75 Men Entombed by Mine Explosion
The New York Times, New York
December 17, 1907

Birmingham, Ala., Dec. 16. -- About seventy-five men are buried in No. 1 mine of the Yolande Coal and Coke Company at Yolande, thirty-five miles south of Birmingham, in Tuscaloosa County, following and explosion today. Ninety men were checked in for work. ... Within an hour after the explosion seventeen men had crawled out of the mine, all burned. Thirty-five dead bodies had been recovered up to dark.

While officials of the company are hoping for the best, the rescue party is forcing its way into the mines. It is feared that few of those still entombed will escape death. Little houses just outside the mines were destroyed by the immense amount of dust and timber blown out of the mines. A relief train and mine inspectors went to the scene this afternoon. Sixty coffins were prepared to be sent to Yolande.

The work of recovery is slow, and while hundreds of miners from adjacent mining camps are present to assist, it is thought that all of the dead cannot be taken out before two days. ... The mine inspectors have concluded that the explosion was caused by a "windy shot" bringing about a dust explosion. For two hours after the explosion it was impossible to venture even near the mouth of the mine, so hot was the air that rushed out.

The explosion was below the second right sub-entry. The mines go down something like 1,500 feet. There was a terrific explosion, the force being made known outside by the [dust] and timbers that were blown out in great quantities, destroying small buildings nearby and landing some distance away. There was a terrific heat near the shaft after the explosion.

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