death by fire Is quicker. and as Perhaps there Is description of scenes about the pit-mouth: weeping. frantic wives and children, and efforts of the rescuers; but all 1t pttiful1y in- adequate. The expi osion last week at Cherry, ILL, where more than 25o men were entombed. was typical.
 For those who are there, however, the tragedy loses nothing of It's awful ness. The final moment comes when 1t It decided to oclose the mouth of the mine because of fire; boarding over the pit-mouth seems like sealing the tomb of the iiving4-after that all hope is gone. and the only end can be the belated gathering of the bodies. identi- fcation, and burial. Even that is not the last. for perhaps a hundred fami- lies will be thrown at once upon their own resources in a place where there Is only one industry, and that calling for strong men. In this form os labor many risk their lives or one man,s mistake. When the miner enters the pit in the morning he i takes with him not only his own life. but that of scores of. his fellows. bud dies." as he calls them. Death for all 1 may be the price Of one's carelessness. In spite, of precautions and. inspec- tions, the temptation to make work easier by violating the rules of ordinary safety Is enough to cause some to fool with death eventually with the dread result .4 .
 Mine explosions are caused by igni- ton of fire-damp by a defective safety lamp, naked light. flame from shot, and by, explosion of air ,impregnated with fine particles of coal dust. A windy" shot. or badly fired blast. may have sufficient force to kill all men in an entry. and is generally the cause of dust explosions. . ai ig .s4 Fire Damp Damger0usly Explosive.
 Fire damp, in its chemical compost ton, has properties similar to methane, or marsh gas. which makes the phe- nomena of the willy o'-the-wisp. and which forms about 7s per cent of the mine composition. Fire-damp in a mix lure of one part to twenty of air may be detected by means of a safety lamp; about tn efiame inside the gauze. you can see halo of light blue. which may grow until 1t fills the lamp. In a pro- portion of more than one part to ten of air. 1t is most dangeous and ex- piosive, until 1t gets to an equal mix ture, when lack of oxygen prevents 1t burning rapidly.
 The theory of coal dust explosions has never been determined to every body's satisfaction. That 1t Is most violent, and that it is the most fre- quent cause of serious disasters Is cer- tain. Dry coal dust blown into the air and lighted, perhaps by a windy shot, will explode; the rush of air in advance raises more dust, and the force increases. until 1t strikes a wet place or the open air.
 But 1t is almost Impossible to give an Idea of the violence of mine ex- plosion. The effect Is the same as if the workings, with their confined pas sages, were one great cannon fired with monster charge. and this terrific frst-blast follows heading and entry generally seeking freshef air. What ever Is in its way must break, and 1t Is only by lucky chance of being In a far away place that any one Is not killed outright. A comparatively small dust explosion In Piper, Ala, was enuogh to smash four crosswise twelve by-twelYe timbersg as If they were toothpicks, not 300 feet from where 1t started.
 An example of the efrect of an ex- plosIon is found In an old English mining report. published in the early eighteenth century. It says:
 "On Wednesday, the 18th day of Au- fust. l70S. at Patfield. in the parish of Chester -Ie- Street. about o'clock in the morning. by the sudden eruption of a violent fire from the mine, with as great noise as the firing of a cannon or the loudest claps of thunder. sixty nine persons were destroyed. in an in- stant. Three of them, two men and one woman, were blown quite up from the bottom of the shaft. nfty-seven fathoms deep. into the air consider able distance from the mouth of the pit. The fish which were in the rivu- let which runs, twenty yards under the level and as great a distance from the mouth of the pits, were in great numbers taken up dead. floating on the water, by several of the Inhabitants. .'' Quick Drop Saves Life.
 Persons in the mine are aware of an explosion before the force strikes them-once in thousand times. If far enough away. 8 man may feel the two or three seconds warning in time to drop on the floor. and perhaps not | be killed outright. First there is a ! shock in the air, then an ominous 1 whistling sound. while the ear drums I sink in with the pressure with sick ening effect-all this In a seconds time. Lucky is the man who can drop quickly 1 enough,
 Outside. the explosion is evident In
 an instant. often the flames shoet l high In the air. and h2lstlhg machln- l City mine ernlosion of five years ago, 1 aa s.. - . . . -. Ahe alnne and killed