The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-12-10
WH|MPER|NG At
MOUTH OF MINE
Two Hundred Lives Almost Certain
to Have Been Wiped Out by
Saturdays Mine
Horror.
CANNOT BE REACHED
Men Are Imprisoned Behind Wall OF
Rock and Debris Following
an Unexpected Ex-
ptosion.

UNITED Press Leased Wire Service.]
BRYCEVILLE, Tenn, Dec g.
Through the long, dark watches OF
the night, urged on by beseeching
please OF the bereft ones, rescuers
worked desperately tonight to learn
the fate of 200 miners, entombed to-
day by an explosion in the Cross
Mountain mine of the Knoxville Iron
company. Clustered about the yawn-
ing pit that marked the entrance to
the subterranean depths, whimper-
| ing, horror-stricken crowd, waited,
hoping against hope that helmeted res
lcuers-the only ones safe against the
deadly gases could reach the impris-
oned workmen.
Bryceville has its only hope in the
effort of mine experts of the federal
government who arrived here this af-
ternoon from Knoxville and the best
they can hold out for the rescue of
the entombed, is that the wall of rock
which shuts them off from the world,
4 may be penetrated by Sunday That
they will be alive at that time-if in
/ deed now--is doubted.
Estimates vary as to the number
of workmen imprisoned The general
belief, is, however. that 207 are be
meath ground Several officials o.
: the mine company think $50 viii GOV
er the number of workmen.
: The disaster occurred early today
how no one knows The theory is
that a chance spark ignited the blast
ing powder, or the equally explosive
coal dust-the spark occurring eithel
: when an electric wire was short-cir
cuited, or by the poor tamping of 6
I, drill. The workmen toiling below hat
.|no warning of the catastrophe Tht
explosion caEght all save three, deel
down in the drift The three whit
escaped were in the shaft of the mine
Their fellows are imprisoned perhap
mile from the entrance to the mine
by an intervening wall of stone an
debris which crumbled as a result @
: the explosion. Would-be rescuer
who rushed frantically to the othe
entrance to the mine, when the horrc
of the explosion dawned on then
found their pathway blocked there a
. at the main shaft The men were in
J. prsoned between two walls of eartl
f The belief grows that this double in
y, Ill l.
g suffocated by the poisonous gases.
3 Federal mine rescue crews, sun
e moned from Knoxville, arrived this a
S ternoon and are working to penetrat
G the imprisoning wall Another squa
of volunteers is trying to bore throug
c another side of the drift on the Cpl
osite side of the mountain, with tn
hope of thus reaching the men. The
are believed to be entombed two mile
. from the main shaft and Presiden
: Thomas T. Stevenson, of the Kno.
vile Iron company, owners of th
mine, believes that they may have r
treated into one Of the farther recess
a. es of the mine and still be aliv1
a Workers here, however, think 1t In
lie possible that any of the men have e
caped. The dead body of Leo Pou
y ston, one of the workmen was foun
ty near the cave-in and this led to the b
II lief that the explosion came so SUI
denly that the men were trappe
y while at their work and had no tim
le to flee to safety.
it. The Cross Mountain mine has bee
worked for twenty years. 1t is know
is technically as a drift mine Tt
u coal stratum begins at a good elev
n tion up Cross Mountain, dips sharp
and then rises again. This dip leav,
n the lowest portion of the mine pee
y larily open to gases and coal dus
rt which, being heavier than air, natu
Of ally sink 1t is in this danger spe
C. the experts think that the explosic
occurred. The company sought
n. overcome this by an electric system
le ventilation
sd Rescuers are working in rela
C. which will be continued througho
| the night but according to many wi
"a have been inside Of the mine, it W
W. be impossible to reach the eTtomb
er men before tomorrow. The ii
ID which followed the explosion is st
ie burning fiercely in places and t
smoke is dense.
ms AS soon as tie newa of the disast
es was received in this little town,
IN was spread to the neighboring min
to
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