Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1909 — NEW FIRES STOP MINE RESCUERS [ARTICLE]

NEW FIRES STOP MINE RESCUERS

Hope of Saving Any Is Abandoned. BODIES OF 100 FOUND Women anil Children Attempt to Leap Down Shaft. DISCLOSURES ARE STARTLING Open Torches Were Used in Place of Electric lights.

Cherry, Hl.. Nov. 16.—Fire still is raging in the St. Paul mine and engines and apparatus were rushed here from La Salle on a special train. By order of the mining experts and Inspectors after a conference with George S. Rice, chief of the field work Of the United States geological survey, the main shaft was sealed again In the hope of smothering the flames suf ficiently to permit of fighting the fire. The fire broke out with great intensity after the rescue workers and inspectors had thrice descended into the shaft to the bottom.

On the first two trips no sign of fire was detected near the shaft and there was little smoke. Then the fans were started in the hope of clearing the galleries that search for the bodies might progress. Suddenly the flames were rekindled, the fire pouring out of the stables, where the fire started. Inspector James Taylor and R. Y. Williams were being lowered into the shaft when they discovered the flames abput 100 feet from the bottom and toward the exit shaft. They signaled for an ascent.

Meager Supply of Water. "The timbers are falling now,” said Mine Examiner A. R. Newsam, as the inspectors gathered around. “We must seal the shaft at once.” Workmen were hastened to the scene, and the shaft covered with iron beams and a thick layer of sand. The water supply here is low and officials of the company ordered tank trains from nearby towns. All hope of further exploration in the mine was abandoned temporarily and experts believe it will be several days before any further effort to reach the entombed miners can be made. “Where we were unfortunate,” said Taylor, “was in that we did not have a barrel of water with us when we were lowered to the bottom the last time. “I believe that a barrel of water could have extinguished the blaze. The fire is now burning fiercely, but I think still confined to the part known as the stable." Shortly after the mine was resealed the officials announced that carbonic acid gas and steam would be forced through pipes to the bottom of the mine. President McDonald of the United Mine Workers, District 12, said if this was done every man in the mine would be dead within a few minutes.

Oxygen Exhausted Completely. Of 310 men who were in themine none escaped death. This conclusion* voiced by searchers effaced the last hope of relatives of the victims who surged about the opening of the shaft to hear it. Two trips into the tomb, in which fire still rages, convinced those who had gone to rescue any who might be alive that their mission was useless. That every bit of oxygen, or lifegiving air, had been exhausted many hours ag<>, was declared certain. The searchers declared that no life could exist for hundreds of feet beyond the shaft entrance. One hundred bodies were found early in the afternoon. When it was learned that the bodies had been located women and children attempted t 6 leap into the shaft and fought the guards. • , Work of taking out the bodies was begun immediately. Seven- special funeral cars wero brought to Cherry. These cars were backed up near the mine. Open Torch Cause of Fire. The inquiry into the cause of the mine disaster disclosed startling conditions. It was declared that the fire

was caused by open torches, Used to take the place of a burned-out electric lighting system in the second vein. E. P. Buck, chief clerk of the St. Paul Mining company, said: “The fire was due to the use of torches. The part of the second vein where the hay was ordinarily is lighted by electricity. A week or so ago the electric lead cable running to the vein burned out. We ordered another cable. but it was slow in coming. So we

had to use torches there, and it seems as though fate waited for the chance. “A torch was fastened in the wall and someone carelessly pushed a car into it or near enough to it to set fire to the hay, which started the conflagration. “Either the car of hay ran into It or It was pushed under the torch so clo«e that the hay caught fire. Then the men tried to dump the burning bale but the timber caught fire and the whole shaft was ablaze.” Governor Deenen with several companies of Illinois guardsmen are in the stricken village to take charge of the situation: With over 300 dead, according to the latest estimates, food lacking and a famine actually at hand, and the survivors of the horror and their relatives desperate and half-crazed, the situation is fast becoming desperate. More than 10,000 men and women, many of them mourners still keeping a last desperate hope alive, but the greater part (furiosity seekers, were banked around the mine. So dense was the press that special officers had to drive the crowd back repeatedly, and all the newspaper men. including several score sent from Chicago, were sworn in as deputy sheriffs and given deputies’ stars to enable them to penetrate the throng, as well as to help in conserving order and property. While the shaft was open frantic women and children tried to leap in after loved ones.

Farmers Contribute Provisions. The famine in the village was of equally pressin" irhpdrtance with the situation in the mine. Hundreds of families, deprived of their breadwinners, were actually .destitute and without food, and there was practically no food to be had at the stores. Men were sent out on horseback to the surrounding farms with appeals for provisions, and the response came instantly. Scores of farm wagons loaded heaping full with vegetables, hams, bacon, fresh beef and all kinds of farm products, cooked and uncooked, were driven into the village. Pitiful scenes attended the first distribution of food. Women and children with tears streaming down their faces, fairly fought to reach the coveted supplies. Many of them had not eaten for twenty-four hours, and the first supply of food was exhausted in a short time. The relief committee, led by Ernest P. Bicknell, head of the National Red Cross society, and Sherman C. Kingsley, superintendent of the United Charities of Chicago, strove to bring order out of chaos in distributing the food. Cars of provisions were on the way, but they came slowly, and the committee could do little but relieve the first pressing necessities in most families.

“They Are Lying All About.” President T. L. Lewis of the International Mine Workers* union telegraphed from Toronto. Ont., to Secretary Perry of the union at Cherry to use $5,000 of the union’s funds at once in relieving suffering, and the money would be sent from Toronto. More than twenty volunteer nurses arrived from Chicago, as well as a number of physicians. Many of there rescued from the mine after the fire started were burned and injured, and those who need medical care have had plenty. In many families whose heads are dead in the mine there is sickness, and to these the nurses ministered. The telephone devices attached to the oxygen helmet&aised by exploring parties sent down tne main shaft enabled the men to talk directly from below. The first words out came from Henr.t Smith of Peru. “They are lying ail about,” he said. The next words were, “Pretty thick down here, John.” That a determined effort will ba made to fix responsibility for the disaster is apparent. State’s Attorney Leonard M. Eckert said:

“I cannot see any other explanation so far than utter lack of common sense and judgment in the cage operative contributed to this horror. There has been criminal negligence somewhere."