Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-01
Most DevilishIy Done
The Calumet Mines Alleged to
Have Been Fired.
EIGHT MEN MEET AN AWFUL DOOM,

And Over Two Hundred Others Have a
Very Narrow Escape-Distressing Scenes
at the shaft-A Heavy Loss in Money
What Would Be Done with the Incen-
diary-Less Atrocious Crimes-The Trust
Betrayer Does a Good Days Work-A
Boy Murders His Sister.
CHICAGO, Dec 1.-The Herald's Hancock,
Mich, special says the Calumet and Hecla
mine was deliberately set on fire at IL o'clock
Thursday night. OF the 200 or 800 men on
duty at the time. all but eight escaped un-
harmed As soon as the fire was discovered
the men began to work their way up, and
when they reached the fire itself, made an
attempt to turn on the water, but the pipes
had been disconnected and no water was to
be had, The signal wire had also been cut,
and there was nothing left bat to fight for
life Under the guidance of cool. headed
leaders the men worked their way around
the burning tunnel to other connections with
the main engine shaft, and thence to the
surface
While the scenes below were being enacted
the cry above that the mine was on fire had
reached the homes of the miners, and the
wives, children and friends of the men be-
low soon crowded around the shafts, wild
with grief and anxiety As each man came
up out of the death trap he was seized by
weeping wife and children or anxious friends
and cries of grief were changed to shouts of
rejoicing The men kept coming up until it
was known that all but eight had been res
cued. For these no possible hope remains
as the only avenue of escape is cut off. They
were doubtless smothered between the sixth
level, where the fire originated, and the sur
face. Their names are: Antony Langin
Andrew Hansen, Joe Roe, Antony KalSkie,
Gustav Tava, John Flick, Joe MosSoglie and
John Vanderbilt
At the spot where the fire originated no
one was working, and this fact, taken in con-
nection with the disconnecting of the water
pipes and the breaking of the signal wire,
leaves no room to doubt that the fire was the
work of an incendiary Just one year ago
the mine took fire under circumstances
which pointed strongly to incendiarism 1t
Is limited that an interested syndicate is at
the bottom of the fires, and that the work is
thatIpf their hired accomplice for the pur-
pose of checking the production of copper,
and hence booming the price. The manage
ment had standing reward of So 900 for
the discovery Of the man who set the fire a
year ago, and if human agency can discover
the perpetrator Of this deed it is openly de-
clared that he will be hurled headlong down
the burning shaft
No means of approximating the probable
loss to the mine company are at hand The
other fire burned for thirteen weeks and did
millions OF dollars worth of damage 1t was
nothing in fierceness as compared to the
present one. Late last night the fire burst
its way through the surface, and huge pH
lar OF hame AMI sparks shot upward like a
volcano, but it was again smothersd by COW
erings OF earth.
Another theory is that the fire was caused
BY the carelessness of the man in charge of
the donkey pumps, which are run by com
pressed air. Unless the moving parts of the
machinery, for which air furnishes the mo-
tive power, are kept warm they are likely
to freeze. Cotton waste saturated with oil
is burned in the troughs of the pumps This
theory is that the cotton waste fell from the
trough and ignited the timbers in the shaft.
The underground fire is fed solely bv the
timbers which support the overhanging walls
and roof, and this amounts almost to a for
est 1t would take years to burn it all, and
to save it from burning is task which may
well be called herculean. Carbonic acid gas
will probably be resoi ted to to put out the
fire, as was successfully done a year ago
when 10O, 600 cubic feet per day were forced
down the burning shaft