The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-20

the Jones boys for one of the murders, but
was subsequently acquitted. He secured
bond on the other charges against him
and returned to the mines.
There were a number of unusual fea-
! lures about the explosion yesterday.
I There was very little confusion about the
mouth of the slope. Women were not in
evidence and the narrowing scenes ordi-
nariiy so frequent on occasions OF this
| Kind were conspicuous for their absence.
| rms was due in some part to the celerity
| with which the bodies were removed
! from the NINE For mine to be cleared
of bodies so quickly after an explosion
| as was Acton No. is unusual in the his
tory of mine explosions The explosion oc-
Cured at 1880 o'clock, p. M, and little
! over IL hours later the last corpse had
been discovered and brought to the sur
| face
AS soon as the bodies were rescued they
We're prepared for burial by the Johns Unz
dertaking company and removed to their
homes. No one was allowed to see them
except mine employees. The women kept
to their homes and did not appear at the
| mouth of the slope; those whose loved
ones did not come home knew that they
would come no more.
Fan Was Undamaged
The officials We're extremely fortunate
in a number of ways. The big fan at the
mine was not disabled and Immediately
after the explosion began drawing the
deadly fumes out of the NINE This en-
abled rescue work to begin before the ar
| rival of the helmet men, as there was a
current of fresh air on the slope. In the
entries the atmosphere was foul. it is true,
but it is the impulse of a miner to rush
to the slope if he survives an explosion
and several bodies bore mute but eloquent
testimony to this fact.
Another thing which facilitated the
rescue work was the condition of the
slope. The mine was wide open for
practically the entire length of the
| mine. There were no cave-ins of con-
sequence and it will only require con-
siderable shoveling to restore traffic
in the slope.
There was plenty of evidence of the
force of the explosion inside. Giant
timbers were knocked out and four-inch
pipe bent almost double, but the dam
age was insignificant in comparison
with what explosions have done to other
mines in the Birmingham district.
Six days after the test run to Tus-
caloosa the driven rescue car of
the United States government was
| called upon to make run in grim
earnest. The great machine responded
as magnificently yesterday as 1T did on
the trip to Tuscaloosa. II. Fl. Hamilton
W
ry DeBardeleben acting as pilot and
reached Acton without trouble. The car
was called upon to assend precipitous
mountains for miles. At one place it
was necessary to climb a five-foot en-
bankment to get on another road. This
is quite feat when it is considered
that the car weighs six tons and the
machine has amply JUSTIFIED the expec-
tations of Chief Nesbitt, who was a
spectator of it's work yesterday.
Pulmotor Saved Jerry Williams
The machine carried helmets, a pull
motor, and other equipment. The pull
motor saved a mans life a few minutes
after the arrival of the car. Jerry Will
liams was resuscitated after being
practically given up by rescuers who
found him on the fourth left entry.
Williams had one of the most re-
markable escapes in the history of
Alabama mining He was in the ninth
entry, the bottom of the mine, when
the explosion occurred. There were
several miners with him and it is said
that when the explosion occurred they
rushed up the slope in an attempt to
break through to the surface only to
meet death in the deadly after damp
Williams did not follow them in their
mad dash for the top. Instead he
crawled into the air course and made
his way to the fourth entry where he
Tell. lie was discovered by reScuerS and
brought to the surface, where desperate
measures were taken to save him. The
pulmotor on the government rescue car
was brought into use and to 1t is at
tributed the fact that Williams is alive
and apparently none the worse for his
experiences
1t is improbable that the exact cause
of the explosion will be known until
the official investigation by Chief In
spector Nesbitt is completed, and it,
may never become known. But there
was considerable gossip in Acton to-
day as to the cause of the disaster. s
AS to Cause of Explosion
Miners who went down were divided
in their opinion of what caused it,
Some argued that it was not dust
explosion on account of the fact that
the mine is so wet. All the water in
the mine was dried up by the explosion.
they said, yet within a few hours the
mine was again wet. This Indicated,
they said, that dust in any considera-
Bile quantities could not have accum
mulated. These argue that gas was
backed up in worked out heading and
this was fired by windy shot" Those
who take the opposite theory maintain
that gas in sufficient quantities to do
such damage could not have accum-
ulated in the mine without detection.
They admit that gas accumulated in
worked out heading might have been
hred by windy shot" but claim that
this in turn ignited the dust which Is.
responsible for the great loss of life.
Officials of the company are inclined
to favor the former theory. Chief Nes-