Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1909-01-27
LICK BRANCH MINE DISASTER.
Pitiable Scene to Behold.
Women and Children
Weeping.
tFrom Our Special Correspondent }

Bluefeld, w. Va, Jan. l7.-Ou
December 2s there occurred in the
mine Of the Pocahontas Cons olidat
cd Collieries Co. at Switchback, w.
Va, 5 miles west Of here, an e.,
plosion, which, at the time, was
thought to be of great deal worse
character than it turned out to be.
For two days and nights a hundred
men worked without ceasing to res
cue the men entombed, and not one
was taken out alive. The mine was
not being operated TO it's fullest ca
pacity, and thereby great number
of men were saved from a terrible
death. ! went to the scene of the
'disaster and staid till almost all the
bodies were recovered, and in all
there were so men brought .out-all
dead. As IN usual in suoh cases ex-
'citement ran high and grief stalked
throughout the little town; but in
two days, or such Q matter, the
dead were all inferred, the widows
and orphans cared for, or had gone
to other towns, and the little town
settled down to business again.
Just two weeks to the day, Jan.
IL, another terrible explosion oc.
CURED there, and this whole section
was thrown into q fervor of excite
ment when the word was passe.l
around that "'Lick Branch mine had
exploded again." The mine is dis
'tinguished from other mines of the
company by the name of Lick
Branch. 1t is one of the largest
mines in the field, employs 200 or
800 men when it is working a full
force. Two hours after the explo-
sion was at the mouth of the mine,
together with a thousand others,
most of whom were experienced
mining men, ready and willing to
.delve into the bowels Of the earth
ITO rescue the men there The scenes
there were terrible. | saw more
than dozen men and women and
alarger number of children crying
as though their hearts we're broken,
and all the answers to ones ques
tions were the same-"LIck Branch
Gallery" In some cas- s whole
families, With the exception Of the
mother, were wiped out. Fathers,
sons, brothers and husbands were
killed. In several cas- the weep
ing of the women and children
could be heard for squares, and the
scenes when the relatives and friends
of the stricken ones camo on the
trains were heart rending. / have
in the past Fix years been at the
rescuing of uDfortunates of almost
a dozen mine explosions in this Sec
tioD; but in none of them have !
seen the grief so complete. Coming
as it did Immediately after the ex-
plosion OF December 2S, even the
officials of the niue were dumfound.
ed and overcome with grief. The
mine is equipped with every safety
device, well ventilated, lighted, on
ly experienced men being permitted
to mine coal there, and when there
were but few in there actually en-
gagged in mining coal came the ter
Tible blow. There we're 40 or so
men engaged in repairing the mine
from the last explosion, and were in
altogether different parts of the
mine, aud at the time of the explC-
sion Mr. Jones, the general mansg-
er, told me he had no idea at all
what was the cause of it, and said
he had no idea how many men
there were in it. Men from all
parts Of the coal fields came and of.
fered their services, which were
thankfully accepted, and in three
hours after the explosion three hun
dred men were at work. making
all haste to rescue the entombed
men, while friends and relative:
we're stan ling in the wind, rain and