Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1909 — FOUR HUNDRED OR MORE PERISH IN MINE DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

FOUR HUNDRED OR MORE PERISH IN MINE DISASTER.

Explosion and Fire In St. Paul Mine at Cherry, 111., Entombs Miners and Belief Is That Most / Have Died. A terrible mine disaster took place Saturday at Cherry, 111., in the St. Paul bituminous coal mine. An explosion in the mine Saturday afternoon set fire to the workings and flames leaped from the shaft. There were about 450 men in the mine and only about 25 of these are known to have escaped. Heroic efforts were made to rescue the entombed miners and six gallant men lost their lives in an effort to save the imprisoned workers. Finally the buildings at the entrance of the mine were blown up and the entrance sealed in order to put out the flames and later the work of rescue was begun again. It is thought that the fumes from the burning gases have caused all of the entombed miners to lose their lives but a ray of hope was given the stricken community Sunday afternoon when experts who had succeeded in penetrating for some distance into the smoke filled air shaft reported that the fire had been extinguished and that the temperature was not as high as had been presumed. The terror that held sway among the families of the miners is indescribable, and the gallant effort of the men to rescue some of the prisoners furnishes a tale of heroism unexcelled in the annals of history. The fate of the miners will not be known until tonight or tomorrow.