The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1911-12-13
HARTFORD, KY, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10. 1911.

them back and with rude efforts
tried to cheer them.
With the coming of the Federal
car No. tonight, it was learned
that 1t had arrived before the
mouth of the shaft was sufficiently
cleared of smoke and deadly damp
to make possible an entrance.
TIE Federal rescue crew was
powerless. 1t could make no head
way in the smoke that filed the
pit, and the announcement that
nothing could be done was received
with tremendous sobs from the
historical men and women who sur
rounded the opening.
Hundreds of wives and mothera.
sweethearts and children stood with
tense. drawn faces, sobbing the
whole day and night through.
- Whether the explosion came from
coal dust or blasting powder, is n
mystery. Within the last three
weeks the mine had been inspected
by a Federal inspector and an In
spector for an insurance company
which insured the lives of miners,
and pronounced the mine safe
]. F. Matmaker, inspector for
the Gross Mountain system of
mines, went into the shaft yester-
day and pronounced it perfectly |
safe.
The Cross Mountain mine is one |
of a chain owned by the Knoxville !
Iron Company, and has been in OPP
Grafton for more than twenty years.
The mining district near here
has a tragical history. Not ten
years ago, on the morning of May
10, 1902, the terrible Fraterville
disaster snuffed out at one stroke
the lives of 1877 men and boys. !
Most of these were killed in the =,
explosion.
Already a relief fund has been
started and an appeal sent for food
and clothing for the families OF the
miners in the mine. With winter
upon them, many are without
enough money to last more than a
few days, and it is feared famine
will add to the horror of the situa-
ton. Several thousand dollars have !
been subscribed In Knoxville alone.
Hugh LaRue was saved from
'r-'h by one of those mysterious I
premonitions which frequently are
heard of In great disasters. Mrs. z
LeRue this morning begged him
not to go to work and told him that :
she had had terrible dream.
She said that in her vision she
and their children were standing
about the open mouth of a mine, I
while rescue parties brought out v
the bodies of men who had been {
killed by an explosion. r
LaRue, impressed by the dream, '
decided to remain at home. With S
m an hour the explosion came. ]
The mine was operated by nom a
lnion men. but John F. Bowder, C
president of District 10. United f
Wine Workers Of America. offered
he services of his men for rescue t
work. He said that the union I
would do all in its power to help t
he men. II
Rescue Progress Slow. c
Briceville, Tenn. Dec. 10 p
in the depths OF the Il
Iross Mountain Coal Mine probably fl
100 men lie dead tonight. while s
heir sorrow-stricken families keep "
,igil at the mouth of their tomb, 0
topping against hope that their low
ID ones may be alive when rescuers il
each them.
In spite of the heroic efforts to ID
each the 100 to $50 victims of the a.
ll-fated Cross Mountain mine of a
he Knoxville Iron Company, only 81
light dead bodies had been recover a
d and removed up to $50 o'clock RI
his evening. Prospects we're that a.
/ would be far into the night before Il
much greater progress was made in b,
the victims and indeed,
many days may elapse until the "
line is cleared of its debris, which
J seriously and effectively imped-
ng the progress OF the seekers of
he dead. tc