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Show n& missing ifj MIHEDISASTER .Terrific explosion in penn. sylvan i a colli ery entombs many workers Fear Expressed That Entire Crew is Dead; Thousand Men are Engaged In Rescue Work; Deadly Gas Hinder Aid Jolinsto-wn, Pa., Hetween 100 and 350 miners lire entomheil with almost no chance of being rescued alive, following fol-lowing a terrific &as explosion at 7:43 o'clock Monday mornlns, In the number num-ber one mine of the Iteilly Coal company com-pany at Spangler, Pa., 25 miles north of here. Word from the company officials received re-ceived Just before noon said the mine was still filled with gas and it was Impossible to send rescue crews down below. Tons of debris block the shaft WKl feet from the entrance and the entombed en-tombed men are 'behind this barrier with all air cut off. Iack of air alone will kill the men in a short time exert8 say. Before noon the air fans were repaired re-paired nd are again operating but this affords scarcely any hope that any of the entombed men will be taken tak-en out alive. By noon a thousand miners from nearliy points had reached the mine, they tire equipped with gas masks and at noon they began digging furiously furi-ously at the tons of debris tumbled down by the great explosion. Because the mine Is still filled with gas, the rescuers are permitted to remain re-main down but a few minutes at a time. The shaft is half a mile deep and the scene of the disaster is about half a mile tack from the bottofri of the shaft. There is but one entrance to the mine. How serious the debris obstruction is, behind which the miners are trapped, trap-ped, has not been ascertained. Word of the disaster spread through out -Cambria county and other sections sec-tions with igreat rapidity and telephone tele-phone ndvices snid that the workers are rushing to the mine and relay crews are making an effort to rescue the entombed men whether dead or alive. The explosion occurred In a shaft, about 50 feet from the -entrance. The men are entrapped behind tons of - dctvris and it may be days before they are reached. At 10 o'clock gas in the shaft was Btlll so dense that it was Impossible to send In rescue parties. With the air fans demolished there Is no way 'of getting the men out at present and any attempt to enter would mean quick d(ith to all who attempted it A few minutes after the disaster the entrance to the mine was surrounded sur-rounded with hundreds of wives and children of the men down below. Women Wo-men wer3 desperate as the word was flashed about that there was not one chance In a million that any of the men conld be rescued alive. Some of the women had to be retained by others. |