Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1909-11-21 | Page 1 | Twenty Men Taken from Shaft Alive

TWENTY MEN TAKEN PROM FROM SHAFT ALIVE LIVE Others May Be Found Still Breathing in n the Mine at ati Cherry ChetTy Hi Ill i 1 Cherry Nov 20 The gamut from deepest despair to an hysteria of S hope was run here today when twenty ty miners entombed in the St Paul Faul mine min for a week almost to an hour were brought to the surface alive The story of their sufferings and an the heroism of their resourceful leaders is one of the most thrilling in all the black history of mining dis disasters disasters disasters asters Dawn broke with the bearers of stretchers moving from the pit mouth to the tent which served as s a morgue with bodies swollen and scorched al almost almost almost most beyond human semblance Forty of them had ad been brought up and I most of them hem identified when the marvelous report shot through the f prostrate community I found them alive found them alive I IIII In III a moment the morgue was deserted scarcely to be revisited while I Ithe the crowd fairly insane with the great hope that had sprung like a mi ml miraculous flame from the ashes of despair rushed to the pit I 4 44 I t I I I 4 Cherry Ill Nov midnight a small fire broke out In the mie m ne cutting off oU the rescue work Fire apparatus was lowered and n h stream of ot water again turned into the mine Vp to midnight only twenty men 4 have been brought to the surface f The fire appeared to be spreading f and the heat grew more Intense R P RE RE PE 1 E Maxwell mining engineer In the rescue party was overcome and had to be hurriedly brought to the sur surface 4 face h Cherry HU TIL Nov 2 22 2 a m mAt At this hour the fire is still burning and the i 4 heat Is so Intense as to prevent the 4 4 rescue of any before daylight i 4 f t f fAll t s s All AU thought was of the men who were alive It took six hours to bring the survivors to the surface Meanwhile a report spread that seventy or more men were alive In a of the mine cut off oft from escape by a bank of at black blackdamp blackdamp blackdamp damp between betwee their barricade and the main shaft S But two oxygen helmets remained at atthe atthe atthe the mine the others having been started back to Pittsburg this morning and with this scant equipment two experts began a new exploration At 9 p m they emerged their oxygen tanks being ex ox exhausted exhausted hausted and reported no further suc sue success success cess There are other resourceful r leaders among the missing and they like Watte Walle WaI I Clelland and others may have led ed the themen themen themen men to comparative safety said Stats Attorney H L E kert tonight The ThelIe search lIe is now for the living Less optimistic notes ware w z others but the women with hope born afresh refused to believe believes but the best and haunted haunt d the th mine far tar into the night seizing frantically at every ever straw of or en encouragement encouragement offered Bringing Bodies to the Surface From the top of the hoisting shaft to the sleeping cars drawn up on the sid sw swings sidIngs sidIngs feet ings was a distance of at about Between the crowd held h ld back by militia a passageway was formed It was along this line that the women looking for loved loed ones gazed Into the faces of ot the survivors as they passed through As night drew on the whole scene was revealed only by a pale moonlight and the flickering torches worn on the caps of the rescuers Each time the signal sounded Bounded from the hoist for the cage to come UP from the mine the noise of the crowd subsided Into murmuring expectancy expectancy tancy Hoist Holst her up came from tram the depths Hoise her up repeated repented the engineer overhead Then the tho th men and women pressed for forward forward forward ward against the line of at soldiers and ropes determined to get as near as pos pas possible Bible sible to peer Into the faces of at the su sue suI V Everybody be quiet Please dont cheer whispered the guards The ma machinery chinery of the hoisting apparatus rum rumbled rumbled rumbled bled and screeched as the cage came up upward upward upward ward Moments of Suspense Would there be In this load alive one m T had been mourned for seven days as dead This question Hashed flashed through a hundred minds The passageway nar narrowed narrowed rowed Towed as each anxious looker Instinct pressed pres ed forward Here they come now Look sharp A woman here and there who could i inot not riot s see e held up a child and cautioned It Look and try if it you can see papa when they pass The machinery stopped The cage was up and a dozen torches shed a dingy light on Its passengers There stood the rescuers wearing shiny rub rubber rubber rubber ber coats and white caps Between them wrapped In militia blankets they held the rescued men some standing others carried In arms Slowly the procession moved A burst of applause i started from the crowd but a raised I hand from the militiamen brought si silence silence I lence Mothers and Wives There It was a critical moment and wives stretched forth their arms murmuring Billie or Frank Prank or Oh Andy are you there Speak to tome tome tome me I am here The blankets drawn over the heads of the men hid their faces and pre prevented prevented prevented vented identification from the crowd browd