People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1895 — MANY LIVES LOST. [ARTICLE]

MANY LIVES LOST.

EXPLOSION OF GAS IN A NEW MEXICO MINE. ! Tvrcnty-five Ise<lles Already Recovered — Said to Havo Been Eighty-five Meu at Work tn the Mine —Rescue Proceeds Slowly. Cerrillos, N. M., Feb. 28.—White Ash coal mine, three miles from Cerrillos, was the scene of a terrible explosion a little before noon yesterday. Thirtyfive men were working in four levels when the disaster occurred. Eleven of them have so far been rescued, all in a dying condition. Up to 10 p. m. twen-ty-five bodies have been taken out horribly mutilated and difficult of identification, Tlie scenes of the identification of the wounded and dead were heartrending. The miners are all married men. When the news of the disaster spread, wives and children hurried from Waldo and Madrid. Not until evening, owing to the smoke, dust and noxious vapors that filled every approach to the workings, could any progress bo made toward effecting a rescue and the efforts were cruelly rewarded, for up to 7 o’clock hut one miner had been reached. His dead body was found near the entrance. Three hours later the rescuers succeeded in reaching the left fourth level and the dead bodies of several men were brought out. The sight about the mine was heartrending in the extreme. Frantic wives many of them carrying babies in thenarms, having children clinging to their skirts or to them, stood at t.he entrance cf the mine for-hours amid tears and prayers watching and waiting, while hundreds of men vainly struggled to gain entrance further into the mine. Up to 5 o’clock the gas continued to pour forth from the single opening in the mine in such volume as to make the progress of the rescuers very difficult, but nn hour later the noxious vapors cleared away and the work of recovering the dead bodies began to prove more successful. Later in the evening eleven dying miners were discovered in a bunch. They were probably overcome in an effort to escape. It is thought the explosion was caused by the miners breaking through into some abandoned working, thus liberating the gas that had accumulated. The mouth of the shaft is the sole means of egress. Nobody seems to know justbowmany men went into the mine in the morning. Ordinarily 150 men are employed, but the day being Wednesday it is said scarce half the usual quota of mm were at work. Representative Laeden, lately employed there, says he is confident that not/ less than eighty-five men must have been in the workings at the time of the explosion. Twentytwo are known to be dead.