An explosion killed 5 of the 18 men in the mine. Two died of burns and 3 from carbon monoxide poisoning. Two injured men were rescued
several hours later and 11 escaped uninjured. Gas accumulated by the wrecking of a door, was ignited by the arcing of a trolley wheel of a locomotive. Coal dust was ignited, but the explosion was stopped by rock dust and water on the entries.
Five Miners Killed in Explosion
The Times, Munster, Indiana
November 15, 1926
Moundsville, W. Va., Nov. 15 -- Five miners were killed, and two others seriously injured in an explosion of gas at the mounds shaft of the Glendale Gas Coal company mine at Glendale, near here early today. The bodies of three men were recovered.
Seventeen men were In the mine at the time of the explosion. Ten escaped when the blast shook the shaft and two others were found, badly injured, by the first rescue crew. They were rushed to a Moundsville hospital.
The dead:
- Walter Fogle
- Rueben Kirkhart
- Mike Kovach
- Thomas Rogerson
- J. E. Stefel
The bodies of Rogerson and Stefel have not been recovered. James Lemasters and H. M. Cumberidge were seriously injured.
Preliminary investigation failed to determine the cause of the explosion, officials stating that the
mine had been "rock dusted" to prevent explosions of coal dust, shortly before the disaster.