Hellraisers Journal: “Fire Adds to Horror of Dawson Explosion-284 Entombed by Blast, 22 Rescued Alive…256 Missing”

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Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1913
October 22, Dawson, New Mexico
–Near Three Hundred Miners Trapped in Flaming Mine

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of October 23, 1913:

From Albuquerque Evening Herald of October 23, 1913:

Thursday October 23, 1913 – Dawson, New Mexico
-Mine Disaster Leaves Nearly 300 Miners Entombed, Hope Fading

These are the latest bulletins from The Anaconda Standard:

Dawson, N. M., Oct.23-Fourteen bodies have been recovered and seven men have been found alive by rescuers early this morning working in shaft No. 2 of the Stag Canyon coal mine, where an explosion occurred yesterday afternoon, entombing the day shift, variously given as numbering 230 to 280 men.

Trinidad, Col., Oct. 22-A special rescue train carrying scores of experienced miners equipped with rescue apparatus left here at 6 o’clock tonight for Dawson, 125 miles from here.

Raton, N. M., Oct. 22-About 100 feet of progress has been made by the rescuers at mine No. 2 of the Stag Canyon Fuel company at Dawson, N. M., in their fight against the debris which has choked the mine entrance. A few mangled bodies have been recovered, and it is believed that the blockades exist for hundreds of feet further into the mine.

Little hope is entertained here for the rescue of the entombed men…

Appeals for aid started scores of experienced miners from Trinidad and the surrounding coal camps, shortly after 6 o’clock, and they were expected to reach Dawson before midnight.

Dawson, N. M., Oct 22-…The rescuers believe they will be able to reach the interior by tomorrow night at the latest. They think no exits exist at present from the mine. So far all rescuing parties have had to enter the mine equipped with oxygen tanks

Women Gather
In the relief camps situated near the entrance to mine No. 2, are gathering the women and children of the entombed miners. Women of the town are in the camp comforting and cheering the wives and children of the miners, whose fate still is a matter of conjecture.

[Emphasis added.]

Among those on the train which left Trinidad last night to join the rescue effort in Dawson were Louie Tikas, leader of the Ludlow Tent Colony; Ed Doyle, Secretary of District 15, and Ed Wallace, editor of the United Mine Workers Journal. They arrived with a thousand dollars in relief for the women and children. The young photographer, Lou Dold, was also reported to have arrived on the train from Trinidad.

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Friday Morning October 24, 1913 – Dawson, New Mexico
-43 Bodies Recovered, Death Toll Will Reach 263

Forty-three bodies have been recovered from the Stag Canyon Mine No. 2. An estimated 220 men are still missing and believed to be dead. Two helmet-men who arrived on the government rescue car, have also lost their lives attempting to save the trapped miners.

The wives of the volunteer helmetmen have joined the mothers and sisters, wives and children of the entombed miners at the mouth of the mine. They now stand silent, waiting as all hope of rescue fades. The mine is full of poison gas, and anyone trapped inside would surely have suffocated by now, according to the rescue team.

Of the 43 known dead and the 220 missing miners, 133 are Italians, and 35 are Greeks. The rest are said to be Slavic, Polish, and native-born Americans.

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From the El Paso Herald of October 24, 1913
-Ed Doyle driven away by mine guards:

Washington, D. C.,-Oct 24-Representative Keating of Colorado, today received a telegram from E. L. Doyle, an official of the Mine Workers’ union, declaring that he was driven away from Dawson by mine guards. Mr. Keating made a protest to the postal authorities, as Doyle was also restrained from entering the post office.

“Hundreds of miners still entombed: action a disgrace to civilization. I ask if it was not my right to visit the post office,” the telegram says in part.

Ed Doyle, Secretary of District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America, and a few other union men were illegally arrested by Phelps-Dodge mine guards, taken six miles out into the desert, dumped there and warned not to return to Dawson.

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SOURCES & IMAGES

Palos AL Mine Disaster Song by TJ Reid re May 5 1910
https://cdm17336.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17336coll5/id/401

The Chronicle News
(Trinidad, Colorado)
-Oct 23, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1913-10-23/ed-1/seq-1/

Albuquerque Evening Herald
(Albuquerque, New Mexico)
 -Oct 23, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070581/1913-10-23/ed-1/seq-1/

The Anaconda Standard
(Anaconda, Montana)
-Oct 23, 1913
https://www.newspapers.com/image/354311865/

El Paso Herald
(El Paso, Texas)
-Oct 24, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88084272/1913-10-24/ed-1/seq-7/

Names and Nationalities of the Dead
Raton, History, Mystery and More 
-by Mike J. Pappas
Coda Publications, 2003
(search: “following are names”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_jt0gxRWLgC

1913 Dawson Mine Disaster, Names of the Dead
https://genealogytrails.com/newmex/colfax/miningdisasters.html

Photographer Louis R. Dold
https://archive.org/details/buriedunsungloui0000papa/page/61/mode/1up?view=theater&q=dold

Tag: Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1913-1914/

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Lydia-Slaid Cleves

Oh, Lydia, your tears are heaven’s rain,
But she never was the same..
-Karen Poston