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Show VIEW OF CARPENTER. General Sales Agent Tells Story of the Catastrophe. General Sales Agent E. L. Carpenter of the coal company said last night: "We have receivedu no authentic newa from Scofield. . What information we have Is" from a roundabout source, but is of a nature that assures us of the terrible magnitude of the accident. As nearly as we can judge, there was an explosion, explo-sion, we know not from what source, and the fatalities were caused by the after damp. In a telegraohic conversation conver-sation -with the ooerator at Scofleld I learned only a few detail. '.'Barney Doug-all, a surveyor, who lives at Springville. was" found dead, while hia instrument ptood in its nlace unharmed. This, is a circumstance pointing to the after damp theory. Had there 'been any concussion, .of course the instrument would not have re-I re-I mained steadfast: but being so, we I infer that the bodies of the dead were not mutilated. The men were suffocated. suffo-cated. It appears that the damp penetrated pene-trated beyond the stoping between No. 4 and No. 1. which was prebab!y blown out in the explosion, and many i of the men in. No. 1 were overcome. The horror would have been less by a great deal had only those in No. 4 beers affected. The company regrets this calamity worse than anybody, and I say so believing that the mine has not been damaged. The company will do everything in its power to relieve the sufferers. "No. 4 was opened last spring," continued con-tinued Mr. Carpenter, "and the older meru were given their choice as to which ground they would work in. As most of them chose the new tunnel, most of the old employees are numbered num-bered with the dead, making it all the sadder. I know that Superintendent Sharp thought the world of his men, and he will leave no stone unturned in caring for the survivors and all those affected." Regarding the cause of the accident, the operator at Scofield wired that nobody no-body knows it. He says there was scarcely a miner left to tell the tale. It is known, however, that No. 4 was not a "gassy" mine. It is naturally wet, leaving the most probable theory that an explosion of blasting powder produced the after damp, from which the men were asphyxiated. At least, this is the way the company looks at 5t- ! |