Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-11-23
EXPLOSION KILLS
AND MAINS MEN
At WORK IN YARD
Hundreds Are Entornbed In Min /.
/ When Wild Cars Explode
Dust
RESCUE WORK RUSHED
Known Death List Reaches Sc
Relatives OF Miners In
Frantic Search


/ (By Associated Press. )-i hes
/ work of removing the dead fronf
! Dolomite Mine No. ;. of tha
| Woodward Iron Company, IN
which Ats men were trapped by
an explosion yesterday, were re-
newed with vigor at daylight.
Company officials estimated the
list of dead might be increased
from 63 to 100.
Eighty-four lives were lost and
90 injured as the result OF the
mine explosion. according to q
statement at noon by officials. The
work of identification is not COM
pleted.
Checking of the injured showed the
the list of 60 approximately correct.
least so listed as casuals were eith-
er killed or injured when the train
"trip" cars running wild from the
tipple crashed into the mine yard
in the main entry.
The accident was caused by the
swapping of an electric cable which
set off the dust resulting in an ex-
plosion.
According to company officials
the explosion occurred simultaneous
ly the crash of three skip" CARS
which ran wild" down the slope to
the mine yards approximately IL
| 100 feet from the entrance. These
cars, breaking cable, while they We're
| beng hauled up the slope to the en-
| trance, crashed downward, severing
an electric circuit. This caused a
spark and as the cars crashed into
the yards" which were trackage iii
the interior of the mine, where load
| ed coal cars were assembled before
being hauled to the surface, the ex-,
plosion occurred. So great was the
blast that the flames belched upward
all the way to the mine entrance,
approximately LOO feet, and then
continued on 200 further to the
mine tipple, setting this afire.
approximately fifty men were
working in the yards" at the time
and all of these men weer either
killed or injured.
At late hour last night the main
entrance to mine number 3 was
cleared and rescue workers were us
ing this entrance to enter the mine
and continue their work.
Frank Fl. Crockard, president Of
the Woodward company, made the
following statement last night:
'Out of ATS men who were in the
mine at the time of the explosion it
now appears that about seventy were
killed and sixty or less injured.
The explosion was possibly caused
| by cars breaking loose and running
down the slope, when electric sparks
exploded the dust picked up by tf.s
speeding cars.
practically all Of the injured are
now out and are being given every
attention. While the loss of life is
terrible we are indeed grateful that
more of the large number of work
men on duty did not suffer"
Sends Rescue Car.
The United State Bureau of Mines
has ordered rescue car from the
Kentucky mine field it was announced
at the local station. Daniel Harring-
ton, of Denver, Col, is directing thes
work of the station. The Kentucky
car will include full rescue crew and
equipment, it was stated.
Fifty men, mostly white, were
caught under the wreckage of the
three skip" cars which plunged at
great speed when they broke loose
from their moorings on the tipple,
1,lO0 feet above. Rescue crews
found mangled bodies and a score
of injured men entangled with the.
twisted steel and splintered wood.
The men SO caught were skilled
workmen, many of them sub-fore-
men and electricians employed in the.
underground "yard"
According to rescue workers and
survivors, several bodies of miners
have been identified, although the
bodies yet remain in the mine. The
names of those identified were given
as follows:
Sam Huey, master mechanic.
Eugene Robertson, mine foreman.
Jimmie Summers, electrician.
Tom Warwick, Jeffy Waldrop,
Hershell Warwick, Grady Crowder,
Cleve Early, Lige Stanford and b,
A. Busby, all miners.