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1W KSIT If-ONK MULES SUFFOCATE| IN STABLE BY SMOKE.After Two Days Lay-off Mine lte-snmes Under Adverse Conditions.Like rats in a trap, the full equipment of twenty-one mules used . in Dock Bros. No. 3 mine at this place, were asphyxiated in a fire which broke out in the stable in the mine at an early hour Wednesday morning. Asa result about 400 men were idle for several days and the mine is expected to be cripped for a least a month.The fire was discovered about 5:30 o’clock by James Rodgers, the mine examiner, who was the only man down the shaft at that time. Rodgers had just returned from making- his rounds in the mine when he came upon the fire. He endeavored to make his wav to the stable but was driven back hy the dense and stifling smoke. He then rushed to the bottom and telephoned the engineer on top to sound the fire alarm. The alarm brought a throng to the mine and the volunteers were lowered as quickly as possible. Wm. Kimberlin, the stable boss, was on his way to the mine when the fire alarm was sounded. . Upon .arriving at the bottom he was led to the stable by his faithful bull-dog, “Jim/* who seemed to realize that something unusual was up. Kimberlin succeeded in forcing the door, which was a difficult matter owing to the downcast of air from the fan. A’dead mule in harness lay just inside the door. Kimberlin then returned to the main entry and told Rodgers to telephone the engineer to reverse the fan. This done the smoke was soon removed and the men clamored over the dead bodies of the mules and extinguished the smoldering hay and timbers.AH day Wednesday was required to remove'the mules from the mine, which was a difficult task. They were lying about the stable in a manner that showed there had been great confusion among them during the fire. The bodies were dragged out to the first east entry and loaded on trucks, then taken to the bottom aud hoisted to the surface. The sight on top that evening was one that is rarely witnessed around a coal mine. The bodies of the mules were not burned the least, death being due entirely to suffocation. They wire loaded in cars Thursday and taken by a Troy Eastern train to East St. Louis where the carcasses were sold for the hides and tallow.Henry Cohn, the well known horse and mule dealer of Collinsville, wa* given a 'contract at once for twenty-three mine mules and in less than two hours notified the company be had the required number of animals ready for delivery. Fire more have since been[Continued on last page,}
Newspaper Details
Troy Weekly Call
Troy, Illinois, US
Sat, Feb 01, 1908
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, 29 Jul 2020
Other Publications Near Troy, Illinois
Troy Star
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