The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-12
Gloomy Day Fitting Shroud for the Scene of DesO-
 latiOn DIR. HOLMES TAKES PERSONAL CHARGE Head of United States Bureau of Mines Driving His Men Relent- lessly in Effort to Make
 Any Possible Rescue
THOSE SAVED

occcocccccccccccoccScccc Briceville, Tenn, December 11-Five men were taken out alive from the Cross Mountain mine tonight after all hope Of saving any of the hundred or more men entombed by the explosion last Satur- day morning had been abandoned.
 All except one man were in good con- diton after 50 hours below the earth, and the rescuers were so encouraged that they bent their energies anew and to- night there were excellent prospects that more survivors would be reached before morning.
 Ali the men rescued were working in the second room on the left hand side of entry 19.
 Fl. A. Irish, aged 60, who was bossing the gang, was killed instantly by the explosion and his body was found to- night badly burned His son, Theodore, was the only other one of the gangs members accounted for who was in jured.
 The two other members strayed away and have not been located.
 Henderson Tells of Rescue
 "BiI' Henderson, the oldest of the res cued men, came out of the mines smok- ing his pipe and resisted when efforts were made to carry him home on stretcher.
 ''Oh let me walk,' he protested, but b without avail.
 Henderson made the following state ment of his experience:
 Under my direction we bratticed up the entrance to the mine room. With our coats we fought back the after damp that came through the cracks in the brat tice and then stuck our coats and other articles of wearing apparel in the hole of the brattice We had lights, our dinner and each of us had from half to thfee-quarters of a gallon Of coffee and water in our dinner pails. We re- mained in this room quietly for several hours burning one light and taking turns at eating Saturday evening Arthur Scott and Dore Irish left the room and at tempted to make their way back and reach the entrance of the mine through the over pass That was the last we saw of them. The next morning we made our way, the air having been purified by the fan into the entry and passed over into No 1S endeayoring to find the way out. We ran into gas and were forced to go back into room No. 19 where the air was pure. We remained there until discovered tonight. We ate the last of our food about the middle of Sunday afternoon, but still had some water, left and plenty of light. We were endeavoring to reach the main entrance again when we were discovered by the mine rescue men about S:15 o'clock to- night"
 Wild Excitement
 Briceville became wildly excited when the rews spread over the village that four men had been found alive. Almost every woman in town it seems who was not grjeving for her certain dead, rushed to the mines in the hope that their loved ones might be among them Strangely the wives of none of the res cued men were there, some of them be- ing i'll and hysterical. The scenes at the homes when the man arrived were af- fecting
 The death list was increased to 2S five bodies were found in right entry No 2I, the rescuing party being now at work with all their might exploring the entries on the left side one having been found alive in the right entries that were examined.
 One of '.Biil' Henderson's friends tele phoned this afternoon to Clinton, Tenn, directing that a grave be dug for him in the old Henderson burying ground there He hastily countermanded the or der tonight admitting that he had given it against the wishes of Mrs. Henderson who had never despaired of seeing her husband and son alive. Two squads of mine rescue men are now at work, an other car having arrived tonight from the .Pittsburg district in charge of I. w, Paul. Dr. J. A. Holmes, the director of the United States bureau of mines, and pr. J. J. Rutledge of the Pittsburg sta tion have been in the mine for more than l3 hours directing the work
 Families of the 100 more miners en- flies of the 100 or more miners en tombed in Cross Mountain mine today began to realize that there was no chance of their ever seeing their loved ones again alive At night fall 22 bodies had been recovered and more than 20 cross entries to the mine re- rnained to be explored It will be days before all of the entries are penetrated. A day more gloomy or more Tn keep ing with the feelings of the surviving inhabitants of this stricken village would be difficult to imagine cold rain began falling just before daybreak and continued until late in the after noon, converting the roads, which com prise the streets of Briceville, into mud puddles. From the little shacks In which the miners live came wailng sounds from women and children, there- by adding to the general gloom For the most part the women remained In their homes, but q few of them paraded their grief through the village and stood in the rain outside the mine en- trance waiting for their dead to be brought forth.
 The rescue work has gone relentlessly on since the explosion occurred early Saturday morning. Dr. J. A. Holmes, head of the United States bureau of mines. took personal charge of the gov ernment mine experts today and d1- rected his men into the unexplored re- cesses. Wearing oxygen helmets they were able to penetrate to corners in which the miners themselves dared not venture for fear of the dread after damp. They worked as rapidly as pos sible, leaving the miners to take out their dead while they searched for any who might be living
 IN All Men Are Americans ATractically all the men who are believed "A h. q ve ,,erfsb are Americans. horn and