The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-12
THE MINE HORROR
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE
DEAD BODIES RECOVERED.
TOTAL LOSS PLACED AT $50.
SEVERAL HALF DEAD SURVIVORS
RESCUED.


More Fully the Awful Horror OF
the CatastrOphe-Brave Rescuers
Risk Their Lives in Search of the
Living and the Dead-SOme Found
+ Alive Were Raving Maniacs.
Bodies of Dead Horribly Burned
and Distorted--TOtnI known Dead
Now LIS.
Johnstown, Pa, July 11.-This has
been a day of heroic rescues at the
rolling mill mine of the Cambria Steel
Company. Thrilling experiences at
tended the efforts of the forty brave
and daring fellows who went down
into the bowels of the earth with
very faint hope to spur them that still
they might be in time to restore the
life of some of those who are entomb-
ed. Death lurked everywhere around
them, but, undaunted, they surged for
ward, swayed with the noblest of hui
man purposes.
The reward of their efforts was the
saving of the lives of fourteen of their
fellowmen and bringing them again in
to the sunlight and back to loving
families.
Dead and manned bodies were To-
Gated. but no effort was made to bring
them out of the vast theater of death
until every human energy was put for
ward towards seeing that no living
soul might escape their aid. That done,
the dead were attended to and put in
tram cars, brought up and exposed to
morbid gaze while being transferred
tn N WI 70 hn fak m lo
morgue. One hundred and for
ty-three dead bodies were re-
covered from the mine between day
light and nightfall. Still a party of Of
ficials and miners battled on, three
miles inside the mine. Occasionally
word would come to the surface by
some mysterious means that another
group of remains had been exposed to
the vision of the searchers. There re-
main dangerous headings in the Klon-
dixie section of the mine yet to be ex-
Elored. No one knows how many more
dead may be found there. The mine of
f1cials refrain from guesSWork on the
subject feeling prevails that $50 is
a low estimate of the casualty list.
Johnstown's Day of Horror.
Johnstown spent the day horror
struck From dawn to dusk flying
ambulancesi coursed the Streets bear
Ing gruesome burdens from mine 10
morgue, from morgue to homes. Great
throngs surged about the pit mouth,
the improvised morgue at the armory,
and, last the stricken homes of the
dead. Bulletin boards were eagerly
scanned for news from the scene of
the disaster. Exaggerated rumors of
all kinds prevailed. One report gain
ed circulation that disaster had over
taken the rescuing party which en-
tered the mine shortly after o'clock.
This proved one of the entertaining
yarns that had it's origin among the
crowd at the pit mouth. Returning
rescuers substantiated the details of
the report by officials
1t is difficult to picture with any
degree approaching it's full worth the
work of rescue and the attending
scenes and incidents of the day at the
center of interest How brave men
went into the jaws of death in its
most horrible form, encountered their
fellows transformed into raving ma
MACS by hours of waiting in the pitch
darkness of the earths INTERIOR lifted
them moaning from their beds of fall
en- rock and then bending and crawl
ing on all fours, carrying them a quar-
ter of a mile underground to where
cars could be reached to take them
outside.
Along in the early part of the after
noon cheering word came from the in
nermost recesses of the mine that life
yet fingered in some of the bodies
found. The rescuers made first for
number four, left heading, which they
had been unable to reach the night be-
fore. Desolate even for the scene of a
mine interior was the heading that
stretched out before them. Falls of roof
almost choked up the heading, but
through and over the debris the brave
men pushed their way. In the front
were young Patrick Martin, his broth
er Peter, Philip White and several
cousins of the Martins. Suddenly in an
open space they were startled by the
maniac laugh which emanated from a
blackened form which rushed out at
them out of the darkness. The man
grasped firmly pick handle and tried
in his frenzy to beat down his res
cuers. He was overpowered and
dragged back to the main heading to
the cars. Thirteen other living men
were found in this chamber and ply
sicians were quickly taken to the spot
Condition of Survivors.
AT 3 p. m. the train of mine cars
came to the pit mouth where waiting
ambulances stood. Eight men were |
lifted over the sides of the cars and
half carried, wendell their way to the |
ambulances. They were all Poles. One |
big strapping fellow among them col |
lapsed as he reached the ambulance |
and doctors spent several minutes re- |
viving him. AS the men were hurried |
ly driven to the Cambria Hospital the |
train of coal cars with the physicians |
re-entered the mine. In another half |
hour they came out again, this time |
with six living but almost dead min |
ers. One man in his paroxysms had |
locked his jaws so that force had to |
be employed to pry them open for -he |
insertion of life-instilling fluids. These |
six were taken in an unconscious con- |
dition to the Cambria Hopsital One |
man brought out with this crowd ex-
pired just as he reached daylight.
At that time three more headings.
believed to, be filled with the dead. |
were unsearched. Thirty-nine bodies |
were lying within reach in the main /
heading. These were brought out at |
3:45 D. m. Their bodies were piled /
high in the coal cars and covered with |
canvas.
Bodies Distorted and Burned.
These remains were in a terrible |
state. showing that there had been |
slow death in each case. One Of the /
men had his mouth and nose tied /
about by towel. The rest of his face /
was burned beyond recognition. The /
bodies of all were twisted in horrible |
shapes, most of the arms being 4
a -.