Evening star., 1940-03-17
70 Bodies Found
AfterMine Blast;
24Are Missing
die in Rescue Effort; !;
Faint Poundines Heard
As Crews Push Work
- the Associated Press.

~ tn0 AB6ocl2teQ PfeS6.
ST. CLAIRSvILLE, Ohio, March
II (Sunday) AT least az men were
reported early today to have been
killed In a devastating gas ex-
plosion which wrecked a portion of
the Willow Grove coal mine yes
terday.
Sheriff's Deputy Carl Clark of
Belmont County said he was in
formed 20 bodies had been found.
Two men were killed trying to reach
a men entombed by the blast.
Rescue workers also were reported
to have heard faint poundings be-
hind rock barrier, indicating that
possibly some of the trapped men
were still alive.
Efforts Redoubled.
They redoubled efforts to break
through the barrier. The dead were
believed to be victims Of dreaded
"black damp" gas.
Rescue crews yesterday afternoon
and last night saved 113 other
miners following the MONDAY blast.
The A men were cut off from fresh
air and entombed behind a rock
barrier.
They're all dead-they couldn't
live through that blast" said Frank
Opatrny, one of the rescued men.
This view was shared by his fellow
workers.
Desperate attempts to communi-
cate with the imprisoned men failed.
While rescue crews battered at
the rock wall-some thought it
would take all night to break
through-efforts were made to force
fresh air to the men down a 90
foot shaft.
A revised check by r. L. Ireland,
president of the Hanna Coal Co.,
owners Of the mine, showed 157 men
were In the huge mine when the
accident occurred. Many gained
safety through the air shaft at the
end Of the three-mile long drift" :"
or horizontal mine.
"On the way We saw men scat
tered all over the lot," said John
Howoroski, 80, Of Nef1s. Harry
Stanley declared, "1t looks bad"
George Strain, asserted that the
length of time \men lived depended
on the amount of air available in
the area where they were trapped.
Mr.. Strain, State director of indus
trial relations, was in charge OF Ohio
mine rescue crews.
John Richards, mine superintend-
ent, and Howard Sanders, tipple
boss, lost their lives in their res
cue effort. They were killed by the
treacherous 'black Damp" q gas
which forms In mines after an
explosion.
Scores Treated In Hospital.
Nearly all the 157 were affected
by the gas to some extent. Scores
were treated at an emergency hos
pital set up in the mine office base
ment. but there was no immediate
indication how many were in serious
condition. An undetermined number
were reported hurt.
Nick Policy and George Griffith
were in Martins Ferry Hospital and
Peter Taylor and Charles Kluskey
tn Bellaire Hospital. Policy was
burned about the face and arms and
the others were gassed. Griffith Sc
riously. Policy and Griffith were
with Mr.. Richards and Mr.. Saun-
ders in the first rescue effort.
Fifteen men were carried out on
Gtretchers at one time as thousands
Of persons, many of them fearful
wives, crowded around the entrance
Of the mine, located 8 miles south
Of here.
The mine was termed by officials
as the Hanna company's safest" It
was one of the most modern in Ohio
equipped with the latest air-con-
ditioning safeguards.
Fire Is Controlled.
Fire broke out after the blast,
which presumably was caused by
gas or coal dust. 1t was later
brought under control.
A mine car, speeding madly out
of control, shot out Of the entrance
ut noon, an unconscious operator at
the drivers post. This was the first
indication that blast had occurred
Steve Olexia, the operator, was over
come by ''black damp" after the ex-
plosion.
Expert rescue workers from other
mines were mobilized and immedi-
ately began extrication operations
under the personal direction of Mr.
!, I0nA nY AdT nara A0N