Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1912 — MANY DIE IN MINE FIRE [ARTICLE]

MANY DIE IN MINE FIRE

Between Twenty and Forty Thought to Have Perished. Smoke Prevents Rescue When Flames Break Out in Workings Near Lehigh, Oklahoma. Lfehigh, Okla., Feb. 23. Between twenty and'Forty miners employed in the .coal mine of the w ichita Coal and Mining company, one mile east of Lehigh, lost their lives when fire broke out in mine No. 5, entombing the men in the pits. , The filling of the shafts with smoke and the failure of the machinery to work prevented their rescue. At latest reports six dead bodies had been recovered from the mine and the work was still being pushed. The fire is still raging in the mine and it is not believed that any of the men within the shafts can be alive. The number of these is estimated variously by different officials of the company at fifteen to thirty-five. When the fire broke out the word was spread through i’_e mine of the disaster and more than TOO miners either walked out or were carried out by rescuers overcome- by smoke. A large number unconscious from suffocation were revived after reaching the fresh air. The work of rescue is being pushed by the rescue party of the United States government rescue station at McAlester.