Show CEMENT WORKERS DIgGING IN MOUNTAINSIDE MOUNTAIN SIDE FOR REMAIN jl OF THEIR COMRADES EXACT CAUSE Of EXPLOSION b IS A MYSTERY Three Theories Advanced but Facts Fa May Nay Never Be Known HOW SEVENTEEN HEN MEN LOST LIVES Pieces of Victims in Weber Canyon Accident Blown Hun Hundreds reds of Feet ri iX I L. L' H iii of i 1 J THE DEAD i i t H 1 Hugh 4 r Guire 26 years old un un- t i 4 r married quarry foreman for for- J 4 oo 1 merly of Bingham G George laborer B B. brother of George Geore 4 i JFrank J- J Frank Cone Coney laborer i S. S D. D laborer 4 J 4 L L. L laborer 4 v vy y 1 F. F laborer J 4 4 J M. M pe Jab laborer oi 4 D. D laborer I J- J 4 F. F Bc Begovic laborer 4 4 Pete St laborer 4 t 4 P. P laborer 4 4 3 M. M laborer laborer abor r f r J 4 JI 4 I o B B. ic laborer v 4 I 4 Chris laborer 4 4 A. A Ishii Japanese laborer I 4 j 4 t F. F Japanese l laborer 4 i 4 I oe 4 InI i I H- H I Special to The Telegram DEVILS DEVIL'S SLIDE Weber canyon Tune Juno 2 The The shock of the explosion inthe in iu tho the tunnel of or the Union Portland Cement Ce Ce- Cei i mont ment company yesterday was so great I that hat it will be bc impossible r for far th the steam I shovel to O be us used d' d in removing the bodies of pf the fourteen men men who were tilled killed from toni beneath the i t tOns ii t s-t l rl 1 which 1 they 1 are aro l bur bur- uj Led Lcd The force orco of the explosion so completely completely com com- 1 sheltered d the lc-d lc ledges of which the tunnel was being driven that it it would bo be foolhardy to move tho the steam shovel sho to that point Masses of rock wei weighing man ninny many tons aro arc hanging banging ready to taU tall at the tho slightest jar jM or concussion concus sion sion and to place a steam shovel cl at that that- point would probably mean moan tho the loss 1055 of other lives Jives and the destruction of the tho shovel The rock will be caved away by hand blasting and the ra ragged ed masses that now threaten to fall will bo be blown out and the rock removed remo by hand band until such a time as it will be he possible to safely use the st steam am shovel It will be beat beat beat at least two weeks before the shovel cl can be used and it may Jay bo ho oven even lon longer cr than that But little hope is expressed by bj the tho company officials of recovering enough of any of the bodies to mako make identification identification cation possible Tho The coroners coroner's jury that had been im impaneled un- un paneled and that visited ted the plant planty y yesterday has adjourned subject to the call caB of the coroner coronel This call will not be bo issued until tho the hole has been cleared out and every evry effort has been made to recover the tho bodies of tho the victims Tho The huge plant of th tho Union Portland Portland Port Port- land Cement company is situated in tho the narrow defile deffle f Weber of pC canyon at a point a short distance to to the east of the famous nat natural ral wonder tho the Devils Devil's Slide and thirty seven miles from Og Og- den rho The plant and the quarry aro on the north side of the tho canyon and tho the little town of probably inhabitants is is on the south side aide 0 of the canyon canon and nearly a half balf mile mite to tho the west of tho the plant The rhe tunnel in which n tho explosion occurred oc oc- oc currod is probably oo yards yard north of the plant and high on tho the mountainside mountain side and andIs is r reached Ched bv by a narrow gauge au e construction line of railroad rho The shale is It transferred from tho the mountain side after alter it ha has been broken down by the tho heavy blasts to tho the dump cars by steam shovel and then moved to tho the plant over the temporary railroad The manner o of breaking down this shale and getting ettin it read ready to lead load into tho cars is is to drive e a low an and narrow tunnel into the tho heart of the shalo shale ledges and at a distance of from Jom fifty to sixty feet from tho mouth to run across cuts to tho the ri right bt and left a distance e of ton feet in in either cither direction forming an underground T. T Depressions are dug i in in the tho floors of the these cr and chambers are thus formed into which the tho heavy charges of black pow pow- der dot aro are load loaded d It was while one ono of these tunnels was being loaded that the explosion oc cc- currod When Whon it came carno time for tho the loading yester yesterday ny I morning a bl huge e quantity of o of black blasting powder in 10 cans contain contain- ing 11 twenty twenty five pounds ca oath each h was slacked at the mouth of tho the tunnel Tho The management man man- states that tho average tunnel charge o has ke kegs s though trio the state state- mont ment was mado made yesterday that fully kegs kes were to have bave been used in the tunnel yesterday and that this was the quantity that was exploded with such terrible r results Theories of ot Cause A powder line was formed with I Foreman Hugh at the tho T Tend end of tho the tunnel while laborers passed powder to him The tunnel was three feet hi high h and I two and one half feet wide wido and the la Ja borers were in a squatting or sitting I posture It was their duty to pass tho the I powder cans from one ono to another from the ho mouth of tho the tunnel to the