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Sunday Morning, November 21, 1909
ANOTHER FIRE BREAKS OUT, MAY KILL MANY Cherry, Nov. 20, 8 pm. - Twenty-two survivors were brought out of the St. Paul company's mines today, several in an advanced state of exhaustion. Seventy or more are believed to be alive in the ramifications of the mine. The search continues. SUFFERING AND HERIOSM The gamut from the deepest despair to the hysteria of hope was run today when twenty miners, entombed for a week, were rescued alive. The suffering and heroism of their resourceful leaders is one of the most thrilling stories of the black history of mining disasters. Forty swollen and scorched dead bodies have been brought up today. Most of them had been identified today when the marvelous report shot through the prostrated crowsd. "They have found them alive!" CROWD DESSERTS MORGUE In a moment the morgue was deserted and was scarely revisited, while the crowd, insane with hope which flamed from the ashes of despair, rushed to the pit. SIX HOURS IN RESCUE It took six hours to bring the survivors to the surface. Meanwhile the report spread that seventy or more were alive, in the far reach of the mine, cut off from escape by a bank of black damp between their barricade and the main shaft. NO MORE SUCCESS But two oxygen masks remained at the mine, the others having been started back to Pittsburg this morning. With this scant equipment, two experts began new explorations. At 9 o'clock tonight they emerged, their oxygen tanks exhausted, and reported no success. MAY BE SAFE "There are other resouceful leaders among the missing, and they, like Waite, Clelland and others , may have lead their men to comparitive safety," said State's Attorney Eckert tonight. "The search is now for the living." Less optimistic notes were sounded by others, but women, with hope born afresh, refused to believe anything but the best, and haunted the mine far into the night, seizing frantically at every straw of encouragement offered. MANY OTHERS ALIVE Late tonight, Dr. Weeks, one of the physicians in charge of the survivors, said: "I have talked with all the rescued men. They saw they are convinced that many are still alive, but that it is impossible to estimate how many. Maybe fifty, a hundred or fewer. It seems the men are scattered in all the parts of the mine. If others barricaded themselves as theses did, they are still safe. "At 10 o'clock men from below said they had heard signals in distant parts, but these sections are still cut off by obstructions. Some, however, are within reach and are being given medical attention. They will be brought up as rapidly as possible."
ANOTHER FIRE STARTS Cherry, Nov. 20 - At midnight, a small fire broke out in the mine, cutting off the rescue work. Fire apparatus had to be lowered and a stream of water turned into the mine. It is feared that if the fire is not extinguished shortly many men will perish. Up to midnight only twenty men were brought to the surface. The fire is spreading and the heat is more intense. R. E. Maxwell, a mining engineer in the rescue party, was overcome and had to be hurridly brought to the surface.
STORIES OF SURVIVAL WILLIAM CLELAND William Cleland, one of the survivors, after drinking a bowl of soup, appeared none the worse for the experience. He said: "As soon as we discovered last Saturday that there was no hope of escape, we retreated to a safe place where water was found. Fortunately some timbers behind us burned out. This let earth and rock fall, cutting us off from th heat and the gas. How the time went we don't know. We must have been unconscious part of the time." "I remember drinking quantities of seepage, that dripped down into a gutter, eating my lunch. After that some of us pulled off bark from the timbers and chewed it. We did not realize how serious our position was, in fact some of the men joked about it. After we drank all the water and the seepage ran dry, we began to pound on the wall to cause more to drip down." "Soon after this we heard voices. We could hear them digging on the other side of the rock and dirt which filled the passage. Soon a little hole was seen at the top and the gleam of torches came through. Our first question was. "Is it Sunday or Monday?" Most of us thought it was Sunday and that we had been in the mine only 24 hours." PRIEST'S GRAPHIC STORY Cherry, Nov. 21 - Father Heany, of St. Mary's church , of Mendota, who went down with the rescuers said: HEAR POUNDING ON THE WALL "It was 3 o'clock and we were 300 feet into the gallery from the hoisting shaft when the party slackened up on account of debris. Suddenly David Powell said: "Listen boys, I hear something." "We were all silient. A faint pounding on the wall was heard. "My God", said Powell, "I believe somebody is alive in there." Some others replied, "No that is impossible. Nobody believes the men could live down here seven days." "Well now", I said. "Lets listen again." POUNDING COMES AGAIN "We listened a full minute. There came the muffled pounding we heard before. We were too much affected to speak. We couldn't believe our senses, but grabbing piks and axes, we began to tear down the loosened earth and rock. We listened again and the pounding was louder. A little black hole opened before us." "Three of us climbed over the dirt and yelled: Are any of you alive in there boys?" "The answer came 'Yes'. Soon a large gap was made and we yelled. "How many of you are alive boys? We will save you in a minute." "In faint, husky voices, the men called, 'Yes, we are alive and you bet we are hungry. Have you got some lunch out there?" "I crawled up near the hole and yelled: 'God bless you, men we will get you out in a minute and give you all you can eat. Be as patient as you can.' I could not see anything back there so I crawled back and prayed to God to make the number we were about to rescue as many as possible" SEE THEIR EYES "By that time, the hole was wide open and a dozen pair of glistening eyes shining from black faces appeared. We kept kelling to the men, promising them we would soon be clear and we would be ready to carry them to the surface. One of the men answered 'Most of us are all right, but one fellow, a Frenchman, is almost gone.' WILD MEETING "When the pile of dirt finally tumbled, some of the men were staggered by the inrush of air and the lights from our torches. With a shout we jumped over and met them, throwing our arms around their necks. Their joy is inexpressible. They pounded us on the backs and laughed and cried until the place reverberated. I found the Frenchman breathing his last. Holding a torch over his sooty face. I said 'Do you give your soul to God?' He answered 'Yes'. I administered the sacrament. In a minute he was dead." WALTER WAITE, HERO "Walking toward the shaft there occurred one of the greatest acts of heroism I ever heard of. Walter Waite, one of the men rescued, on hearing there were others alive in another part of the mine, threw off his blanket that covered his head and shouted, 'Well, then, by God! I am not going out of the mine until I get the others." "We remonstrated and said 'We will take you up to get fresh air and warm food, and then, maybe, we'll let you help us.' But Waite protested, and we actually had to force him into the cage. He was shouting, 'Let me help the others.' "All the time those on the surface had not conceived the possibility of recovering men alive. When we could we shouted, 'We have got some men alive, hoist quick.' We went up like a shot and rushed the men into a Pullman car, where they were cared for."
