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Show Tlic State has horn placed in. mourn-in? mourn-in? and every heart bleeds? at the terrible ter-rible disaster that occurred at the Winter Win-ter Quartern mines, some ICO miles southeast of Salt Lake, on Tuesday When wo take into consideration considera-tion that some "no souls passed, into i utility at the Hash of a light.-it sets men thinking what was the cause, or why should it he possible to deal lath ami d struct ion. and cause thei i;c art-biecding that exists in our fair State today. Can it be possible that the proper can liat not been exercised, or has f-.ir.i" who had the keeping "f these ..M.ple in thtir care, not done their .ili'V? The miners of Winter Quarters: were i p.'ihpps among the best class of min- . in the Slate, owning their own liTiiCf1 throuchout the State and work-there work-there to obtain a little more money t- imi'i-ove them and their farms sit-' I ; uated close by, and having the only objt-c t in view to bring ur their fam- ilii s. properly and establish homes for themselves, and it cannot be paid they j were contract laborers, or men who were always striking, but simply among: the best class of miners in the Tnited States. It 13 claimed that giant powder caused the explosion, but we will a?k, docs Riant powder eauss- the "flash" that was made there? We will not pay. Stilh wo will say the experience of all coal miners is that while giant powder will give a small flash, still it will not give the great flash, that this explosion did. nor would it do the destruction. de-struction. Is it not possible that the mine lias been accumulating gas for the last ten or twelve years through not being properly looked aftpr and old entries being closed to a certain extent, ex-tent, and the ventilation (one of the most important things to be looked at- j jt West terrible Wine Disaster in Our Jyistorllohk I 1 1 Response of I2obIe Citizens. J ter in a coal min) has .lot been properly prop-erly attended to, and the least spark coming in contact ignitt:l the gas and causcc) the explosion? It certainly s:hould be thoroughly investigated, in-vestigated, and. above all, would it not be wise for our next legislature to enact en-act a law compelling all coal mines to .sink an air shaft, say every 1,000 feet, or any distance that the mine might require, to connect with the main air course or entries and give a good circulation cir-culation of air throughout the mine, and then to make the salary of the j mine inspector enough to employ a, competent man and place him above a small consideration. e are finding no fault, we are easting east-ing no vindictive reflections, but we mourn with those who mourn, and we hope for a better system to be pursued and that politics! may bo eliminated in-all in-all appointments' where lnen'si live? are placed in jeopardy and their families placed at the mercy of the world. We also wiMh to say that the people of the entire- State have responded magnificently to tho needs of the afflicted af-flicted families, and we hope to never j be called upon again to herald such a j terrible riaughter of innocents. i Scofield, Utah, May 1. The most ter-j ter-j rible explosion that the west has ever j known took place in the Pleasant Val-! Val-! ley coal mines today. The dead nura-j nura-j ber-150, and possibly more. Ninety-nine Ninety-nine corpses were stretched out tonight in the barn of the company at tunnel I No.' 4 and at No. 1. - BiH Edwards' boarding house at tunnel tun-nel No. 1 had forty-four corpses. They -were arranged in rows, some dirty and begrimmed with coal dust, ! others cleaned and washed and placed ! in rows. On each man as fast as he was iden-l iden-l tilled a ticket was placed, giving his I name. There were at each place mourn-i mourn-i ing men working hard arranging- the I bodies and washing them off. ! It was a scene of desolation and de- Mpair, such as has seldom been seen j j before.' The cause? of this terrible catastrophe catastro-phe are not known in detail. Everything Every-thing here is in a terrible state of tur-j tur-j moil and agitation, so that no one j seems able to tell the exact facts, i Few persons blame the coal com-i com-i pany, for their lamentations have up to this time drowned everything else, j They have not time for thoughts of blaming any one in cool reason, for thty are. so distracted that they cannot can-not think. Indescribable Scene. The scene tonight at the two places where the bodies are being brought out was