The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-12
Over One Thousand Below.

"Of 1.SO0 miners who were down in
the pits when the explosion occurred"
he said, 1873 were working in pit No.
4, 4S2 in pit No. 3, 81 in pit No. 2, and
the remainder in pit No. l.
Those rescued were taken out as
follows:
From pit No 4. 100; from pit No.
8. 65; fifteen escaped through pit No.
II. 400 came up from pit No. 2, and
"a from Dit No. /. A number of these
were injured and some of them have
died since. At the present moment
more than a thousand men remain i'm
prisoned."
Another director declared that the
imprisoned men numbered 1,10O.
Minister Dubief inquired:
Have you still any hODe?"
To this the director replied:
All Hope Abandoned.
mo. 1 believe all of them are dead"
This was whispered into the ear of the
minister in order that his words might
lot be overheard by the pale-faced min
ers who stood anxiously about the mine
building waiting for an official view on
the state of affairs.
Then the ministers listened to graphic
description of the scene in the mine by
Leon Cert one of the men rescued and
who still is suffering from The terrible
effects of his experience.
Il was working with q. gang when the
explosion occurred. The foreman imnIe-
diately shouted for us to follow him,
and dashing into a recess in the gal
Iery we were followed by a blast of
poisonous gases, which rushed by, how
ever. without affecting us We remained
there for eight hours. when, feeling that
suffocation was gradually coming upon
Us, we attempted TO escape We craWIeu
in single file toward the smart, put sew
eraI OF the men dropped dead on the
way including my son end the foreman
I carried my nephew on my back for for
ty minutes and succeeded in saving him.
1t took US four hours to reach the
shaft"
Heart-Rending Scenes.
For the time being the mine building
has been transferred into a mortuary
chamber, and all about in 1t lie the Gag
BOMBED and almost unrecognlZaDIe pod
as they were brought I'D from the mine.
Stricken relatives arrive at the mine
building from time to time. searching Tor
missing members of their families, ana
indescribable scenes OF grief occur as Wo-
men recognize loved ones
Heartrending scenes. too are VItneSseti
about the mouth of pit No. l. where, IN
she presence Of Ministers Dubiet ard
Gauthier, the bands of rescuers ere con-
tinually descending and returning Win
bodies.
ATTEMPT to break through the Gordon OF
troops which forms lane through when
the body bearers pI oceed to the mortu-
ary chamber. Sometimes the burden con
sists of a mere heap of burned flesh.
and i'm nearly every case the BODY IS
terribly lacerated. Only one-h2lf Of the
bodies recovered have been identifled.
Faithful Unto Death
Despite the danger incurred, me vol
unteers. who include g number Of those
v no were successful in escaping at the
time of the explosion. do not hesitate TO
descend the shaft. Some of them have
been down more than a dozen times. One
CT them, after having brought up four
teen bodies was suffocated on his fiji
tenth attempt. and it is feared that
ether fatalities among the volunteers will
follow as the air N the mine is still
impregnated with noxious gases A num-
her of the men engaged in rescue work
have already been brought to the surface
unconscious and as they were driven to
their homes in closed carriages the wO-
men followed and broke the windows, sus-