River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-10-30
MINE DEATH LIST
IS PROBABLY 247
FATALITIES WILL REACH THAT
NUMBER SAYS LATEST
REPORT.
BUT TWENTY-THREE RESCUED
Hundreds of Miners Laborino in
Shifts to Reach Men Entombed
as Result of New Mexico
Explosion.

Dawson, N. NJ, Oct. 25-Two hum
dred and forty-seVen miners are now
believed to be dead beneath tons of
L@Ilen coal and rocks in the Stag Can
on Mine No. 2, of the Stag Canon Fuel
company, here. Hundreds of miners
working in shifts of 10 each are slow.
ly forcing their way through the en-
tries. fighting against dangers of gas
and fire which Thursday started in
an adjoining mine and which threat
ems to reach the space which holds
the entombed men.
Few Taken Out Alive.
Only 20 men have been taken from
the mine alive. At 6:15 Thursday eV-
ening, the first miner to be rescued
alive within IL hours was taken from
the main entry. He was found I'M
conscious, two miles within the mine.
Fourteen dead, % rescued make up
the total of a days work of recovery.
The finding Of a live mule in the
mine encourages officials in charge
Of the rescue work to hope that some
live miners perhaps still are en-
tombed in room located more than
1000 feet into the mine
Son Of Stakeholder Killed.
Henry p McShane, son of Mrs. E.
p. McShane, of New York, widow of
a former heavy stakeholder in the
mine, is among the known dead. Nc
Shane, who was but 10 years old, had
tn f1o IN icI, h ;e Pot
er's estate still held an interest, to
learn mining from practical expert
ence.
J. G. Roberts, chief of the United
States mine rescue bureau in this
district, arrived and has taken charge
of the rescue work.
In the mine at rhe time of the ex-
plosiOn were 284 miners, and that
the death list will reach so great
figure is attributed to the fact that
the great fans which kept the air
circulating within the mine were rem
dered useless by the force of the ex-
plosion Not until four hours after
the explosion were the fans repaired.
Some May Have Escaped.
Mr.. Roberts said that many of the
dead undoubtedly were suffOcated.
Some of the rescue parties declared
it their belief that a party of the
entombed miners had reached a room
and had sealed it in time to prevent
the gas from overcoming them.
The work of rescue will continue
undated, until all of the bodies yet
within the mine shall have been re-
covered
Dr. S. p. Morris, representative of
this district of the American Red
Cross society, reached here and
made preparations to relieve the FAM
lilies of the victims of the explosion.
Mine Officials Assist Destitute.
Director General Ernest P. Bick.
nell OF the Red Cross society in Wash.
ington wired Governor Mcdonald to
draw on the society for $1,000 with
which to alleviate the suffering of
miners families here, but Governor
Mcdonald replied that the mine off,
Gals had given him every assurance
that all destitute families would be
provided for and that the company
would defray expenses of all funer-
ais.
Orders on the company store for
an indefinite length of time have been
issued to the families of the entombed
miners.
The mine was supposed to have
been one OF the model mines in the
United States and that such a disas-
ter could befall the men within it
had been considered impossible.
Examined but Recently
Only two days before the tragedy,
State Mine Inspector Biddow had ex-
amined the property and pronouiced
it in excellent condition.
That most of the miners were killed
with suddenness of the explosion is
evident from the attitude in which
they have been found One man, I'M
identified, was found leaning against
a wall, with both arms elevated to his
face as If striving to ward off an
expected blow. Another was found
standing erect, with his pick still in
his hand just as he had struck his
last blow into the coal.