point where the cans Cabs were opened and whore where the powder was as poured in ill n a black and II glistening heap b by Foreman McGuire The Tb powder cans are arc not opened until until I r I e 4 4 4 c 1 4 it 4 f i. i k i i r c t y The scene of the accident The white border shows ti the part part-of the m mountain which caved in and under which are the bodies of the fifteen l laborers borers he he X marks the place where the mouth of or the tunnel was and the two outside ot workmen were wore blown to small pieces The hill ill faces to the southeast and at atthe the bottom and toward the northeast is the 1 To the tho is the main line of or the Union Pacific Small cut is that of or Hugh McGuire foreman who was killed in powder explosion f T they are passed to the han hands s of the quarry foreman The Tho operation is in a simple one A sharp bard hardwood wood stick is is driven through the soft tin top of tho the can can and a. a a hole is thorn then pried in the tho top and tho powder is allowed to torun torun run from the can can on the tho powder crews No o ono is permitted to smoke sm ko or to carry earn snatches matches es there is is s no metal used lit itt the loading point according t to the tho management of the company Tho The tunnel is lighted by electricity a temporary lighting line hue being carried into the face faco of ot tho tunnel and md the incandescent globes lobes bein being surrounded with wiro wire nets I Three theories have been ad ad- 4 4 as to th the cause of or tho the thor r 4 r 4 4 accident Ono One 1 is that a a. spark r 4 4 J may been struck k by a nail 4 4 I in the shoe of ono ot of the work work- I 4 Imen 4 men as he was gon the 4 4 rocks rCck constituting the fi floor Or o of j. j 4 4 the tunnel another is that in 4 J- J 4 some manner the Incandescent I 4 Ie 4 fr globe lighting the tunnel faco 1 4 became broken and the white mite 1 hot filament fell tell upon grains of ot Ie 1 I th tho powder and the third is that 4 I 1 defective wiring caused a s. s spark v 4 1 which ignited the powder 4 t. 4 The explosion was of terrific force The concussion and blast of white white hot hot flame that followed tho the i ignition nit ou of the powder caused tho the almost instant explosion ex cx- of the many ninny c cans ns of powder being being be be- ing passed into the thom thO tunnel by by the tho f workmen and the powder that remained at nt t the surface From rom one it was learned that there had been more than pans cans ang of oi powder opened in the tho hole and that nearly cans wore at tt the surface Thero was but one ant shock Tho The concussion concus concus- sion ft was as t so sei great creat that Hiat tho to o buildings s 1 C Continued on page pago 2 2 r CEMENT WORKERS p Continued from pace pago pa e 1 nearby wore wert shaken to their foundations and arid the tho mountain trembled as as thou though h torn by an earthquake A rain of rocks and human flesh was vas Showered tho the mountain Bide and for hundreds of yards to the tho south on ona ona ona a line with the tho tunnel opening the muto mute evidence evidence- of tho the horrible tra tragedy edy could be seen en for hours after tho iho ex So great preat was the force of the tho explosion expo sion that the tho polo line carrying tele tele- telephone telephone telephone phone phone telegraph and electric power lines was smashed and eor every wire wire cut and twisted b by tho the concussion and by bythe bytho bytho tho the flying rock Communication was destroyed completely complete Tho The scenes about tho the tunnel mouth were harrowing As quickly as the workmen about tho the buildings and rounds could recover from tho the first Sounds shock ock a cry err of horror was raised when it was realized that ever every man who had gone to work in the tho tunnel two hours before had been hurled into eternity 4 k Foreign workmen with stolid 4 4 r r faces but with their eyes eye II show snow 44 4 I 4 ing tho the horror they felt shudder shudder- 44 Mr 4 oi 4 n ins aided in collecting the 4 4 ghastly fragments of human humm 4 r rr 4 r flesh and bits of broken and 4 d 4 shattered bones hones that were were 4 4 d strewn about the mountain side 4 w Fragments that had hada a 8 few moments before been the bodies of two workmen foreigners were found almost immedi immedi- These men had been at work althe at al atthe atthe the mouth of tho the tunnel Their bodies were hurled from tho the tunnel before tho the thomass thomass mass of thau thousands of tons of shale that had boon been litt lifted d from ita ih place by 11 tho the explosion had fallen back and buried tho the remains of or tho the men mea in the tho hole 4 d One of these shattered chattered bodies 5 4 d was found not more than twenty H io 4 4 4 feet from fromn the mouth of tho the tun tun- 2 4 4 nel Every particle partir-Ie of clothing 3 t 4 had been stripped from it So 4 4 great gre Jre t w was e tho the force of the ox- ox H r 4 4 that tho shoes I had been 4 a 4 i torn from the f feet t an and tho metal 4 4 d eyelets had been forced force from tho 4 4 leather and into the flesh 4 4 Another torso with a fra fragment ment of the base baso of tho the skull attached by only a shred of membrane and with tho the scalp torn orn completely away leaving only onh tho the bone jono was found fully fuBy feet away This