El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-30
THREE MEN STILL
UNDER STAG At
THE SHELTER
Two Men Who Were Miss
ing Have Appeared and
Are Accounted For.

Only three men are supposed now to
be under the Stag near the Ell Paso
smelter, which was wrecked by the ex-
ploSion Wednesday. They are NJ. Reyes,
Juan Talamantes and Francisco Her
nandez. Jose Ruis, who was thought to
have been in tunnel No. with these
men. has turned up safe. He was
checked off under another name, but
now admits that he was on the time
keepers roll as Jose Ruis. Another
man, who was supposed to have been
in the pit when the explosion came, was
accounted for today, when at p. m.
Epifanio Martinez. who it was supposed
was in tunnel No 2 at the time of the
explosion, was seen at the smelter, and
stated that, at the time the explosion
occurred, he was not in the tunnel, but
was on the outside and ran away and
had been around town ever since
Hearing that he was supposed to have
been killed, he reported to the South
western officers at the smelter.
No More Bodies.
Day and night the big steam shovel
has been powing its way into the Stag
pile. and ton after ton Of the stuff has
been taken away from the tunnel, but
no more bodies have been found AS
each shovelful has been removed more
of the Stag has sifted down from the
top Of the pile and interfered with the
progress of the work
The men are dead. That is a GER
tainty. The bodies may be recovered
and they may not Perhaps some
pieces of their bodies may be found
when the tunnel is opened up so that
access can be had to it, but 1t is be-
lieved that the force of the explosion
blew the men to pieces out toward the
opening and then they were covered
up by the tumbling Stag.
The fact that Tom Sykes, the fore
man. was blown out of the hole, in
dictates that the others may have been
blown in the same direction and their
dismembered bodies scattered in the
Stag.
Take Out Powder.
Now work must cease for several
days in order that the powder can be
withdrawn
G. F. Hawks, general superintendent
of the Bl Paso & Southwestern system.
stated that unless the bodies are found
before o'clock this evening. the search
will have to be discontinued until
after the charges of powder have been
drawn from tunnels 1, 8 and 4, owing
to the fact that the steam shovel is
getting SO close to the charges of pow
der in tunnels 1 and 8, it is not con-
Sidered safe to prosecute the search any
further until after the powder has been
drawn. This will probably take at
least four days After that the search
will be continued until the bodies are
either found or the officials are salts
fled that it will be impossible to do So.
In removing the powder from tun-
rels 1, 8 and 4. every precaution will
be taken to prevent an accident" he
said "A crew of experienced powder
man has been imported from the Bis
bee mines to remove the powder, and
We do not anticipate any trouble what
ever. but while this work is going On,
only those who are in charge of it
will be permitted on the grounds.
IF we have to give up the search for
the missing men, it will be regretted
very much, but in the interest of the
safety of the residents and employees at
the smelter, it is considered advisable
TO pursue this course"