Arizona republican., 1911-12-10
More Than 200 Employees of the Knoxville Iron Com pany Are Penned in En- try Following Awful Ex- plosion.
NO HOPE OF
 EARLY RESCUE
Outside Workers Are Max ing Desperate Efforts to Aid Their Companions, but Their Work is of Lit tie Value.

BRUCEVILLE. Tenn. Dec. 9.-TwO hundred and seven living or dead are entombed tonight. as they have been all day in the great cross noun tain coal mine of the Knoxville Iron company. according to the count made this afternoon by an official of the United Mine Workers of America.
 They had just entered to begin th2
 days work when a terrific explosion
 wrecked the workings Only three
 came out alive. They had entered a
 lateral off the main shaft and sue
 ceeded in getting into the open before
 the flames and smoke caught them.
 The body of Lee Polston. operator of
 the mine fan plant. was found buried
 and mangled under a cave-in in the
 main shaft Rescue workers are mak-
 ing scarcely any headway. The gov
 ernments rescue car force is here as are many rescuers and engineers from
 all over the district Shafts extend more than miles into the mountain.
 About the mouth of the vertical
 ventilator leading to the top of the mountain. fires have been built to ere ate a circulation of air from within the mine if possible. Rescuers en- gagged in digging debris from the shaft say this must be removed from about one mile to the mouth of the mine. It is not yet possible to determine wheth- CT this blockading of the entry is ex- tensive. Wood posts and trusses in the shaft have been blown outward. This the miners state. is indicative of serious explosion beyond. Brattices are being constructed by means of which air is forced into the chanled as fast as it is possible to remove the debris
 Three theories are given as to the cause of the explosion One is that powder or dust exploded; the second. that an electric wire came in contact with explosives: third, that the ex- plosion was caused by poor tamping by a drill. The mine was thoroughly inspected a week ago by J. F. Hat maker, who has been inspector eight years. He said there were no gases in the mine. The mine also was re- gently inspected by an inspector un- Ger George F. Sylvester. state mine inspector, representative of Casualty company. which carried insurance on employees of the company He also is said to have reported it in excellent condition.
 According to President Stephenson. O: the iron company if the men reach e1 the posts they were in the lateral shafts when the explosion occurred. This encourages those on the surface tc hope many may be living. Late today there was little prospect of early rescue. The workers encountered dense compact deposits of slate. earth. rock and coal in the main shaft of the mine. also in the abandoned entry used for an air shaft.
 Hugh Larue, a miner. employed in the cross mountain mine, owes his life to q dream his wife had last night. When he prepared to go to work this Mrs. Larue induced him to remain home by reciting a dream. She dreamed she saw scores of miners with their heads blown off being car ried out of the entrance as she and her little children stood at the mines mouth. Larue had not missed a day from work in many months. Only a short time after his wife told Of her dream. the explosion occurred 1