Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 April 1910 — EXPLOSION FATAL -40 MINERS DEAD [ARTICLE]

EXPLOSION FATAL -40 MINERS DEAD

Men Entombed In Birmingham Shaft Lose Lives. ’ ■ ' ' “ * •i' ■- [ COLLIERY CAN NOT BE ENTERED Explosion at Mulga, Ala., Mine Hurled Timbers High in the Air and Broke Every Window in the Entire Village. ■ •r—~ ■■ Birmingham, April 22. —Not one of the forty-one men imprisoned in the Mulga mine of the-Birmingham Iron and Coal company is alive. Unconscious from the deadly gases in the shaft, Superintendent Johns of the mine, and a man named Bonds, who-risked his life for those who had perished, were drawn up to the fresh air. The condition of the rescuers told the story long before the men had been revived. The watchers knew that if the rescuers, helmetted 'and protected, had so'narrowly escaped death, there was ho hope for those who, without a second’s warning, had been overcome by an explosion of gas. There are fifteen white and twentyfive negro laborers ih the mine. The foreman of the working gang, who is entombed with the others, has the <mly list of miners. It is believed only forty were in the garig. The cages in the shaft of the mine were so badly sprung by the force of the explosion that they are useless and all other means adopted by rescue parties in an effort to reach the entombed men have proved futile. Following the explosion flames shot up the shaft of the mine for a distance of about 400 feet, and the ground is covered with charred timbers around the mouth of the shaft which were blown 0 350 feet from the bottom of the shaft. Every window in the little mining village Was broken by the explosion. After the explosion timbers were placed over the mouth of the shaft to prevent a draft, as it was feared the interior of the mine, beyond the explosion zone, might catch fire, but a§ far as known this is intact, and as air was at once pumped into the mine, the families of the entombed men are hipeful that some, A not, all might he rescued alive, but that hope has now been, abandoned. I'-' - -