The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1910-10-13
DROPS 1000 FEET AND EN-.
TONES MEN UNDER TONS
OF EARTH.

Trinidad, Colo.-After Sc hours
of the hardest kind of work. ~rescuers
abandoned all hope of saving any Of
the more than fifty miners which it
is known today entombed alive
In the Starkville mine of the Colo
RADIO Fuel and Iron company. The
%rescuers believe it will be impossible
to reach the entombed men in less
than several days.
The rescuers, with a portable fan,
started into the mine today. One
Italian woman, whose husband is in
the mine, tried in the desperation Of
her grief, to kill her eight children
but was prevented.
The mine was always considered
safe. Recently a number of automo-
bile pleasure-seekers ran for a mile
into the mine. The roof of the mine
fell for a distance of 1000 feet, maxi
ing 1t a tremendous task to reach the
men who were imprisoned.
Trinidad, Colo.-Between fifty and
one hundred and fft ymen are en-
tombed in the Starkville mine. eight
miles from here. the result of an ex-
plosion which occurred about 1890
O'Clock Saturday night. The explo-
sion practically destroyed the old
slope of the mine and the new slope
is so thoroughly filled with black
damp that entrance of rescue parties
ty tnls route is impossible.
There is hope for the entombed
miners from the fact that the Engle-
vile mine Is connected with the
Starkville mine through underground
workings, and only q heavy board
partition separates them. The two
mines ran together several months
ago in process of operation and the
point of contact between the two main
slopes was partitioned of.
The presence of gas and black
damp in the new slope, the only one
remaining open, gives rise to fea:s
that the whole mine is filled with the
deadly gas and afterdamp and that
the men could not have had time to
reach the partition dividing the two
mines before finding an outlet
through the new slope.
Hundreds Hurry to Scene.
Hundreds OF men from neighboring
camps and from this city. together
with physicians and nurses, we're hur-
ried to the scene Of the disaster on
la special train. and District Superin-
tendent ]. T. Thompsond of the Colo
RADIO Fuel and Iron company, assist
ed by Joseph Wilson, superintendent
of the %Starkville mine, have taken
charge of the rescue work and will
lead rescue parties into the mine as
soon as it is safe to do so.
The Starkville mine has not been
working a night shift until recently,
when the demand for Its output be-
came so heavy that the day shift
could not meet It. Then a night
shift, usually consisting of about 100
men, was put to work. 1t is difficult
to say just how many men we're work.
ing when the explosion occurred, be-
cause they are allowed to use their
w will as to working at night. The
day shift runs about 400 men, many
of whom go into the mine at night
to make extra time.
Slope Filled With Debris.
Telephone reports from Starkyille
are to the effect that the old slope is
in ruins. The debris at the mouth of
this slope has been cleared away for
a distance Of forty feet land indica-
lions were that the slope was filled.
While practically all the miners
working in the Starkville mine are
OF foreign birth, many have been in
this country for twenty or twenty-five
years and a large portion. Of them
have been working in the Starkville
mine ever since it began operation in
1892.
The mine is the property of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail-
road company. but is operated by the
Colorado Fuel and Iron company.