The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-21
Of 116 Men on Shift Only Eleven Are Known
 to Be Alive 43 AMERICANS ARE EMPLOYED IN MINE I7sr pGovernment Experts Give Up All Hope of Rescuing Those in the Mine-Gas Caused the
 Explosion

sMcr1,rfair Okla, March D-One nun Ared and five lives is accepted tonight as an approximately correct number or the toll of life taken this morning when the Number of the San Bois Coal company here was wrecked by an explo- sion. Of 116 men of the day shift, only II are known to be alive, while the others are entombed behind the debris In the opinion of government experts and mine officials they are dead and a special train which brought physicians and nurses from Fort Smith today returned tonight. Five physicians remained in the hope that some of the entombed men may be found alive.
 Surveying Party Lost
 Among those unaccounted for is a sur ~eying party headed by w. D. Roper. of Clio, South Carolina. Forty-three Ameri- cans were employed in the mine.
 The explosion occurred shortly after nine o'clock this morning. Those on the surface heard a faint rumble and an earth zremor. When those nearest to the mouth of the mine reached the opening, cloud of dust and smoke belched forth.
 Then came tense moments of waiting for those in the mine to emerge. Frank Fields, miner was the first to stagger out He was working in an entry and heard the explosion, he said. He jumped into side room and the explosion passed and he made his way to the mine open ing. Nine other miners escaped through . "man way"
 A rope rider who was coming to the surface with the body of John Colwas, the eleventh man to escape.
 Superintendent Brown of the coal com pany led the first rescue party into the mine but they could proceed no further than the sixth level because of the accu- mutation of debris and returned to the surface wit hthe body of John Cowas, . 17-year-o1d youth.
 Heartrending Scenes
 In the meantime heartrendng scenes were being enacted at the opening, where scores of women and children had gath ared. Throughout the afternoon while .hs rescne work was halted aw aiting mine experts from the government station al McAlister, Okla, they remained about the mouth of the mine.
 Practically every home in the camr has one or more members buried in the mine. The systematic work of penetrat- ing the mine began early tonight and i the first of the half hundred rescuers 1 who are working in relays, to return brought four bodies out of the mine and they were carried to the wash house and laid out upon the floors. The bear CTS of the bodies passed between rows of grief stricken relatives who clamored for a view of the dead. The bodies were biackened and burned and practically un- recognizable and the confusion was so great that 1t was impossible 10 determine definitely their identity
 Sixteen More Bodies Found
 At s o'clock it was reported that the rescuing party had found 16 more bodies, which would be brought out by midnight This would be the last trip of the rescuing party in the mine to- night. Superintendent Brown stated to- night that the force and extent of the explosion was such that only by the re- motest possibility could any of the en - tombed men be alive. The mine ma ; chinery is operated by compressed air and there are three small pumps in diff terent sections of the mine. These pumps exhaust pure air If the force of the explosion and flames did not kill all of the men there Is . remote chance that some of them are being kept alive by these fresh currents, providing the pumps are not out of comm mission To this one slim chance the relatives and friends of the entombed men cling with pitiful hope and pray.
 The force of the expfosion resulted i tccording to the experts, either from l accumulated gas or coal dust. The prop srty Is owned by the Fort Smith and | Western Railroad company.