Stiff-faced and stoical was a crowd clustered about the entrance of the Old Town Coal Company's mine at McAlester, Okla. last week. Out of the mine were carried 60 bodies. Three were unconscious, overcome by afterdamp (carbon monoxide) which had followed a muffled explosion below. The rest, wrapped in burlap to conceal the charred mutilation or gas-choked contortions of their faces, were dead. Of them, 34 were Mexicans, 15 were Negroes. The bodies were exhibited in improvised morgues. Many were unidentifiable. One was identified by a broken toe.
The shaft of the mine slopes...