almost indescribable. The wild sorrow of an earlier hrtur in the day had given place to the deep dead calm that follows tragedy. This tragedy is upon a hundred homes in Scofield. Iittle children have been left without fathers and wives have been left without with-out husbands. These dead are victims of the awful after-damp of a coal dusr. explosion. The explosion occurred at 10:25 this morning, and ever since that time there has been a terrible condition of affairs af-fairs here. The day shift, consisting of about 250 men, went to work at 7 o'clock. Of these hardly 100 have been accounted for. The exact number of men who went in the two tunntls cannot be learned, for there are no records kept of them. The only way to tell the ddad is when they are identified by friends an acauaint-ances acauaint-ances after they have been brought out and washed. The explosion which ignitf i the coal dust is thought to have" occurred about a half mile from the mouth in tunnel No. 4. Debris lines the tunn l, so that the progress of the rescuing parties has been difficult, but their greatest difficulty is the terrible afr damn, which permeates every cross entry and every room in the mine. Tho best information in-formation that can be obtain, d places the explosion a half mile in. No One Survived. No one has come out alive to tell the story so far. No one could live in such a rdace. The company has two tunn-is into its property. One begins in the gulch just a few feet above the railroad track and runs more than two miles in't0 the mountain of coal. No, 4 bsjns up a gulch south of the track, probably a quarter of a mile from it, and runs south. As it is a comparatively new-tunnel new-tunnel it has not been cut in so far as the old one. The two join in several sev-eral places through the mating of cross entries, which run east from No. 1 and west from No. 4. Consequently the mine is joined so that it is possible to go in one tunnel and out of the other. Probably two-fifths of the men were in No. 4. They were scattered over a wide area, for these miners do not work in bunches. They work in pairs at the faces of cross entries and in the numberless "rooms." j Force of Explosion. The first sign of the explosion came from No. 4 up,on the hill, where fierce destruction was wrought at the mouth of the tunnel. A terrible wind swept out of the small 'entrance. Jack Wilson, Wil-son, a boy who drove cars into the mine, had an awful experience?. Just as he was entering, driving three horses attached to coal cars, the blast came. The horses were struck down, two of them being piled up, covered with dirt, timbers and debris. The third was lifted above the cars and blown over them fifty yards to the other ' side of the tunnel, w-here it was found dead. The boy's experience was the more remarkable still. He was shot through the tuntiel, which is only seven feet high by nine wide, and carried awav across the gulch at least ISO vards among the small trees and underbrush. Strange to say, he was not killed, and , as he was among those sent to Salt Lake on the SDeciaJ train. Timbers were torn away from the roof and sides of the tunnel and were piled in a mass. No men escaped alive from the mouth of No. 4; two were brought out but they would have died if they had been left to their own efforts ef-forts in the dark hole fi.'.led w"ith afterdamp. after-damp. At No. 1 there was not the same destruction. The; men heard no noise; those who escaped did not know that an explosion had occurred; there was no furor of flying timbers and debris to indicate anything of that kind: they were far removed from the scene of death and carnage. Felt the Terrible After Damp. Irt No. 4, some of them, at least those who escaped, were more than a mile away, but working n their many "rooms" and in the cross entries, they felt the terrible afterdamp coming and the sickness which it brings. Probably many of them did not know what it was but there .were other miners ol.der and more experienced who knew the trouble. There was a wild, fierce rush from cross entries and "rooms" for the tunnel tun-nel which leads out into the open air. How many fell by the wayside and how many were caught and suffocated in their rooms will not be known until un-til the awful damp has been blown out and escapes. Men who managed to come out, and there may be 100, tell a story of fear and anguish in the black hole of the mountain. Some of them were helped; nearly all were affected more or less. Some who could not stand the fumes, were