The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-08-16
TOWN MOURNS.
80 KILLED IN
MINE BLAST
Kemmerer Citizens Plan Burial
SerVice-One Man Still
Entombed.
BY Nj. F. DACEY.
International NeWa Service,

AAbtcEuhVkOnt1h NEWS ScEVACO'
kEMMERER, Wyo., Aug. 10
Bowed with grief, stricken KEN
| merer today planned to bury the
! were snuffed out by the terrific ex-
plosion in Frontier Mine No. l, OF
the Kemmerer Coal Company, Tues
day morning.
Latest figures given out by the
mine officials showed that 1874 work.
men entered the slope; thirty-five
OF these were rescued alive, ninety
eight bodies have been recovered.
and one man, Thomas Roberts. 10
still entombed.
Substituting for Brother.
Roberts was a victim Of fate, hav.
Ing entered the shaft on the, fatal
day to substitute for his brother.
The aged father Of Tommy" Rob-
erts has haunted the mouth Of the
mine for two days and nights. pray
ing that by some miracle his sons
life may have been spared. That
he Is dead, however, is generally
conceded.
Many heart-rending scenes were
enacted at the two morgues last
night as hundreds Of relatives and
friends viewed the bodies stretched
under the white canvas on the floors
of the Odd Fellows Hall and F'itz-
patrick undertaking parlors.
At meeting Of Frontier local Of
ficials of the United Mine Workers,
lasting until an early hour this
morning, plans for burying the dead
were made.
To Hold General Service.
A general memorial service Will
no hold n tho Vn11hIiO eOl1aro at
Kemmerer at D. m. Friday.
Civic and fraternal organizations
Of Kemmerer will be invited to
participate in this service and 1t Is
expected that all business houses
will be closed and a day of general
mourning will be declared by the
civic authorities.
Several bodies will be inferred
today and about a dozen will be
sent to other cities for burial.
Hundreds of mine workers from
Kemmerer, Frontier, Elko, Evan
ston, and other Wyoming coal fields
have volunteered to gather today
at the Hillside cemetery in From
tier, mile north Of Kemmerer, to
prepare the graves for their
stricken companions, where the ma
jority of them will be buried Fri
day.
The cemetery where the bodies
will lie is located on a hillside
underneath which is the plump"
-furthermost end-of the mine in
which they met their death. The
mine opening is nearly mile and
a half away, across the Hamsfork
river, the slope running under the
river into the side Of a miniature
mountain atop which will be the
final resting place of the victims
of Wyoming's greatest mine disas-
ter in score Of years.
Hold Inquest Today.
County Coroner e. w. Holmes
has announced that an inquest will
probably be held some time today.
Meanwhile the cause of the ex-
plosion Is Undetermined.
Few questioned the official an
nouncement Of p. j. Quealy, presi-
dent of the Kemmerer Coal Com
pany, that the explosion was the
result of elbow out shot" 1t was
pointed out in some quarters, how.
ever, that there was hardly time
for windy shot" to be- fired be-
tween 1870, the time the first train
entered the me and 8:15 when the
explosion is believed to have
occurred.
State Mine Inspector Pete Pater-
son has made no statement on the
condition of the mite and members
of the United States Bureau of
Mine rescue crew were likewise
silent on the subject.
Lester Pratt, secretary of the
Kemmerer Coal Company told In
ternational News Service that the
mine had undergone periodical in
spections the last one about three
months ago. He said the State
Mine Inspector had just reached
the city on the day Of the explosion
to start a periodical inspection Of
all mines in the camp.
Pratt said that the physical con-
dition of the Frontier mine was
unchanged as a result Of the ex-
plosion and that the shaft would
be workable in a day or two.