Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1895 — ENTOMBED IN A MINE. [ARTICLE]

ENTOMBED IN A MINE.

FORTY-TWO CALUMET MINERS PERISH. Smoke and Gai the Deadly Agenta— Big Copper Shaft the Scene of the Horror—Two Hundred Were in the Mine. Trapped by Flames. Fire broke out in shaft No. 2 of the Osceola copper mine, near Calumet, Mich., about noon Saturday and of over 200 men. at work at the time, forty-two failed to make their escape and are believed to have perished." They had not so much chance as they would have had in a cave-in; for then some nook or timber-supported arch would have afforded refuge. But in the present instance smoke and gases have penetrated every crevice, and it is not thought possible any ceuld survive. Sunday morning a search party consisting of Capt. James Richards, John Harvey, Richard Coombs, Lewis James, Jacob Paulson, John Stevens, and James Parrey went down the No. 5 shaft to the twenty-fourth level and went into the drift 800 or 900 feet until they were nearly overcome by gas and compelled to return. Capt. Richards came near losing his life. No bodies were found. Gas is the principal danger and will stay in the mine as long as the fire burns. The head captain and many of the men say the fire is the work of an incendiary. It started in sagging overwork seventy feet above the floor, where fire could not possibly get, as the mines are deep and dry. The incendiary, it is thought, wanted to cripple the company, and probably thought the men would all escape safely. Numerous stories of hairbreadth escapes are told by survivors. Many men did not realize their danger until too late. One miner took his working partner by the hand and begged him to go tb the surface,'but he answered, “There is no danger.” He is still in the mine. Others hung to their stronger partners until both were overcome. Some of the men working several levels below the twenty-seventh level, where the fire caught, were seen as far up as the eighteenth level, working their way toward the surface. Several of the men who escaped report having passed others on the ladders who were unAbie to proceed farther on account of their being overcome by gas and smoke. A main about 60 years old picked up a young man overcome by gas and carried him from 200 to 300 feet toward the surface, when he felt his strength giving out and he had to drop the young fellow in order to reach the surface alive himself. When the first alarm of fire was signaled to the men there were more than 200 men underground. All could have reached the surface safely if they had used proper precaution. Capt. Trenbath was among those who came up, but he returned again to see that the others got out safely and is now among the missing. A group of seven or eight men was noticed resting and smoking their pipes by several of the miners and were told to hirrry to.-the surface. Their answer was that they had plenty of time. They also are counted among the missing, none of them having escaped. Nothing can be done to recover the bodies until the fire is gotten under control and the gases get out of the mine. It is generally thought that the bodies will be found in the drifts leading to the other shafts, where the men ran trying to find a place to escape the flames. No. 3 shaft was surrounded all day Sunday by thousands of people anxious to see if word or sign would be received from the miners, but ail were doomed to disappointment and went to their homes fearing the worst, having given up all hope. Most of the men were married and the scenes around the mine .are heartrending at all times. The only precedents from which the probable duration of the fire can be guessed are supplied by the three big fires which have ravaged the Calumet and Hecla mine. The greatest of these burned for months, and was extinguished only by flooding the mine with water and carbonic acid gas. There being less timbering in the Osceola, the fire will probably not spread far from No. 2 shaft, but it may smolder for weeks. There are not lacking indications that the fire .was of incendiary origin. The smoke was smelled by some of the miners half an hour before the blaze was located. When found the fire had gained such headway that it could not be extinguished by the means at hand.