The Little River news., 1922-06-28
Five Lose Lives in Mine
 Tragedy at Huntington

l..
 lost their lives in Mine No. of the Central Coal & Coke company near Huntington Sunday afternoon, and coroner's jury yesterday rendered verdict placing the blame for the trag- edy on the coal company, because of negligence of the company in fail ing to keep the msn-hole locked and danger signs posted"
 i The dead are:
 Yancey Roberts, 12: Roland Por- ter. IS: John w. Roberts, 36, father
 of Yancey; Edith Robinson. H.;
 Dolly Robinson, IA.
 The tragedy was one of the most
 unusual ever recorded in the coal mining history of this state. The mine has an air-shaft in the hill
 side. hich serves not only to allow fresh air to enter and fumes to es- cape, but also as an escape way for miners working on the property. The top of the shaft is protected by a shed and within the shaft is a series of stairs. leading to the mine work ing, approximately 16O feet below the surface of the earth
 The tragedy brought sorrow to all the Huntington community Sunday, but mingled with the sorrow was an uplifting spirit of fortitude and qualification over the demonstra-
 tion of bravery of the utmost, ex- emplified in the action Of children, who risked and lost their own lives, in the effort to save human life. Briefly, the stories told yesterday at the coroners inquest formed a heart-rendering chapter in the book
 of life There were six children to start from homes, in search of black
 berries - Yancey Roberts, Willie Roberts, Gladys Roberts, Edith Rob- , inson, Dolly Robinson and Minnie
 Robinson. It was a hot day, and
 after tramping through the brush a while, the party stopped on the hill side, to rest and cool.
 Yancey Roberts entered the air shaft, which was in the shade. The others remaining outside. Soon the
 children outside heard Yancey fall. Willie Roberts ran to her brothers assistance She was overcome by the same fumes which had over powered him. Dolly Robinson, closely followed by her sister Edith, also ran into the shaft, to help the others, and each, in turn, was over come.
 Willie Roberts, almost uncon- scious from the fumes, called to the other children not to enter the shaft, but to run for help. The children ran to the home of John W. Roberts, and the elder Roberts and Bob Dunlap rushed to the shaft, Roberts entered the hole, started out with the body of Yancey, but he also succumbed to the fumes." He called to Dunlap to help him, the lat ter entering the shaft only to be over come in turn.
 About this time Roland Porter arrived, having been summoned by the children, and he succeeded in getting Dunlap out of the shaft. Port
 CT again entered the shaft, and this time he brought Willie Robinson, be-
 ing almost exhausted as he reached
 the surface Despite this, he fasten- ed a rope about his waist, and again
 entered the shaft. This time he caught
 hold of Edith Robinson, but despite
 his own efforts, and those of the men
 at the mouth of the shaft, he could
 not be brought to the surface, Port , CTS foot catching on a rung of the steps in the shaft
 1 In the meantime by the children, and within a few minutes Willie
 Roberts and Dunlap had been re- suscitated, and heavy canvass sheets were being used to choke back the fumes, allowing of entrance into the shaft and the bringing out of the other bodies Efforts were unavail- ing to resuscitate any of them.