GEORGE EDDY WROTE TO HIS WIFE Cherry, Nov. 20 - George Eddy, in darkness and despair in his position, managed to write a few words of courage to his wife saying: "Dear Wife and children. I write these lines and think it will be the last time. I came down the shaft yesterday to help save men's lives. I hope the men I got our were saved. Lizzie, if I am found dead, bury me in Streator and move back. Keep Esther, Clarence and Jimmie together as much as you can. I hope them will not forget father. Goodbye, God bless you all." On the reverse side of this letter was the following, signed Walter Waite and eighteen other imprisoned comrades. "We, the undersigned, do not blame anyone for the accident that happened and penned us in. We believe everybody did all in their power to relieve us. With best wishes to all concerned."
GREETED BY WIVES Cherry, Nov. 20 - Across the 150 foot space between the mouth of the shaft and in the sleeping cars, the survivors were taken through a gangway massed with people and lined with troops. The women especially scrutinized the faces of the survivors as they passed. As night fell, above the flicker of the torches to the height of a hundred feet reared the framework of the shaft machinery. Each time the signal sounded to hoist the cage, there was a murmur of expectancy and a press toward the line of ropes. WOMEN GREET SURVIVORS When the cage reached the top, a dozen torches lighted the rescuers, who wore rubber coats. Between them wrapped in blankets, they held rescued men, some of them standing, others carried. The procession moved through the gangway and was greeted, some times by mothers and wives, murmuring "Billie," "Frank," "Oh, Andy are you there?" Blankets drawn over the heads of the men prevented their identification. WOMEN PLEAD FOR NEWS The women tore toward the sleeping cars, imploring anyone to give them good news. One rescuers overcome by the appeals, called out the name of the man he was escorting, shouted, "We have got George Eddy here." "Oh George," came a women's cry, "Is it you? Come here I am waiting for you." Eddy, who is a mine inspector, was too weak to reply. At the car steps the crowd was kept back. ENVIED OF ALL In a little four-room cottage, three doors from the livery stable across the street, Mrs. George Subacus this evening became the envied by all, for her husband was the first to be taken home. Subascus and his brother John, were among the first survivors rescued. In a bedroom lay Subacus and three youngsters, peering at his blackened face through the bars at the foot of of the bed. A Catholic sister was watching that the patient might not overeat.
GEORGE SUBACUS SUBACUS TELLS STORY "The fire was burning an hour before I knew of it. I started to run and met twenty others. We tried to throw up a barrier, but it was dark and we did not get along very well. All the time we were breathing gas. I had nothing to eat, but chewed bark and drank water from little holes in th bottom of the entry. We made five holes and there was always some drinkers at them. Bark was our principal food." "What did you do all the days you were penned in?" "We all said good-bye to each other. At first English sang songs and the Italians were praying. After a while we are all too weak to more than crawl about." REACH THE RESCUERS "Nobody reached us today. We reached them. We wanted more water, so we crawled over one barrier and started and walked, ten feet apart, so as not to fall on each other. The last "fall-in" nearly blocked the passage. We worked through a long aperature scarcely a big enough hole for us. We were dreadfully weak, for we had breathed so much poison. Then we saw the rescuers. There was no cheering, we just let them take care of us. Nobody had voice enough to cheer." Subacus is the only man allowed to go home for several hours, the doctors fearing they would eat too much. But the Lithuanian was so excited he was allowed to have his way.
NAMES OF RESCUED Cherry, Nov. 20 - The following named were officially given out by Dr. Weeks as a list of the men rescued.
FRANCISCO ZANNERINI ZANNARINI'S STORY Cherry, Nov. 20 - Fransciso Zannerini said: "We managed to get enough water from the sides of the gallery the first few days; then we thought we would die of thirst. One man said: "There is lots of water in this loose coal if we could only squeeze it out." Several men tried sucking hands full of coal off the floor thus moistening their lips and tongues. After a while we all quenched our thirst the same way." "We made twenty attempts to escape. This morning seven of us started out of the room. When we went a short distance the smell was awful. We passed a lot of dead burros, probably forty. I think the burros were frantic with thirst and stampeded, got tangled in a heap and died." "Our courage diminished Sunday night when one fellow died. Since then we alternated in gloom and merriment. When someone was despondent others tried to cheer him."
JOE PIGATI WRITES Cherry, Nov. 20 - Joe Pigati while being revived, produced a letter to his wife written on brown paper. It reads: "I am writing in the dark because we have eaten the wax from our lamps. I have eaten a plug of tobacco, some bark, and some of my shoe. I am not afraid to die. Holy Virgin, have mercy. You know what my property is. We worked for it together. It is all yours. This is my will, you have been a good wife. Good-bye, until heaven will bring us together." Another man when brought to the surface solemnly requested that his wife be kept from the car, and added: "I have been away for seven days. I think I can apologize better to her at home."
ANOTHER FIRE ENGINE Chicago, Nov. 20 - A fire engine and crew of ten were sent to Cherry tonight to relieve the Chicago firemen working at the mine since Tuesday. |
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