Not receiving a repay repty the women tore toward the sleeping cars ImplOring and begging any anyone one to give them good news Overcome by appeals a rescuer called out the name of the theman theman man ml n he was escorting George GeorAe Eddy he shouted Weve got George G orge Eddy here Oh George came a piercing wom worn womans womans ans cry Cl from the crowd Is it you Come here George hero here I am wait walt waitIng waitIng i Ing for tor you i Eddy who was a mine Inspector was too weak to reply and would only submit to the escort who carried him to the car carAt carAt carAt At the foot of the car stops the crowd was kept back and md the women almost hysterical clung to the hand handrails handrails rails raUs piteously ly imploring those Inside to let them enter Rescued His Brother A dramatic moment came when Wil Wll William WlllIam liam Clellan was as brought up At the news of the disaster a week ago Rob Robert Robert Robort ert ort a brother and also al o a miner came here from South Wilmington ui I 1 He was Informed on his arrival that all the entombed men wore were dead He of offered offered fared his services as a a rescuer and de declared declared cred he would remain rem ln here everybody was brought up Today he was In the tife rescuing party As S the I survivors were brought through the gallery to the hoisting shaft wrapped I In blankets Robert assisted them Into the cage cager In r the first load that went up was some Borne one whom Robert did not recognize recognize recognize nize The survivors were put pu into m o tnt nb tn sleeping car under the care of nurses and doctors arid and ld Robert went down the shaft for another load He was coming out of ot the cage case again when a a friend stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder Job tob dont you know that Will Is la laup up Robert turned pale and staggered You dont mean Yes alive Hes up alive aUve Why Bob you brought him up yourself wrapped In blankets Robert was so overwrought he had to be relieved from rescue work and was himself taken into the sleeping car I Woman In a little cottage Mrs George became the envied of ot all at nightfall for her husband was waa the first to be taken home and his brother John were among the first survivors to reach the surface A reporter led by a Lithuanian Interpreter found Mrs one of the happiest women in Cherry Chem shoveling coal out of a little bin in the back yard She humming cheerily at her work and readily led the way Into the house houseIn In a bedroom off oft the combination din dining dinIng dining ing room and kitchen was on oi the bed his three youngsters the oldest 4 years peering at his blackened face tace and arms arnie A Catholic sister was present to see that the patient bolstered up apparently by all the pillows in the place did not overeat His story was simple and di direct direct direct Disaster Unknown to Him HimAt HimAt HimAt At 1 last Saturday Satu day the fhe pit boss came to measure my work After Atter he went I waited for the team to come for the coal but In two hours bours It had not come so I started to find out what was the matter Pretty soon I saw smoke and nd I felt that the ventilation fan had ad stopped The Tha Continued Con on Page 9 TWENTY MEN TAKEN i FROM SHAFT ALIVE Continued from Page 1 fire had been burning for an hour but that was the first I 1 kneW me of it I started to run then but met mat George Eddy and some others about In all and Mr Eddy led ua WI way back where I had been working Then we tried to throw up a barrier but it was wa pitch dark and we did not get along well All the time we breathed bad gas 1 had nothing to eat ant of my own but 1 I chewed bark and drank water We Va got the water by making little holes In the bottom of ot the entry We made five live of these holes and there was always some someone someone someone one at them It was our principal food That s how all the coal dust dUt got into our beards because we always were trying to drink English Sang Italians Prayed Wh Whit What t did you do all those days you were penned In 1117 Why we all said goodbye to each other I and my brother we wo cried much At first the English among f us sang songs and the Italians were all nfl the time I praying but after a while we lYe were all too to weak to move about v Nobody reached us today we reached rea hed them We wanted more water and ana we crawled over our own barrier bawler and start started eeL ed We did not know where we were and were always falling over things We walked about ten feet apart so as to not fall In each other The last fall IaU In nearly blocked the passage pa age and we had to worm our way through a long aperture scarcely big enough to hold us We were dreadfully weak We had breathed much poison polson Then we saw the rescuers who had come down There was no ne cheering We Just sat down and let them take care of us That was all alj Nobody had voice enough to cheer and hardly enough to talk was the only man allowed to togo togo go to his home for several hours the doctors fearing hearing that the men would eat too much But the Lithuanian grew so excited at being kept from his wife and children that it was thought best to al low him to have his own way Last Messages Message Written George Eddy a hero among the heroes who escaped from the St Paul mine In Inthe Inthe inthe the darkness and despair of his