Mount Hope, WV Mine Explosion, Feb 1906

SEARCH FOR THE DEAD.

MINE EXPLOSION VICTIMS MAY NUMBER THIRTY.

TWELVE MEN RESCUED ALIVE.

MOST OF THEM SO SEVERELY INJURED IN DISASTER AT PARREL MINE, AT MOUNT HOPE, W. VA., THAT THEY WILL DIE. WATER OBSTACLE TO WORK OF RESCUE -- INSPECTORS BEGIN THEIR INVESTIGATION.

Special to The Washington Post.
Hinton, W. Va., Feb. 9 -- Six dead miners have been taken out of the Parrel mine at Mount Hope and it is believed that between twenty and twenty-five bodies still remain in the shaft which was wrecked by an explosion of gas yesterday. The rescuers have taken out twelve miners alive, but most of them will die from injuries received in the explosion.
The lead so far recovered are:
JOSEPH LUMLEY.
JIM HUNTER.
IKE SPEER.
JOHN PRATT.
OTTO MOORIS
HAIS SCROADER.

Were Taken Out Alive.
The following were recovered alive, but critically injured:
JOHN FITZGERALD; I. L. RIGGS; ROBERT PRATER; CHARLES MATHEWS; GEORGE CALLOWAY; ROMAN SACHNESKI; ROLA FITZGERALD; JUDSON CARTER; JULE NEAL; IKE PARK; JOHN KIMMELL; DONALD BURR.
The mine boss, MILES PRATT and his son were killed, but their bodies have not been recovered.
It will be impossible to learn the exact number of dead until the mine is thoroughly searched. The work in the mine was done by contract and the rolls were not kept by the company. The contractors who were themselves miners worked with their men and in that wasy the rolls are missing.
The two men who operated the cage are supposed to have been drowned in water in the pit of the shaft.
Superintnedent First Down.
Superintendent FRED DIXON was the first man to go down the shaft in the work of rescue yesterday. Every effort was made to find the bodies and bring themout and had not the water interfered it is thought that all of them would have been recovered by to-day. Another effort will be made to-morrow morning.
Chief Mine Inspector PAUL and six assistants are on the ground to-day conducting the required investigations of the disaster. A coroner's jury was impaneled this afternoon.
There seems to be no doubt that the explosion was caused by the presence of gas in the mine. It is known that the miners were working against a "fault," and it is the history of the operations in that section that whenever a "fault" is encountered gas is found. With this exception the mine was considered the safest and best-equipped operating in the Loup Creek field.

The Washington Post District of Columbia 1906-02-10

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!