Evening star., 1937-10-16
33 MINERS KILLED
|NALAbAMA BLAST;
ONE MAN SURVIVES
Bodies Are Recovered Near
Birmingham-CoaI Gas
Is Blamed.
DET0NATI0N is HEARD
II MILES FROM SCENE
Crowd Huddles in Cold at Shaft
Entrance-Rescue Workers
Risk Death.
By tie Associated Press.

By tie Associated Press.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala, October 16.-
A terrific explosion killed SO hope
lessly trapped men deep in Mulga
coal mine near Birmingham early
today
Rescue crews battled heroically
through smoke and dangerous gases to
bring out the blackened and mutilated
bodies.
Only one elbow of the mine was
affected. and the remaining $50
workers at Mulga shuddered as they
contemplated how narrowly their lives
had been spared. If the blast haG
occurred near the mine entrance, all
would have been trapped.
Mangled, burned and battered, the
bodies were brought up from the
depths on coal cars. Approximately
800 spectators. including distraught
wives, children and parents, watched
the grim proceedings in horror.
The detonation was heard in Sec
tlons OF Birmingham, more than IL
miles from the scene. Fire Marshal
Sam Williams blamed coal gas for
the blast.
Reaches Fellow Workers.
Forrest Kelley, miner. was first
TO reach his stricken fellow workers.
Some of them must have beer
killed by black Damp" he said
They might have been saved if they
had remained in small pocket which
was not demolished"
Many of the victims were covered
by debris and Identification was diff
cult. The grime-streaked rescue crews
pulled their torn bodies from the
Wreckage of working approximately
miles from the main entrance.
One Escapes Death.
One man, Ivan Fox, miraculously
escaped death in the blast. He suf-
fered major burns and was unable to
tell of his experience.
The bodies were taken to under
taking establishments at Bessemer. 13
miles from here, where a list of the
oedo was being computed.
R. M. Marshall, vice president of
the woodward Iron Co., operators of
the mine, said the victims were about
equally divided between white and COL
ored miners.
The bodies were brought to the sur
lace at daybreak. Homes of the miners
were deserted, but State highway pa
trolmen and Birmingham police kept
the rural roads open.
Only one telephone was available to
newspaper men and for emergency
calls, and conversations were limited
to one minute each.
In Isolated Region.
Mulga lies in an isolated, mountain
Gus region which includes the best
coal lands in Alabama. Its coal is
used primarily for iron making, being
shipped to the Woodward blast fur
naces few miles away.
First news of the disaster came from
laconic call to police headquarters
here, asking that several arnbulances
be sent, and for police to keep the
AOoO ClcdI.
Rescue crews fought their way into
the elbow despite warnings that a
trip into the mine was extremely haz-
ardous. Equipped with oxygen masks,
a squad from the United States Bureau
OF Mines led the way into the elbow
where the victims lay.
The hills about the mine shaft were
covered with frost and the cold added
to the suffering of relatives of the VIC
Tins.
This disaster was the first of major
proportions In Alabama since the
Overton blast in 1925, in which 81 lost
their lives. Mulga is only few miles
from Dolomite, where SO died in a
dust explosion in 1922.