Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1914-05-01
27O Miners EntOmbed in
Burning Coal Mine

Charleston, w. Va, April 20
That upwards of two hundred men
have lost their lives in the second
worst mine disaster in the history of
West Virginia is the report of Mine
Chief Earl Henry, from Eccles, in
Raleigh county, where at 2::30 O'Clock
yesterday afternoon shaft mines num-
Der five and six. of the New River
Collieries companies, were wrecked
by three distinct explosions that shook
the earth for miles around, and sent
shattered timbers six hundred feet
above the mouths of the shafts.
OF the SO men who went to work in
the number five mine yesterday morn
ing, none have been rescued, and it is
believed all have persisted. OF the
seventy-iour who entered the number
six mine yesterday morning, sixty
we're taken out alive. Four are dead:
F. ] Lingterman, A. b. Groughman,
Cecil Warden and a white man, whose
body was SO badly maugled as to
make identification impossible.
The rescues FROM this mine were ac-
complished by members of party
that FASTENED from Beckley, six miles
away, and of the crew of federal
rescue car sent from Winding Gulf.
Ten men remain unaccornted for in
mine number six.
The exact cause of the explosion
will not be known until the mine de-
partment has had time to MAKE an ex-
animation. Meanwhile, it is believed
that the explosion was the result of
mine gas or fire damp.
When the explosion occurred, all
the exits, except the air passages,
we're filed with wreckage, and not un-
til a late hour could way be cleared
to permit the escape of the men in
number six. The fans were working
ut midnight and the exploration of
the other mine was planned for an
early hour today.
The explosion is the worst since
December. 1907, when the disaster at
Monogahela killed 366.
Eccies, w. Va, April 2S.-Fears
are entertained for the safety of 80
miners who are entombt in the Eccles
mines OF the New River Galleries com
pany here There was an explosion,
followed by fire, at 2:30 O'Clock this
afternoon, in shaft number five, in
which 1876 men were at work, and the
flames extended to shaft number six,
where IS miners we're at work.
Little hope is entertained of saving
the miners. Rescuers, trying to gain
entrance to the miners, have been
driven back to the surface by the
flames. The wives and children OF
miners are gathered at the mine en-
trance, and the scenes are pathetic.
Rescue crews from the nearby mining
towns were rushed here, including the
rescue car of the United States bureau
of mines, stationed at Bluefeld, W..
Va.
Volunteer rescue crews at O'Clock
this evening penetrated number five
and number six mines, two hundred
feet, when they were stopped by fire.
All the entries 10 the mines are burn
ing, and little hope is entertained that
the entombed miners will be taken out
alive.
The rescue crews, under the direc-
ton of Supt M. e. Kent; took two
foreigners from mine number five and
one from mine number six, all SO re-
verely burned that they are unrecog-
nizable. They are expected to die.
The fire in number five mine has
burned almost to the shaft, and num-
Der six mine is burning within one
hundred feet OF the shaft.
In the list of those in nine No. 5
appear the names Of Robert Thomp-
son and Joseph Hickman, who is a
son of the late Frank Hickman, OF
Edinburg. His wife telegraphed
friends in Edlnburg that her husband
was buried in the mine.
Hickman was about twenty-one
years old and was married about q
month ago to Miss Dooley, of Eccles
Mr.. Stoneburner it is said was ava,
from the mine at the time Of the ex
plosion.
4 In the list of names of those In min
No 8 appears that of Joe Copeland.