Title body had bad been crushed flat by tho the concussion or by the force with which it t struck tho the ground round and probably every o bono bono was was' broken broken Blown Feet Poet Tho The skull of one victim was found nearly feet away 1 tho the face having been blown off completely and only a scalp lock of black hair remained This was vas a n part of tho the body of one ono of the JaI Japanese an so laborers Pieces of flesh parts of lc legs an and 5 arms hands and feet portions of viscera vis vis- viscera cera and other fragments wore were scattered widely wide I r- r hundreds of yards in a fan fir shaped area Many of the parts will wil never be bo recovered As quickly as as possible the work of collecting these these- horrifying rig fragments was wats commenced Workmen searched carefully and placed the bits of flesh and bone in a canvas lined box The Tho torsos of the two men found lound most nearly intact wore worn placed on a stretcher anc and andall all of tho the remains were later transferred to this stretcher which Mch was placed in inan inan inan an room in the tho general office building One fra fragment that of at tile the thigh ofa oj oja of a n victim was found on the south side sido of the canyon nearl nearly yards from tho the tunnel T The Tho o bones were splintered A few moments before tho the ox explosion H K second gang aan of workmen rounded the railroad curve on tho the mountain si side le and exchanged with the tho men mon en engaged n cd in handling tho the powder They were hurried 6 by their foreman to their work and had no moro morn than gotten around tho the point of the tho hill than the tho terrific explosion occurred The workmen waited a moment until tho the shower of rocks had ceased and rushed back toward tho the tunnel site realizing that thai an acci accident lent had occurred Their foreman drove tho men awn away awny an and wild not permit them to approach the poInt for fear that another explosion explosion explosion sion might occur It was fully an hour before tho work of clearing a R path for tho the approach of oi the ho steam stearn shovels was begun the tho management man man- management a emont not caring to force torce its men to take ako the tho risk that possibly remained The laborers empl employed by the company were put to work clearing away wa the tho debris that a temporary trac track might bo be laid lai for the tho approach of the giant steam shovel that was on the tracks racks a hundred yards awa away and out i of ran range o of the flying in rock I A temporary track must bo built for forthe forthe the steam shovel That work will be i completed today and the tho work of clearing clear clear- in ing ng out the tho shattered rock from th the lingo e mausoleum will bo be carried ahead with i vigor or The steam shovel sho can do more DIore in an hour tho the management says than hau a thousand men could doThe do The search carch for the fragments of themen tho the thomen thomen men who were torn to shreds in the tunnel will be a gruesome task The heat leat of the sunshine pouring upon the tunnel site makin making it like a bakers baker's oven makes it imperative that the work be carried on as rapidly as possible This feature will add immeasurably to the tho horror of tho the task Manager O. O B. B Gibson who was in ir Ogden notified E. E A. A Wild justice of tho the peace pence and acting coroner at Croyden Croyden Croy Croy- den of the accident as quickly as pos sible Justice e Wild impaneled a jury jury- comprising Geor George o Thackery W W. I. I H Toone and Geor George e Hopkins to investigate investigate in cati gate the case The Tho jury visited the scone scene of the accident at once once and will wil meet later Inter when the evidence can be sifted down and an investigation may be bo conducted with some ch chanco to get at the facts No Need for Doctors There was no need for the services of oC a corps of Ogden Osden physicians who volunteered to go to tho the works as quickly quick quick- ly as ns tho the nature of the accident was wai learned There is one physician at Devils Devil's Slide He notified the tho O Ogden den physicians that there was nothing the they could do as all of the crew had been killed and no ono one was just injured An undertaker at Morgan was no of the finding of the tho two torsos and tho the other othor fra fragments monts of bodies anc and those these were taken to Morgan or early last las ni night ht to bo be buried The only manner in which the list Hs of dead could bo be prepared was wan to check checkoff checkoff off every man employed in the works at nt tho the time timo of f chan changing ins shifts at IIo u II o o'clock clock last night Tho The foreign laborers are aro designated by numbers each cach man being given a n numbered check heck when his name is en en- on the timo time books These numbers num bers bens aro are deposited with tho the timekeeper when tho the men go on shift Tho The timekeeper timo time keeper then records the number er as having hav hay jog ins gone on his shift The men men re register out in the Same bame manner at time trie end o of f their days das work and they are given iven credit on the tho books for that Say cay Because of this system it was necessary necessary sary for the timekeepers and the tho office offic |