TERRIBLE DISASTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9651, 16 November 1909, Page 5

TERRIBLE DISASTER.

FIRE IN A MINE. OVER FOUR HUNDRED LIVES LOST. RESCUE WORK ABANDONED. United Press association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright. Received November 15, 8.35 a.m. NEW YORK, November 14. Advicss from Spring Valley, Illinois, state that it is estimated that four hundred and sixty persons have perished in a fire in a mine belonging to the St. Paul Company. All attempts at rescue have been abandoned. Received November 15, 9.30 p.m. NEW YDRK, November 15. A fire in a bundle of hay which smouldered until it broke into flames caused the explosion in the mine. Of 434 men who were below—mostly Austrians *md Italians—3o near the main shaft escaped. Two hundred retreated to the further' most end* of the galleries, and it is feared that early in the uay they perished with the rest. It was impossible to flood the pit, and with the hope of checking the flames, the managers closed the mouth of the shaft. Six would-be rescuers were suffocated. Later two volunteers wearing oxygen helmets tested the temperature at a depth of 330 feet, and found it naarly normal, indicating that the fire had been extinguished. There is some hope—though only slight—of effecting the rescue of the imprisoned men.