overcome and fell while their comrades rushed on to life beyond. As men fell others fell over them. Some were unable to get up and they lay down and the after damp crept upon them and poisoned them. Those far back could not come out, for the damp travels fast and it came ur3on them so that they were weakened. They could not keep up the pace against the march of the gas, and they have been found in all shapes and forms, crowded together and piled on top of each other, some turned face down to the ground to catch a breath of air. They Died Together. A father and son were locked in each others' arms. They had died together as they fell, suffocation coming upon them. The only explanations of the accident acci-dent are at best but theories. the-ories. Nearly everyone seems to agree that the ignition of, coal dust was the cause, but W. G. Sharp, the superintendent, who was early on the ground, and who, after breathing the coal damp in efforts to rescue the dead and dying, maintains that there never was any dangerous gas in this mine. Many of the men who were seen last night say, tod, that they never encountered encoun-tered any dangerous gases. He said that there must have been a large body of flame caused by a blown out blast or by the explosion of giant powder which the miners use. This flame would cause the coal dust to ignite and then resulted a terrible explosion. All the Miners Killed. All the miners in the neighborhood of this explosion were, of course, killed instantly, and the tunnel and timbers fearfully-torn up. This point has not been reached, so that the damage done there cannot be learned. But it was the after damp which killed most of them. Of the eighty-four men who were brought out from No, 1, and who are in Edwards' boarding house; every one- was killed by the damp; there is not one who was burned or scarred in any way. They are not marked, but lay on the floor dead, with the appearan'-e of any corpse. Of the thirty-three who came from tunnel No. 4, nearly all are burned and .scarred and wounded, some bevond recognition. They were caught where the flames raged fiercest and were roasted to death. Many of them have their hands and feet burned away, one man's head is blown half off and a little lit-tle boy's head was carried away. The body lies among the others at the barn on the hill. Work of Rescue. No sooner was it understood to be an explosion than Bishop Parmley headed a rescuing party of twenty men and tried to gain an entrance into No. 4 through the opening of No. 1, but the men were soon forced back by the fire damp. Bernard Newren, one of the rescuing party, was overcome by gas and was with difficulty resuscitated, j Finding the rescue impossible by this route, the parties then headed for No. 4. Here they found the air beginning to circulate, and after clearing away the fallen and dead horees at the mouth of the mine, they entered about 200 yardis, when they came upon the dead bodies of fix of the men. Scofield, Utah. May 2. This catastrophe catas-trophe at tho Pleasant Valley coal mines has developed to enormous proportions. pro-portions. It sterns that at least 250 men have been killed in this accident. The accurate "figures cannot be given and they will not be known for some days. The mine managers declare that it will be impossible to secure a list of names until the dead bodies have been brought out and identified. Superintendent Sharp is in such a nervous and distressed mental condition condi-tion that he cannot talk intelligently on the subject. He is greatly affected by the terrible accident. Assistant Superintendent Williams cannot give figures. But there must be 250 dead. Dozens of men seem, from accounts given by rescuing parties, par-ties, to be covered up with dirt, dust, timbers and debris. Mr. Sharp said today that there were 300 men at the, mine in tunnels Nos, 1 and 2 at the time of the explosion. Of these it is impossible to account for more than sixty. There is such a hurry and turmoil that these who escaped es-caped cannot all be seen. However, there is great variance between the 1 figures given, by Mr. Sharp and those given by Bishop Parmley, mine superintendent, super-intendent, the third in authority, to the Provo delegation, led by William M. Roylance and Apostle Reed Smoot, who arrived today to look after Provo victims. Three Hundred Dead. Mr. Smoot said that there were 3!)0 men' in the mine. If that is so, then more than 300 are among the dead. At 6 o'clock tonight 165 men had'been recovered