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Show M a Miner Escaped .Death Every Ono in Colliery at Teroio "Was lUlled by Explosion in tho Mine. TRINIDAD, Colo., Oct. 29. Tho Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron company's com-pany's mine No. 3, at Teroio. forty miles west of this city, was so badly wrecked by the explosion which occurred yesterday yester-day that the rescuers have not yet succeeded suc-ceeded in penetrating to the point where the miners were working. Twenty to Sixty Dead. Estimates of the number of men In the mine at the time vary from twenty to sixty. They are foreigners, with the exception of four. The mine company's officials have no record of the number working, though ! ia known that only twenty-one men went inio tY.s !ne yesterday morning. According to reports which "have not been verified, many more men went Into In-to the mine ln the afternoon. None Aro Now Alive. It is regarded as certain that none of these who were In the mine when tho explosion occurred are now alive The mine Is a sloping tunnel, over 2000 feet long. Rescuern entered the slope as far as room 13. which Is 200 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. They succeeded succeed-ed In reaching this point only after the most dangerous work and after crawling crawl-ing through many narrow places. At this point they encountered a solid wall of rock that had fallen from above and closed the passage. Cannot Reach Bodies. Room 2C, where most of the miners are supposed to have been working. Is COO feet from the mouth of the tunnel, or 400 feet beyond the point to which the rescuers penetrated. Only ono body has been recovered, that of T. Doran, a driver, dri-ver, who wa3 Just entering tho tunnel when the explosion took place, and who was terribly burned. , "The report that sixty men were In the mine at tho time of the explosion Is untrue," said Coroner SIpe, after visiting vis-iting the scene of the accident. "T believe that there are twenty entombed en-tombed ln the mine, and that all are dead." "Was Due to Dust. "I think the explosion, which caused the roof of the mine to cave In, was a dust explosion. The mine is well ventilated, ven-tilated, without artificial devices." There were only two Americans ln the mine. George Brandenburg ond John Hatton. Tho others were Slavs and Mexicans. Company officials deny that there were more than twenty-one men ln the mine at the time of the explosion, but miners have today estimated the number missing miss-ing at sixty-eight. Crash "Was Terrific. The crash was so terrific that It was heard for miles, and the vibrations were distinctly felt at Newton, twelve milos away. It seemed as If an earthquake had occurred, so violently did the earth tremble trem-ble Smoke, dust and dirt wero blown from the tunnel and air shaft in heavy black clouds. Showered With Stone3. Broken limbers, huge chunks of coal and blocks of all sizes wero hurled hundreds of feet from the portal of tho big bore and fell on and around the tipple that stonds directly opposite the mine People who were near tho mine wero showered 'th send, stones and dlrL Somo of the stones landed fully a quarter of a mile away. Efforts to Eecover Bodies. Hundreds of miners from other camps are working In three-hour shifts In the effort to reach the bodies, but the work Is slow and extremely dangerous on account ac-count of the formation, tho ground constantly con-stantly sliding and caving In. Thrco bodies, so badly burned and mutilated as to be unrecognizable, were taken out at D p. in. They were found near the first alrshaft. Most of the other dead aro supposed to be ln rooms 21 to CO about 1000 feet farther in tho tunnel. Mine Is Completely "Wrecked. The mine Is completely wrecked. A great fall of rock blocked the entrance and It took nearly nil day to block up tho pit mouth sufficiently to permit rescuers res-cuers to venture Inside. Almost every prop was blown from the side of "the mine and tho whole entry was blocked by huge rocks. The mine is on what Is known as a pitching vein and there is only ono entry, a tunnel running along near the base of the mountain. Forty-Nine Entombed. B. B. Fife. Coroner of Las Animas county, coun-ty, returned from Teroio tonight and slated that, to tho best of his knowledge, there are forty-nine miners entombed ln mine No. 3, where the explosion of Friday afternoon occurred. After obtaining a list of the names of the men omployed at the Ill-fated mine, Coroner Fife, with his assistants, as-sistants, made a house-to-houso canvass of tho Teroio camp. Upon making comparisons, com-parisons, the Coroner declares It to be his firm conviction that the above number of miners was caught in No. 3 at! the moment of the explosion.' Bodies Identified. Tho bodies pf tho thrco victims which were recovered lato this afternoon wero Identified tonight ns those of Charles Brandenbcrg, Edward Haddcn and Frank Sutler. |
