The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-02-28

of sulphurated hydrogen encountered in
an abandoned drift, followed by the gen.
Grafton of fire-damp.
Two much praise cannot be given the
gallant and unselfish people of Cerrillos
and the heroic miners who made every
possible effort to save their fellows. No
one is to blame; it was simply one of those
accidents that occur, that is all.
The list of the Dead as far as known, is
as follows:
J. r. Donohue, pit boss.
Johnnie Book, trapper-boy.
Sam Hardest, miner.
- Ellingsworth.
Roy Phillips.
William Jones.
Sam Jones.
William T. McCarty.
Tom Whiteley.
John Sweeny.
John Eathorne.
Tom Holiday.
jules Deserant, father.
Henry Deserant, son.
Louis Descrant, son.
Angelo Buffato.
Ricard Dero.
Emil Homet.
George Spaite.
August le Plat.
D. Somitis.
John Beck. boy driver, killed at the
mouth of the tunnel.
Henry Harden.
The death list includes the names of all
the men taken from the mine up to the
present time and several who are known
to be in the mine but who are not found.
The list may be added to by others who
may have been in the mine of whom no
record was kept.
Twenty-six dead bodies have been recov-
cred and brought up to the mouth of the
mine, where the scene upon the identifi-
cation of one corpse after another was
heartrending.
Strange to say the mine did not take fire
after the explosion, but the poisonous va
pors which came up through the pit pre-
vented the rescuers from working until
late this evening. Even then the daring
men who descended the levels took their
lives in their hands, for there was no tell
ing what was going on below.
The discovery of the dead body of
miner at the bottom of the shaft at first
1Cu VIC lCoNuSlo W DtliCNS lildG dlI I1e men
at work when the explosion took place had
lost their lives. Continuing their perilous
search in the fourth level the dead bodies
of several men were met in bunch This
made the outlook seem the more gloomy.
AS the brave fellows groped their way
along the chambers of the levels they were
surprised to hear groans and some of them
stumbled over the bodies of insensible
miners.
The latter were, however, in a terrible
condition. They were all badly burned
and apparently dying from the effects of
noxious vapors which during their seven
hours of Imprisonment they had inhaled
Without delay the wounded were carried
to the cage and hoisted to the surface
Their injuries were attended to by the
surgeons and afterward the dying men
were taken home.
Owing to the smoke, dust and noxious
vapor that filled every approach to the
workings two hours elapsed before any
progress could be made toward effecting
rescue, and the efforts were cruelty re-
warded, for up to o'clock but one miner
had been reached. His dead body was
found near the entrance. Three hours
ldteT tl1C IcSCucIS SUCCecucu Ill reaching the
left fourth level, and the dead bodies of
several men were brought out.
The scenes about the mine were heart
rending in the extreme. Frantic wives,
mary of them carrying babies in their
arms, having children clinging to their
skirts, stood at the entrance of the mine
for hours, amid tears and prayers watch
ing and waiting, while hundreds of men
vainly struggled to gain an entrance fur
ther into the mine.
So dense was the smoke at one time dur
ing the afternoon that many thought the
mine had taken fire, and the conduct of
the wives and mothers when this was an
neunced as probability was pitiful in the
extreme. Up to o'clock the gas contin-
ued to pour forth from the single opening
in the mine in such volume as to make the
progress of the rescuers very difficult, but
an hour later the noxious vapors cleared
away and the work of recovering the dead
bodies began to prove more successful.
Twenty-Five men are still in the lower
workings of the mine. and it is not thought
possible that they are alive.
The work of rescue goes on bravely
Many heroic scenes have been witnessed