New-York tribune., 1902-07-12
PRICE THREE CENTS.
TWENTY MINERS SAVED.
HEROIC EFFORTS OF THE RES
CUERS AT JOHNSTOWN.
MORE THAN FIvESCORE BODIES TAKEN
OUT-NUMBER OF LIVES LOST ES-
TIMATED AT ONE HUNDRED
AND FIFTY

Johnstown. Penn, July 11.-This has been
a day OF heroic rescues at the i'll faJed Rolling
Mill mine of the Cambria Steel Company
Thrilling experiences attended the efforts of
the forty brave and daring men who went
down into the bowels of the earth. with the
faint hope TO spur them that still they
might be in time life some OF
those entombed. Death Iurked everywhere
around them. but undaunted they pressed
forward, animated by the nobest of human
purposes
The reward Of their efforts the saving cf
the lives of twenty of their fellow men. and
bringing them again into the sunlight and 10.
loving families.
Dead and manned bodies were located. bucf
no effort made bring them out of the4
pit OF death until every human energy vast
put forward toward seeing that no living soul
failed to get aid. That done. the dead weres
attended to and put in tramcars, brought ups
and transferred 20 wagons. to be taken 20 thu
morgue.
Eighty-seven dead bodies were recovered frous
the mine between daylight and nightfaIL still
party of officials and miners worked on, three
miles inside the mine. Occasionally word would
come to the surface by some mysterious meansa
that another heap Of bodies had been exposed
to the vision of the searchers. There remairrs
dangerous headings in the Klondike part of thesA
mine yet to be explored. No one knows howr1
many more dead will be found there. The miner
officials refrain from guesswOrk the subject.
At late hour tonight thirty additional bodies1
were brought out of the mine mouth.
The impression prevails among the outsiders,
and certain employees of the mine that one hun
dred and fifty is low estimate OF the CASUALTY
list JOhnstown spent the day horror struck.
From dawn dusk ambulances coursed thsi
streets bearing bodies from mine to morgue and 1
from mOrgue to home Throngs surged about
the pit mouth. the improvised morgue at the
armory and about the stricken homes of the
dead. Bulletin boards were eagerly scanned for
news from the scene of the disaster. Exaggerat-
ed rumors of all kinds prevailed. One report
gained circulation that disaster had overtakerr
the rescuing party. which entered the mine
shortly after o'clock This proved one of the
yarns that originate among the crowd at the
pit mouth. Returning rescuers substantiated
the denial of the report by officials.
WORK OF RESCUE IN PIT OF DEATH.
1t is difficult to picture the work Of rescue and
the scenes and incidents of the day at the
centre of interest Brave men went into the
jaws Of death. encountered their fellows trans
formed into raving maniacs by hours of waiting
in the pitch darkness OF the earth's Interior
lifted them moaning from their beds of fallen
rock and, then bending and crawling on all
fours. carried them quarter of d mile under
ground to where ears could be reached to take
them outside
In the early part OF the afternoon cheering
word from the tnnermost recesses OF the
mine that life Yet fingered in some Of the
bodies found The rescuers made first for No
4, left heading. which they had been unable to
reach the night before. Desolate. even for the
scene of a mine interior. was the heading that
stretched out before them. Falls of roof almoss
chOked up the heading but through and over
the debris the rescuers pushed their way. In
the front young Patrick Martin, his brother
Peter. Philip White and several cousins of the
Martins made their way. Suddenly in an open
space they were startled by the maniac laugh
which emanated from blackened form that
rushed them out of the darkness. The man
grasped firmly pick handle asd tried in his
frenzy TO beat down his rescuers. He was
overpowered and dragged back to the main
heading TO the cars. Thirteen other living men
found in the chamber, and physicians werss
quickly taken to the spot
AT; p m. the train of mine cars came to the pit
mouth where waiting ambulances stood Eight
men lifted over the sides Of the cars and
were half carried to the ambulances- They were
all Poles. One big fellow among them collapsed
as he reached the ambulance, and doctors spentt
several minutes resuscitating him. AS the men.
were driven hurriedly to the Cambria Hospital
entered the mine. In another half hour they
came out again. this time with six living but
almost dead miners. One man in his paroxysms
had locked his jaws so that force had to be EN-
ployed to pry them open for the insertion of the
Iife-instilling fluids. These six we're taken in
an unconscious condition to the Cambria Hos
pitaL One man brought out with this crowd
died just as he reached daylight.
MORE DEAD DISCOVERED.
At that time three more headings believed to-
be filled with the dead, were unsearched Thfr-.
ty-nine bodies were lying within reach in the
main heading. Three were brought out at 4:S5
p. m. The bodies piled in the coal cars
and covered with canvas They were in a ter;
ribe state, showing that there had been slow
death in each case. One Of the men had his
mouth and nose tied about by a towel. The rest
Of his face was burned beyond recognition. The,
bodies of all were twisted in horrible shapes
most of the arms being crooked so as to shield
the face The only one who could be identified
at the pit mouth the mine boss. Joseph
Tomlinson.
One of the volunteer rescuers who came out
with this load of dead stated that fire was rag
ing in parts of the mine that would take some
time to uueu. Most OF those who were brought
out alive this afternoon had saved themselves
by crawling into a chamber and turning a valve
on the compressed air pipe which runs along
the entry. One found dead with his
hands clutched tightly about a monkey
wrench that it could not be removed
The first official statement of the disaster was
given by General Mine Superintendent George
T. Robinson this morning He said: