Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-02-03
THIRTY THREE:
DIE IN SECOND
MINE TRAGEDY
FOLLOWING CASUALTY IN PRlM
ERo, COLO, sHAFT-ExPLosioN
IN KENTUCKY CAUSES DEATHs
OF SCORES OF MINERS.

Dfakesboro, KY, Feb. "A te9s.
phone message from the Browder mina
thls morning places the number OF
dead in yesterdays explosion at
thlrty-ftve. The bodies of thirty-threa
nave been recovered The explosion
which occurred yesterday afternoon. is
believed to have been caused by a
miners lamp igniting the gas in an
unuse> room. The force of the ex-
plosion was sufficient to cause instant
death to all the men In the eastern
wing where it occurred Cars and
heavy timbers We're blown about like
klndling wood. No fire followed the
explosion and the ventilating ap-
paratus, fortunately, was unharmed by
the shock, so that the rescuers had
little difficulty In exploring the work.
lngs. The first bodies recovered
were in fairly good condition, the
men having been smothered to death
ano not mangled by the explosion, but
as the party pushed on they found
the bodies so multilated that they
were unrecognizabie.
Because of the accumulation of
gases In the entry where the explosion
occurred, ITO feet beneath the ground
and 700 feet back from the mine shaft,
1t was impossible to begin active work
until six hours after tho disaster oc-
CURED.
The damage to the mine, Investigate
ing parties have discovered, was not
material and lis confined to the east
entry. There were 100 men In the mine
at the time of the explosion, more than
half of them in the west entry. All of
these latter fastened to the cages and
quickly were drawn to the top, Later
a n 1f~,y tl,n SS,,,
tunate twenty-seven fought their way
| to the shaft and were brought to safe
| ty.
Resouers Work In Relays.
| As soon as 1t was safe 10 begin with
1 the rescue work miners were sent
down in relays under direction Of ].
Abercrombe, mine foreman, and Ga
| Reynolds, mine superintendent
| In the immediate vicinity OF the ex-
posion ten men had been working.
| The concussion tossed their bodies
distances of many feet
The remaining missing men were in
entries only few feet distant from
the workings, where there was the
greatest know loss Of life. and the
searching parties have been unable to
| locate these entries. 1t Is believed all
the men entombed there are dead.
The pit mouth presents pitiful
scene, with the wives of the dead and
| MISSING miners CTOWQ1nR ABOUT await
| ing reports from the rescuers
Think Repairer Caused BIast.
| 1T Is believed that the explosion was
caused by q track repairer going into
an abandoned room with an uncovered
lamp, as the room Is shattered almost
to atoms and the body of the repairer
| is nowhere to be seen. An undertakes
is on his awy from Greenville. with a
number of coffins, and Judge J. J. Rice
has been summoned from the same
! place to hold the inquest
The Browder mine together with
three others in this vicinity. was re-
Gently purchased by a syndicate of
Tennessee and West VIRGINIA capital
lists. C. D. M. Freer and T. B. Caldwell
of Memphis. Tenn. are holding the
properties as trustees pending the for
nation of a company to take over the
| four properties.
The mine is not on fire and the fans
are working. This gives rise to tha
hope that all of the bodies may be re-
| covered today.