New Britain herald., 1926-01-14
Little Hope Held Out for Other 9l Men EntOmbed in Okla.
 hona Shalt
COURT ORDER FINDERS
 SKILLED RESCUE WORK

I'its Oi traNI-
 ing For .s Hours. Over nrad
 Bodies, in Frantic ..itcmpI |, F..
 cape.
 WiIburton, Okla. Jan. 14 Cq. TWO men were rescued alive toau, rom the lower levels of mine No oi or the Dcgnan- Mcdonnell Ninira company. where an explosion ye.. terday entombed l01 miners. A nr "hich for Q while halted tho r ooVery Of bodies, was extinsuisbc,. shortly before noon and raact,, crews again entered the min. Ninety-one men are dead or unac. counted for. ',
 Ihose rescued today wore cecH Mckinney white. and Boryl Hol. land, a negro.
 CraWled Over Bodies
 Mckinney said lie had crov-,al in tNe mine passage over dead bodies Tor 2S hours. 1ie was in a state or eNaauslion when rescue workers brought him to the surface His clothing vas wuter-soaked and his race covered with soot. A physician called from the thronr abou, tbo mouth of the mine, said h, wos not hurt and would recover in short time.
 T crawled and crawled. after the explosion, in utter blackness" Me- kinney chattered between clencbel letth, as he was almost cared In the shower room.
 Tells Of 15 Bodies
 There arc l5 dead bodies M entry 16, east, where l was ,ynr,.;n. at the time the explosion occnrrcI do not know where l crawlod or how long crawled. but ip5, squeezed through and finally found slope and came to the bend where you found me"
 Mckinney said he did not ts;,l, that any in tho mine were alive.
 fhre more bodies have hr.n brought to the cage shaft and arc ready to be drawn out. Six were brought out last night. Three others were uncovered and can be brought to the surface at any time.
 Big Relief Force
 other men are believed to be buried so deely beneath debris thot 1t will be two or three days before their bodies can be removed
 Regular work in the wilburtnn Valley was closed today and be. tween $50 and 400 miners were here to give aid.
 Court Order Hammers
 Federal court injunction issued last october prevented union miners rom joining in the rescue efforts at tho Dogma Mcconnell mine yester- cay where sS workmen lost their lVes in an explosion. A restrainipe order from Judge R. l.. Williams lorbids union miners refusing ta work under the 1917 wage agree. ment from coming on company property.
 Old time miners, virtually th, only ones thoroughly acouainted with rescue work and experienced in handling disasters, were kept from lending assistance.
 Jeff Thurston, veteran miner om on strike was one of those anxious to go to the mine yesterday morn ing. He and group of strikine miners met the night train thai brought Ed Boyle, state mine in Spector to Wilburton. With tears m his eyes, Thurston appealed to Boyle:
 Last Chance Lost
 Ed they are not getting any. where. If the men in that mine ha, any chance to live. the chance was lost because no old heads are on Inc ground to take charge of the rescue work"
 Thurston pleaded with Boyle for permission to take a number of miners to assume charge Of rescue work despite Judge Williams Injunction. Boyle told the veteran to have a group of men ready and that he would call on them if he thought they could then give assist ance,
 Pitlhh Scenes Notes
 Many relatives remained at inc mouth Of the mine throughout the night, huddled about scattered fires awaiting recovery of the bodies Of loved ones. AS the night wore on, almost dead silence settled upon the eNpectant group, broken now and then by the cries Of the women, One young woman, a sleeping baby on either knee. sat throughout most Of the night. With no word. she kept her place on an old nail keS. warming the children before one of the fiickering fires. Only with the approach Of dawn and the an noupcement that no bodies were to be brought out Immediately, did she end her watch.
 The ill-fated mine is located mile and a half west of wilburton. 1t is one of the largest in this sec lion of the country. The normal employed is around 100 men.
 Blames Mine Owners
 Responsibility for the disaster was placed sQuarcly on the mine opera. tors by Ed. Boyle, state mine inspec- tor. after an investigation. Boyle de clared that in his opinion. the ex. plosicn was due 10 the employing Of incompetent miners. He said that he believed the explosion was from gas collected in one or more passages in