Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-12-15
SCORES DIE IN
NINE DISASTER.
EXPLOSION OF DUST TRAPS MEN
FAR BACK IN TENNESSEE
WORKINGS.
REsCuERs ARE DRIVEN BACK
Dy Flames and smoks-only Three
Men Escape From Shaft to
Bring 1ldinos Of
Mishap.

KNOXVILLE, Ven0., Dec. 1l.-f0f Dack
IN the workings Of the main Cross
mountain coal mine near Briceville-
beyond hope Of rescue. 100 to $50
miners were cut OF from the world
to die of suffocation.
1t was soon after the men had gone
to their work far back in the wind.
ing hole in the ground that reaches
two miles into the mountain. that .
puff Of air shot from the mouth of the
main shaft. A message of death came
to the men at the surface with the
gust from the earth. Then there came
smoke. 1t spelled doom. 1t was sew
eral hours before any effort could be
made to rescue the imprisoned min.
ers-or bring out the bodies.
Reseuers Driven Back.
And when the belated rescuers final.
Iy arrived from adjoining mines it was
too late-if indeed the fate OF the i'm
prisoned miners had not been sealed
from the instant Of the explosion. Az
the rescue parties penetrated into the
shaft flames leaped out on the heels
of the smoke. 1t would have meant
only the sacrificing OF more lives to
make further effort to reach the living
tomb. So the men fell back.
And as they gave up, the women.
widows now, who had gathered at the
mouth of the mine at the first word
of the disaster. turned away in tears
or tore madly at restraining arms.
seeking to go themselves into the pit
where the lives of their husbands had
been snuffed out.
Help Comes From Knoxville.
President Stephenson Of the Knox.
Vile Iron company, operating the
mines, was in charge Of train which
left here over the Southern railway.
With him went officials of the local
mine rescue station. They carried
paraphernalia Of rescue.
President Stephenson declared that
The casualties would not be as large as
1t first reported from Biceville. He
did not believe there were many men
in the mine at the time of the ex-
plosion. He said the mine is usually
manned by 200 workers.
Three Men Escape.
Members of rescue squads who were
driven from the mine by flames and
smoke, declared they had advanced q
mile into the main shaft until they
were forced to retire and that in that
distance they had discovered no signs
Of the imprisoned men. Just before
these rescuers were driven out by
smoke, they encountered cave-in Ut
each of the entrances. They were Of
such character as to positively confirm
the early theory that dust had caused
the explosion.
OF all the men who went into the
mine, three have escaped. They were
John Lang, Same Farmer and Merit
Hatmaker. They were in one Of the
lateral shafts 1T the time Of the ex.
plosion.
Town Of Stormy History.
The mine is owned and operated by
the Knoxville Iron company and IL
about thirty-five miles from Knoxville
Briceville, as . mining town. has
had a stormy history. 1t was the scene
In the early nineties of rioting when
miners rebelled against working with
convicts leased by the state. Troops
were sent there to quell the trouble
Briceville is in Anderson county. Al
Coal Creek, near there, on May 10
1902, 200 men were killed In the
Fraterville mine explosion. There are
sovora1 hie, mines at Rriceville known