The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-11-07

Their vigil began when( the first eight were brought to ttte hospital. The entrance of stretcher-bearers. meant that another ,tomrade had been dragged from an Underground | sea of gas.
 explosion occurred in the heart of the mine. As soon a, s miners from neighboring pits could reach the mine preliminary work of rescue began, and it was Supplemented later in the day by trained engineers from the United States (bureau of mines in Pittsburg and the rescue crews ot neighboring miTes
 Seek to Locate Living
 The rescue men all told the same story, as they came to the surface. They declarsed that bodies stwere scat tered through the workings for more than 500 fs4et.
 sturdy nr'ener, "is that at least of the 20 victir,ns were within 100 feet of fresh air when they were overcome by the gas"
 Evesry effort tonight was being made to locate all of the living. As sooM as that has been done. the work of Removing the dead will commence.
 Hfen, women and children by the score crowded the police line near Fzhe shaft. Many had been there since fthey heard of the explosion and there was no indication they would leave
 their posts until the last body had been brought out.
 Youth Saves Dozen Lives | of bnpnrn a the h nEDi =
 tai rests a youth of 22. His name Is 1 Abe Craig. His coolness saved at i least dozen lives.
 There isn't much to tell" said Craig. "we went down at T o'clock I and entered heading number 10 on l the left. A few minutes later there was a crash. I told the boys that meant cave-in, and we had better get out Then there was a rush or
 gas. Luckily our door was open or the explosion would have knocked II down. I slammed it and about 70 | of us waited to see what would
 happen. l of our gang shouted to tell them there was fresh air in our place. l lopened the door and three or four l men staggered in. The boys rushed
 out and dragged in others. We re vived them. | .sThen I looked out again. All I could see was bodies. The afterdamp
 was rolling through the heading. 1 jumped inside and closed the door. There was nothing to do but wait for i rescuers.
 "From 7:S0 until about o'clock we stayed in the chamber. Older men
 were getting faint. Young fellows were holding out pretty we'll Nobody had very much to say. Some Of the i boys were praying.
 Sought Fresh Air
 "Finally the afterdamp worked It's way around and under the door. There was only one thing to do. ! fold them we would have to make a run for it. We opened the door and ran down the heading. It was tough dash, stumbling over bodies. We began to choke. Some of the boys | fell, but those of us who had any I fight left kept on.
 I've ran into fallen rock between
 the seventh and ninth heading. That probably was where the explosion occurred.
 T had hunch that if we got to the sixth heading we would get fresh air, but the last hundred yards was something awful. Coughing and Istrangling. we kept on, and finally l
 ran slap bang into the air. I was dizzy, but I screamed to the boys. Most of them who got to the sixth heading keeled over.
 l s.Then I heard men coming and I
 knew they were rescuers. They got l us out. Only the young men made it. I I am afraid all the older men lost their lives"
 ] Three times Craig stopped his story. Each time a silent form was brought lin on a stretcher. Physicians said Craig and all others in the hospital would recover. A number. it was added, owed their lives to prompt
 treatment given by rescue parties
 under ground,