By Staff Correspondent
Coal Glen, N.C., May 29—Thirty-eight bodies, three of them still unidentified, had been recovered from the Carolina Coal company’s mine at 1 o’clock this afternoon, following the series of explosions which are believed to have entombed instantly killed 53 miners Wednesday.
The rapidly rising temperature has accelerated the process of decomposition, and orders have been issued that all bodies recovered from now on must be buried at once.
Authorities were hopeful that the remaining 14 bodies would be found before nightfall.
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Coal Glen, N.C., May 29—With the recovery of another body at 11 o’clock this morning, a total of 34 victims of the Carolina Coal Company mine disaster here had been brought to the surface. The last four bodies were badly swollen and identification of some of the men will never be possible.
One of the men found sitting with his legs crossed, as though awaiting relief after the first explosion. It is believed odorless black damp got him and others before they realized their danger. Evidence revealed by the clearing of the mine indicate the third explosion was the most destructive.
While rescue work is organized at the mine, confusion reigns this morning at Sanford. Undertakers and their helpers, after working all night and all morning are exhausted. Calls have been issued to Durham, Raleigh and Greensboro and undertakers ae on their way.
Families of the miners have at last been induced to return to their homes and there await information that their loved ones have been identified, as rapidly as possible.
According to statement from the mine at noon, the officials of the company had revised the estimate of the number trapped in the mine to 52.
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Coal Glen, N.C., May 29—With 34 bodies removed from the Carolina Coal company’s mine at noon today, Coal Glen’s weary populace staggered into the third day, with all hope for the lives of the entombed miners vanished but with a determination to bring to the surface today all of the bodies of the dead, who now are believed to have been killed instantly when a series of explosions occurred in the mine Wednesday.
Meanwhile, relatives of the entombed miners remained immovable in their vigil, hoping against hope that there may yet be a spark of life down below the 2,600 foot level where the rescue workers are now digging.
Mothers and fathers, girls but recently married, lingered in the front line awaiting the call that will take them to the khaki tent to view the bodies.
The mine had been penetrated to its full depth by 10 o’clock today, and exploring parties momentarily expected to reach the remainder of the dead pocketed in minor passages. The effects of the gas are making rescue conditions below the surface more intolerable as the rescuers are unable to withstand the odors for any length of time. The problem of identification has also become increasingly difficult. Where the features of the dead are now charred, they now are so swollen that in one case even a father refused to state positively that the man before him was his own son.
With the end of the rescue work in sight, plans of relief work for the destitute families were underway. According to the best estimates, 40 widows and abut 75 orphans are left as a result of the catastrophe. The miners carried little, if any, insurance protection. Little doubt exists but that privation will follow close upon the heels of the disaster unless immediate relief steps are taken.
American Red Cross officials, adjutant general J.B. Van Metts, representing the governor of North Carolina, and representative citizens of the community gathered today to survey the situation.
From the front page of The Durham Sun, Friday afternoon, May 29, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020732/1925-05-29/ed-1/seq-1/#words=MAY+29%2C+1925
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