Show FORTY DEAD LAwful L-Awful Pisstii D r Occur in I the lied Ash l Ya t I Coal U Mille I j 1 I HNEAS ARE ENTOMBED Ten are TaIen Out Seven of I Whom are Dead OTHERS YET IN WRECKED PIT I An Explosion Occurred ShortlyAfter the Men Went to Work Early Yesterday Yes-terday MorningAlthough the MgstfHeroic Work Upon the Part or the Rescuers was Continued Incessantly Inces-santly all Day it was Impossible Last Night to Estimate the Full Extent of the Loss of Life and PropertyThere were HeartRending HeartRend-ing Scenes at the Mouth of the Pit ns tho Blackened Bodies were Brought to the Surface the Wives and Children Being There in Force Cause of the Disaster is Unknown p I PFro Creek AY Va March GThe most destructive mine explosion ever known In the New River district occurred oc-curred at the Red Ash mine shortly after the miners went to work early I this morning Although the most heroic I work of the rescuing party has been I goliig on incessantly all day Its Impossible Im-possible tonight to estimate the full extent I ex-tent of the loss oC life and property SEVEN DEAD RECOVERED I Itls believed fifty miners were en 13mbd Ten have been taken out of whom seven are dead Fort > vare 31111 In the mine with no hope of them being be-ing found alive The men were just filing In to begin their days wOrk and their bodies are scattered all along the main entry from the mouth to perhaps a mile in the hill Of those who were but a short distance inside the mine almost all escaped alive but all were thrown down and rolled along toward the mouth of the entry or picked up and blown clear out of the mine RESCUE EXTREMELY SLOW Six were together at the motor house seventy feet inside the mine and one of the number was killed the others escaping with Injuries The first attempt to enter the shaft after the explosion developed tho fact that the afterdamp was 20 strong as to render the rescue extremely slow and hazardous hazar-dous Up to midnight work had progressed pro-gressed about two thousand feet from the mouth 4 WHEN DISASTER OCCURRED The explosion happened as the men were going Into the mine In groups and in couples In some instances and they were strung along In this manner for over a mile so that tho work of rescue will require a long time There I wcie more men near the entrance who escaped than were lost t I MANY ENTOMBED I The Red Ash mine Is a large drift and the explosion occurred near the entrance en-trance which was thus eloped by the falling slate entombing a large number num-ber of miners So far no statement has been made as lo the cause of the disaster dis-aster It is I thought gas Ignited from a miners lump The explosion made but little noise and the accident was first discovered by a laborer at the entrance en-trance CAUSE OF DISASTER The mines are on the mountain side above water and the coal Is similar to that found In the Pocahontas district On this account it Is said here the accident ac-cident cannot be caused by firedamp nor by gas but from duyt us was the rase In one of the tragedies some years ago in n Pocohonlas mine The district Is a wild one HELIEP PARTIES ORGANIZE The news of the disaster swept through the town like an electric shock and within a few minutes hundreds of men women and children relatives of tho unfortunate miners were crowded upon the scene of the disaster As the conviction dial tho rescue of the entombed en-tombed men alive was hopeless forced itself on the grlefstrleken crowds they became frantic in their endeavors to reach their dead and dying in time wrecked shaft and the work of attempted at-tempted rescue was organized with cx ticmt dlfilcully TEN BODIES FOUND rime first successful strike of the rescuers res-cuers was about 10 oclock when ten bodies were recovered It was found that seven of them wore already dead The other three were dying As the miners had fallen at different places In the drift and the explosion had caused the falling alulo to blockade the rooms In different parts of the mine the work of rescuing tho men met wltlrone great obstruction after another The men rescued at 10 oclock were not fur from the entrance while others were at much greater distances within the drift HEARTRENDING SCENES At the mouth of the mine the scene was beyond description the wives and children and neighbors of those who were known to be entombed were therein I there-in full force and their distress was most Inlonse While they wore nil seeking to help those who were rescued I and to pet the mine reopened yet these bereavorl people were for the most part In the way of the rescuers and had to bo held back from the entrance I LARGEST MINE IN STATE The mine Is one ol the hugest In J West < I Virginia and wiit vory honvlly tint bered In the different drifts It was for this reason feared that those Who had not been killedby alllng lrJsnt the time of the explosion would be pin ioned by these connected limbers and suiter death from suffocation MACHINERY DEMOLISHED Air was forced Into the mine by engines en-gines on the surface which were kept I working after the explosion but it was I found that air could be pumped into the drift for only a short distance aa the coal stone and earth shut ore all I possibility of pumping Into the mines Tho pumps and all other machinery In the mine was demolished so that every f thing had to be done ihrough tempo 1 j rary arrangements on the surface After hue men got under headway in t the work of roncite they reached time I firat parly In less than an hour but ihoy met greater dllllculllea after that UJ11tSOfE SOMR HAPPY MEETINGS As victims were brought to the surface sur-face and curried away on the hastily constructed stretchers It was frequently noticed Unit many met their husbands fathers brothers and sons among the rescuers when they thought these men were In the mines Tiro meetings between be-tween the men who had not yetxcn tercd i the mines and their families were very touching All those who could not find their friends in the crowd assumed that they were In the inclosed mines HOMES IN MOURNING 1 The population of the mining village I i is only 1DOO All are miners and very many of them arc related and they all kiow each other There was great distress dis-tress all day amotig those who could not find their friends or hear from them As Thurmond Is only three miles I from the scene of the disaster there wore some few In the mine who lived at I that place bill for the most part the victims resided here and the calamity will reach almost every little house In the mining town THEORY FOR DISASTER The general belief Is I that the explosion explo-sion occurred from contact with dust when tbp miners entered this morning with their lights and that it was not due to fire damp as has been currently reported till tiny Nearly all the men employed In tho mine were white only about onelUlh being colored and most of tho men were married and had families fami-lies Jn the llltle cottages near the tipple I of the great mine A special train arrived tonight from Montgomery at 7 oclock filled with reporters physicians nurses and others and one car contained thirty caskets After the arrival Of the train an order I was sent back to Montgomery for fifty more caskets Anolher train arrived from Charleston with physicians caskets cas-kets l and relief supplies Still another train came In from Hinton but there Is no need oC physicians and nurses as evidently all of tho victims are dead The work of reacue is being continued during the nlghl and will be kept up until the mine Iii clear |