Fire Prevents All Efforts to Rescue Three Men
Linton Daily Citizen, Indiana
December 10, 1926
Princeton, Ind., Dec. 10. -- Fire raging in the depths of the Francisco Coal Company, ordered the mine sealed the abandonment of further attempts to locate three men still listed as missing in the check of casualties from yesterday's gas explosion.
With smoke pouring from the top of the mine shaft and the peril from the fire increasing momentarily for the rescuers working below, the men were ordered from the shaft.
After a conference with W. G. Powell, federal mine inspector located at Evansville, officials of the Francisco Coal Company ordered the mine sealed to check the fire.
They were unwilling to risk the lives of the volunteer workers further in an attempt to recover the bodies of the three missing. There had been no hope of recovering the three alive since last night.
The three missing were:
Walter Thomas, of Evansville
Claude Wright, of Francisco
Emery West, of Oakland City
The bodies of S. Roll, of Evansville, and W. P. Ratliff, of Francisco, two of the five missing in the mine when rescuers resumed their work, were found shortly before 8 a.m. today.
It was found impossible to bring the bodies of Roll and Ratliff out of the mine when the fire spread.
Unless there are further deaths among the badly injured, the toll of dead will be 28, according to mine officials.
The bodies of 21 were removed from the mine, two died today in the Princeton Hospital and five were left in the mine.
The revised list of injured numbered 28 names. The list accounted for the 71 who entered the mine yesterday as: Dead, 28; injured 28; escaped unhurt, 15.
It may be a month or more before the mine can be unsealed and explored for the rest of the bodies, officials said.
In morgues at Princeton embalmers worked far into the night preparing bodies of the dead for burial. Funerals of a number of victims will be held Saturday and others are to be buried Sunday.
The explosion was the worst disaster that has visited the mining district of Indiana since early in 1925, when 52 miners were killed by a blast in the City mine at Sullivan.
The casualty list in the gas explosion at Mine No. 2 of the Francisco Coal Company, near here, follows:
T. W. Byrd, 58, Princeton
Loren Bailey, 21, Francisco
Lloyd Jenkins, 27, Francisco
William James, 20, Francisco
Wes Lewis, 55, Fort Branch
W. H. McCannon, 48, Princeton
J. H. Turner, 65, (colored) Princeton
Wm. Cassiday, 48, Princeton
James Gates, 55, Princeton
Claude Stone, 31, Oakland City
Vic Hulett, 35, Oakland City
Frank Helsley, 32, Francisco
John Driskell, 54, Princeton
John Ireland, 24, Francisco
Everett Sadler, 35, Princeton
Roy Shaw, 25, Oakland City
Earl Gates, 32, Princeton
J. H. Creech, 30, Oakland City
Ollie Roll, 30, Evansville
Fred James, 40, Francisco
S. J. Roll, 58, Evansville
W. P. Ratliff, 40, Francisco
Missing In Mine (Presumed Dead):
Walter Thomas, 47, Evansville
Claude Wright, 35, Francisco
Emery West, 47, Oakland City
Injured:
Jesse Clark, Princeton
Ledford King, Francisco
Harkey Snow, Francisco
Jacob Schaefer, Princeton
John Wilson, Francisco
Edward Pancake, Francisco
Virgil Hooker, Fort Branch
Manford Selby, Winslow
Basil Rutherford, Francisco
Albert Borer, Princeton
Thomas Wilson, Francisco
Clifford Biel, Fort Branch
Charles All, Sullivan
Eugene Cox, Francisco
Oscar Reinhart, Princeton
Roe Hugh, Princeton
Rufus Steinhall, Francisco
Marvin Scott, Sturgis, Ky.
George Black, Princeton
Arvil Slater, Oakland City
John L. Heiman, Evansville
Charles Towers, Princeton
Harry Slater, Oakland City
August Feldman, Evansville
W. M. Slater, Oakland City
Milo Dorsett, Princeton
William Bass, Francisco
Charles Cooper, Francisco
Alvis Heath, Princeton
(So far as is known the only man among the killed or injured who lived or formerly lived in Linton is Alvis Heath. He is the father-in-law of Carl Poe, of this city, and is reported among the injured.)