and the names of all except several Finns are known. If the mine superintendent's figures are correct, then half of the strangled and mangled bodice are yet in the cross entries and "rooms," piled over with debris and sunk away in noisome and killing tire-damps. tire-damps. There is no record of the miners working from day to day, the company com-pany officials declare. They say that there is no record except the continuous continu-ous one which is kept on the books. This is not made up every morning, for the number of cars the men' send Out is accounted by a system of checks. It seems that, the only way to get these names authentically is to wait until the bodies have come out and are identified by friends, relatives and acquaintances. ac-quaintances. It is even impossible to get the lift of these from the officers of the company. The names secured were got at the dead houses a the men were brought out and washed, Some were picked up at the mouths of the tunnels as the blackened and scarred miners were brought out. This is the only reliable way to get names. Awful Scenes. The scene of death and carnage about this little mining camp, which strings its way out up and down Winter Win-ter Quarters canyon, has been ag pathetic pa-thetic and as awful as ever seen. Nearly all the public buildings are filled with dead. The Mormon church meeting house, just below the company offices, ha.-i every nook and corner filled with bodies washed and clothed in underclothing, un-derclothing, with white sheeting spread over each to hide the picture of death, j Thefo came from tunnel No. 1 and were taktn out on Tuesday night. There were sixty-seven this afternoon at 4 o'clock. The public school house in the camp is. too. filled with them, the bodies mostly of mini who were carried out of tunnel No. 4. Some are scarred and blistered when? the cruel flames of the burning -dust licked them to death. There are great holes in their skulls and bodies, where the flying timber and debris struck them. Some no doubt were killed instantly and saved the tortures of the soaring flames. Thirty-two were counted at 3 o'clock. Another Charnal House. ' At William Edwards' boarding house the'work of. cleaning and washing and dressing the bodies as they came out of tunnel No. 1 went on. First sixteen were brought in during the morning and laid out in what wasi once his main dining room, but what is now a charnal char-nal house. In a little side room, once a bed room, there are tubs of water and th; frames ..f b.-ds. en which tl-.f begrimed and b.-sni.-ared b-xll-s: wvr placed. Tloir i-lothir.ir was irn of', i ripped off, puli-d off, in any way, but by gentle and devout hands. Spon-. and cloths were apt li.-l and every bit of dust and dirt ami b'mid wiped aw iv. When they were 1 ri I . clean suits ":' und"-rt lot hin? were put on and ti; -bodies removed to th.- o-u. r room t await the engine and hex car whb h was- in use all day carryie.g them down, to the meeting houst; or Uic littb school house. The dead are so many and lie. about in so many prominent pla.-. that men. and women whom death atTriuhis h ivc becom-i inured to the siht of it. "Work of Rescue. The rescue parties in tunnels Nos. t and 2 have worked indefatigahiy ni-rht and day. i:iHhri Parmley, the mir;.) superintendent, has be en at the head of most of them, but when, the body . of hisi brother. William1 I'armley, th ; foreman, was found, he- laid off. Inspector In-spector Thomas went in, early th:'. morning, leading fifteen men, and Superintendent Su-perintendent Sharp, who is almost ;. , nervous wreck, spent all the forenoon; I in the mine, and after sleeping during the afternoon, went in again, this own-Inquest own-Inquest and Funerals. Nothing is yet settled about the inquest. in-quest. County Attorney L. O. Hoffman Hoff-man came in on a special from Castle Jiale (3urir.fr the afternoon and he has been at work. Lewis Jones, justice of the peace here, is disqualified from actine as coroner because ef the death of two of his sons, and Justice Hurst will act in his place. Active a nan cements ate heirs in;i'1f for bun!. Coffins are in need. Oniv i f-ern hae arrid. but more are enm-i:;c. enm-i:;c. Many bodh ? will be shipped a wax. ten To Oo.-ilx il!c, cloxvn to Ogden ard many to other places. The great l i.'.v'o.r w le buiicd he:o :n the lit-; lit-; ev.cici . S: ;;i: -,:-.ter,dr:i; WY'.hy h.is ordered fti Jem Tv;rri -.'i om aii oxer the line to t o :--; tomoi rexx to ,i;t; '" graxes. The par.y x pay a.'! burial ex- |