The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1922-11-23
84ARE KNOWN
DEAD;;SC0RES
ARE INJURED
Scenes of Pathos About Ala
bama Mine Mouth as
Bodies Are Removed
TALES OF HEROISM
FOremen Build Barriers
Against Gas and Many Are
Saved in This Way
DEAD SET AT "a.


Birmingham, Nov. 23.-Eighty
four lives were lost and sixty
persons were injured as a result
on an accident and explosion yes
terdav in Dolom:te No. 3. coal
mine of the Woodward Iron com.
pany, according to statement
issued at noon today by Frank
II. Crockard, president of the
company. Of the injured, IS
were removed to their homes, 25
were in hospitals. Work of iden-
tification at that hour had not
been completed but it was believ-
ed 38 white dead and 20 white
injured.
Birmingham, Ala, Nov. 23.-Work
of removing the dead from Dolcmite
mine No. 3 of the Woodward Iron
Company in which ATS men were
trapped by an explosion yesterday,
was renewed today with vigor by
rescue crews aided by undertaker's
assistants. Company officials esti-
mated that the list of dead might
be increased from SO. Checking Of
injured indicated that the list of
sixty was correct. Of the dead rs
were white men of the injured 80
per cent are negroes, according to
company officials.
At least fifty men who are listed
in the casualties were either killed
or injured when a train of trip cars
running wild from the tipple crash
ed into the mine yard in the main
entry. This accident caused the
swapping tof an electric cable, which
in turn. set. off tn. dust which re-
suited in the explosion. The concus-
sion rocked the earth for miles
around and occurred SO near.
The concussion rocked the earth
for miles around and occurred so
nearly simultaneously with the acci-
dent which produced it that the vic
tins were not aware what was hap
pening.
At dawn the weary watchers about
the pit appeared to renew hope that
"all the live persons" have been re-
moved. White and black huddled in
the biting cold about the pit. Joc oc-
cassionally rewarded women and
children by workers turning up from
out of the night, following their es-
cape from two other exits. The
other exits were miles from the main
entry and this caused families to b.
separated from those rescued for
several hours in some instances.
Company officials announced at 10
o'clock that all bodies had been re-
moved from the pit and at that hour
a check was being made to determine
the exact list of fatalaties.
Following rescue work which con-
tinued throughout the night, officials
of the Woodward Iron Company,
owners of the Dolomite Mine No. 3,
where a dust explosion trapped ATS
miners yesterday afternoon, an
nounced early today that SO bodies
had been taken from the mine, and
that they feared the total toll Of
dead might reach 100. @
Approximately sixty men were re-
ported to have been injured by the
blast. and the other men 20 have cs-
capped unharmed.
Scenes of pathos about the mine
mouth during the night and early
morning hours continued as 1ela. yes
and families Of miners known to have
been in the mine when the blast oc-
Cured waited expectantly for news
of their loved ones.
Many of these men, it was believed,
had reached the surface in safety
through the runway connecting the
mine with mine No. 2, and had re-
entered the workings to help in res
cue work without communicating
with company officials or relatives.
Keep Watch.
The anxious relatives kept their
watch about the mine mouth all night
long, refusing to quiet their post un-
til they learned definitely of hus-
bands, fathers, brothers or other
loved ones.
Throughout the night happy re-
unions occasionally relieved the sor-
rowful scenes. One small girl gave
a cry of delight as grimy miner
emerged, his face smoke blackened
and his clothing bearing signs of his
struggle to reach the surface in safe
ty. As the man came out of the lit
tie girl threw herself into his arms
and the pair hurried off before the
name of the man could be learned.
Another aged woman is said to have
collapsed as she greeted two sons
after several hours of anxious wait
ing at the entrance, fearing that both
had lost their lives. The boys, meet
ing rescuers in the mine as they
were making their way out and learn
ing that the workings were safe
again from poisonous gases, had in
stantly turned back to aid in the
search for other men, thus keeping
their mother in suspense until they
finally reached the surface exhausted.
Stories of HerOism.
Stories Of heroism, common in
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