Carus Donovan Williams

TWELVE KNOWN DEAD IN KINGSTON MINE EXPLOSION

TWO OTHERS MISSING AS RESCUE WORKERS CONTINUE THEIR HUNT

Broken Fan Handicaps Efforts to Enter Passageways- Fifty-five Escape From Coal River Entry Early Yesterday Morning Shortly After Blast Rocks Countryside

(By Associated Press) Kingston, W. Va., Jan. 26. -A death toll of 12 miners was recorded tonight from a terrific explosion in the No. 5 mine of the Kingston Pocahontas Coal company. Two others of the 69 men who were underground when the blast ripped through the workings early today still were missing.

Fifty-five underground toilers escaped safely, two of them after they became lost and had wandered about the passageways for 12 hours after the blast. They were met by a rescue crew late in the afternoon and directed to the surface. One of the men. G. W. Williams, was somewhat sick from shock and exposure, but the other, Wilbert McGuire, apparently was none the worse for his experience.

Handicapped in the first few hours because the mine fan was put out of commission by the explosion which also wrecked other buildings on the surface rescue workers pushed forward rapidly once repairs to the air system were made and fresh air forced into the mine. Three bodies were found near the surface, and nine others located in the main haulageway about three quarters of a mile in the mine.

Rescue work was advanced from two entries on opposite sides of the mountain two miles apart. Chief R. M. Lambie, of the State Department of mines, in charge of rescue work remained at the Kingston entry and maintained contact with the other entry along Coal river by means of runners who went over the mountain and back with messages. All of those who escaped alive left the ill-fated mine through the Coal river entry.

Fears were felt at first for the safety of the entire night crew inside the mine when the extent of the damage to the mine buildings was ascertained. The first indication that any of those inside escaped alive came when a myriad of lights appeared over the mountain. The lights turned out to be lamps carried by miners who had escaped through the Coal river entry and had traveled over the mountaintop to report themselves safe.

Bodies removed to the surface today and tonight included those of William Mullins and W. A. James, Blaine Parker and A. M. Anderson. The other dead and two missing men were James Creameyer, Doyle Perry, Cauris Williams, Sanford Boling, John Leffel, Elmer Denny, A. Frazier, Eustace Creamens, James Hagen, and Tracy Stover.

Some of the known dead were unidentified and the officials were unable to separate their names and those of the two missing.

The blast which was heard within a radius of a mile came from the pit mouth with such force that it knocked over one small building and damaged others. No one was injured on the surface. The survivors reported that the underground passages were badly wrecked.

The rescue crews tackled the wrecked mine from two openings, one on each side of the mountain two miles apart, one of them the main entry, was near Kingston and the other was along Coal River. A fire which Lambie described as minor developed on the Kingston side following the blast but it was reached and extinguished shortly after daybreak.

Rescue Crews Enter

Meantime rescue crews had entered the Coal River side and started the laborious and dangerous task of exploring the gas-choked workings. Lambie organized a crew of runners to maintain contact with those in charge of the rescue work at the two entries.

The usual scene of anxious women and terror-stricken children at the mine mouth were lacking at Kingston because of the topography of the country. The mine pierces the mountainside and is reached after a difficult climb up a steep grade of a quarter of a mile.

The missing men were at work along the main haulageway when the blast occurred. Those who escaped were distributed about other sections of the mine. In small groups they worked their way to the Coal River entry after the blast had ripped through the workings.

Two or three quick blasts of air the survivors said, warned them that an explosion had occurred in another section and they started for the nearest entry along the Coal River familiar to all of them. By twos and threes they made their escape and walked over the mountain in the darkness to report themselves safe at the Kingston entry.

Lambie was assisted in the rescue work by several district inspectors and rescue teams from nearby mines.

The U. S. Bureau of Mines Rescue car was ordered to the scene from Welch and mine rescue equipment came from the New River mines. In keeping with procedure of mine rescue work, Chief Lambie listed among the missing the man whose body was reported seen until rescue crews reached that section of the mine.

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Beckley Sunday Register Beckley, W.Va. Sunday Morning January 27, 1929 pages 1 & 8

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