position made shift to write a few words of cour courage courage courage age to his wife wIte The letter follows November 14 Dear Wife and Chil dren I write these them few lines to you ou and I think it will be for tor the last time I have tried to get out twice but was drove back There seems to be no hope for tor us I came down this shaft to help save the mens lives live 1 I hope the men I got out was saved Well Lizzie if I am found dead bury me ma In Streator and move back Keep Esther and Clarence and JImmIe to together together together gether as much as you ou can I hope they will not forget their father so I will bid bidOU you OU all goodbye and God bless you all Signed GEORGE EDDY On the reverse side of this letter writ written wrItten written ten on a leaf torn from a notebook was the following from Walter Waite Walte Blamed lamed No One November 14 HWe We the undersigned do donot donot donot not blamo anyone for the accident that happened happen d to pen us In here and wo we be believe belIeve believe lieve that everybody ha ba done all nil In their power to relieve us With best wishes to all concerned Signed Frank Waite Walte John Joh Brown Thomas White John Lorimer Jack HIgate Sal Salvatore Salvatore Salvatore HIgate Lawrence Frederick Q Frank Leopold De Demond Demond Demond mond George ShIm Its John William Clelland Fred Frank John George Eddy Walter Waite Walte StoutHearted Clelland From survivors who were seen the high highest highest est eat praise for fortitude and anI leadership Is accorded William Clelland Twice dally daily Clelland who Is a staunch churchman conducted religious services His favorite hymn the words of which even some of the foreigners picked up was Abide With Me Twice dally daily rich Scotch brogue arose in the dark cavern with the grand words Abide with me Fast falls the eventide The darkness deepens Lord with me ma abide Twice dally daily Clelland delivered a blunt stouthearted sermon cheering on the fal faltering falterIng ha men Keep up your hearts lads God is with us Dont despair Others have been shut off of from the light of day as we are and In Gods good time come out alive Is the Way ay one of his sermons Is quoted The Lord is with us even here and great Is his mercy mercy Then followed the Lords prayer Invariably Mule Also Alive Imprisoned with the miners was a live mule which owing to a Slavish super superstition superstition Is still alive When Clelland and Lorimer started out outto outto outto to find more water a II trip that led to their ultimate delivery a dozen or more men remained remaIn d temporarily behind If It we dont succeed in getting water kill the mule At these instructions the held up their hands In horror for they had a superstition that If In such an ex ox extremity they the they sought to prolong their own I i lives even at the sacrifice of or a dumb brute they would surely die Rather than take this chance they thy speedily followed the trail of those woo wao had bad started to obtain water Lived on n Tobacco and Leather George Sem Inexperienced ef efforts efforts forts to make the contents of his lunch pail pall last as long Ions as possible shows how pressed the imprisoned men were for food pail pall contained four slices of bread one piece of f pie and a huge dill pickle estimate of how long this food would last proved woeful ly wrong for deducting what he others it had all disappeared within 24 hours Fortunately the prisoners still had a practically unimpaired plug plue of tobacco From this they extracted all the nourish nourishment nourishment nourishment ment and then swallowed the quid This diet kept stomach in inso Inso Inso so feverish a condition that for the three days th the supply lasted he experienced practically no pangs of hunger The leather band of his cap was next pressed Into service as a substitute for tobacco and as a destroyer of appetite served quite as well as tobacco His gloves fol lowed It J was not very sustaining said Sem and I got pretty weak but it was better than being hungry all aU the time Story of One Ons of Rescue Crew One of the leaders of the rescuing gang was David E Powell mine dent of Braceville III Ill Powell a tall muscular old man with hair went on duty at 7 a m His story follows We were going along what Is known as the second south entry or gallery and were passing a n gallery shooting shoo Un off from this known as the second west when stopping for tor a moment I heard some Borne pounding and what sounded Bounded to t me like a II faint taint voice I turned to the fellows and said eaid Listen I thought I beard heard a voice then Maybe It is some of the fellows still alive We listened again and what appeared to be bo the voice and the pounding con eon At Jt that wo we started at a brisk pace to where we thought the men were and found there an obstruction n Before Detore we had the obstruction down we knew for tor certain that live men were behind it for tor or we called and talked to them re One of the men behind the obstruction happened to 0 be an Italian who used to work for me melie melie lie He called out Hello Hello Mr Ir Davie as aI he always called mo me You see we aint dead yet In another minute we were all au clasped In one arms The men we tool too out from here hero were the first two to reach the surface and were apart from those rescued later ater Heard the