Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-06
Governor Aids 800 Children
Left FatherIess by Blast
That Also Took Lives of In
SpeCting Officials.
EIGHTEEN MEN RESCUED
IN SERIOUS CONDITION
Tons Of Dislodged Slate and Coal
Dismember Workers-Truck Is
Hurled 35 Feet, as Miners Are
Trapped by Flames and Smoke
Far From Shaft.
BY the Associated Press.

by the Associated EreSS.
MILLFIELD, Ohio, November g.
No. 6 mine of the Sunday Greek Coal
Co. gave up the last of its dead shortly
after 7:30 this morning when the
seventy-sixth and last body of the men
who met death when an explosion and
fire wrecked the underground workings
late yesterday was brought to the sur
face.
Eighteen in Serious Condition.
Fear that this toll might be in
creased, however, was expressed by res
cue workers and officials of the Sunday
Greek Co. because of the serious con-
dition Of Is men who escaped from the
inferno alive after being found huddled
with the dead 165 feet below ground.
They were brought to the surface
last night and early today after hav-
ing spent several hours in the gas-filled
shaft.
AS fast as the bodies were brought
out they were taken to the temporary
makeShift morgue An Storeroom near
the mine entrance, where a corps of IS
embalmerS from number of cities was
on hand to lay them out on slabs to
await Identification.
Many of the victims faces were
blued and twisted and the bodies gave
evidences of their wild rushes seeking
freedom from the gas.
A temporary hospital was established,
while Salvation Army and Red Cross
organizations distributed blankets, food
and other necessities.
Representatives of the State Depart
fnent Of Public Relations were on hand,
with instructions from Gov Myers Y.
Cooper to write compensation checks
for poverty-stricken families. 1t is es-
timated that 800 children were left
tatherlesS.
Tons Of Slate DisIodged,
The first explosion was tremendous.
Tons of slate and coal we're iolted into
the passageways. Bodies of many of
the workers were dismembered. A
short time later there was second
blast and the mine filed with gas.
which penetrated masks and kept back
Tescuers until last night.
Then mine rescue squads from Ohio
and Pennsylvania. besides those recruit
ed from the surrounding mining terri
tory, went down and discovered the
full extent of Ohio's worst mining
, tragedy. There was heap of bodies
at the bottom of the first shaft, while
8SAACAG MCIG 6DIdN16Q bIIOQRnOuL The
tunnels, some of them dying with their
hands grasping at their Threats or
kneeling In prayer.
His wtfe's apron saved the life Of
George RaSp of Jacksonville, one of the
trapped workers, who escaped death In
the disaster.
Rasp said he was blown almost 100
feet from the place where he had been
standing by the force of the explosion.
He heard roaring noise and then the
shouts of his fellow underground
prisoners.
Wife's Apron Saves Life.
'In my hand, for some reason, was
my wife's apron, which had brought
from home this morning to tie around
my face because the air has been so
bad lately" Rasp related.
Il dipped the apron in some coffee /
found in a lunch bucket and tied it
across my face. Then I crawled on
my hands and feet-it seemed like a
mile / crawled-untn I came to an
air shaft where I was able to get up on
p wooden stairway"
story Of how he and his buddy"
escaped the death-dealing gases was
told by Walter Porter, 40.
Porter, the father of seven children,
was one of those injured by the ex-
plosion. He suffered broken ribs and
cuts on the forehead.
II was nearly u o'clock when I and
my buddy, Emmett Oilers, were called
10 NIX some latches in the No 10 west
entry" Porter said. I'VE had lust
stared 70 work when there was q ter
Tifie noise and wall Of tiame.
Truck Blown IS Feet.
"The explosion blew cur truck. con-
tanning our tools, approximately IS feet
and catapulted 1t up against the tim
Der. thought the trolley wire Tell of
when ! saw the burst Of flame
After regainlng my senses tried to
rise but something continued to fall
about and imprison me. The explosion
blew coal high ana brattice board in
all directions. 1t came so fast I could
hardly recall what happened"
Porter told how he and Oilers, dazed
and not knowing whether they were
hurt, LAY for quite a time in the dark
The mine turned hot and the warm air
rushed through Other men near u:
were trapped but managed to get out.
Finally ] got up and tried TO gel
out TO three different grounds, for OIL.
bers and myself were acquainted with
the workings quite well. First we trieC
the air shaft of the old workings bu
the after-damp blocked our path.
I'VE came back where we started anC
tried 70 escape 70 the No 2 west entry
the old room which we found wa!
squeezed together. Finally we emerged
through O trap door,
saThe black damp was so bad that w
saturated our handkerchiefs with waite
IN our pals and covered our faces Will
them as q precaution against the gas.
Cause Of Blast Uncertain.
The cause Of the explosion also re
NAMED uncertain today, although it wa
generally believed 70 have been causes
bv accumulation of gas. z. w. Smith
chief Of the mine division Of the Obi
Denartment OF Industrial Relations, sal
the cause could not he determined unit
4 thorough examination is made. II
sid however. that the blasts occurre
about i mile and three-fourths fror
the shaft.
inspection party, who had been lowere
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