The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-11-18
ELEVEN HEROIC VOLUNTEERS
GO INTO DEPTHS SEVEN TIMES
ARE BURNED TO A cRisP.
MEN IN PIT ARE DOOMED
Hay Being Taken Down by Engineer
Becomes lsnItsd from Cap Of
Lamp and Blast Follows -
Property Of St. Paul Road.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nov 15.-Three hun.
dred and eighty-four men are probably
dead in the mine of the st. Paul Coal
Company here. where they were
trapped by fire Saturday. All efforts
at rescue work have failed. Not q
sign of life has been received from
the imprisoned men,
Fire which Quilted the two shafts
has been smothered. but It 10 feared
that the mems lives have been snufred
out by that effort to save them from
being cremated. -.s. H.. ...
Eleven brave men were roasted
alive in vain attempt at rescue. Out
Of 565 miners, according to the mine
records. who were lowered into the
mine In the morning, 1Sl were saved,
many of them by the small but heroic
band of reseuers, who persisted in
their efforts until they themselves
persisted. g."
The elaborate ventilating machinery
which poured glife-giving oxygen into
the levels 500 feet below the surface
was burned OUT cutting of practically
oil chance for life. a. 49,
Shafts Scaled; Last Hope Gone.
Even the slender chance that the
entombed men might be rescued was
cut of by the sealing of both shafts
of the mine for the purpose of smoth.
ering the flames. 5a.t.. .... g.:
This last resort step was taken only
after vain efforts had been made to
conquer the flames by pouring tons of
water down the main shaft. -
Gave Lives In seorn Of Death.
The heroic rescuers who died were:
John Bundy, manager Of the second
vein. Gt =. ... "a 81 =,
Robert Clark, miner.
Tom Flood of Tuluca, ILL.,, mine fore
man. ,..,s aae ... .,....s-.., e.
Dominick Fermento of Cherry, gro
Gerry clerk. 49, ..s.... H.. -
James Jamison of Cherry, miner.
Ike Lewis Of Cherry. liveryman.
Alexander Norberg, mine manager
of third vein. ... ..
James Shears, miner.
Harry Stewart, miner. ... =.
Joseph Yearley Of Spring VALLEY,
miner. K, T.. ......-
John Szarbinski. ..:...
Horsor Price Of Negligence.
If reports current here are correct,
some individual or individuals-prob
ably one of the mine ofaeials who
later lost his life in attempting the
rescue of his imprisoned wofkmen-
was negligent. ~ ..... ... ......- 3d..
, Reports, which vary in their details,
agree in the essential that the IRE
started In some hay which had been
lowered to the second level. The
way in which the hay caught fire is
said to be: A torch carried by Alex.
ander Rosejack, eager ON duty at the
second level, exploded. Rosejack real
ICED his danger when the torch explod.
ed and scattered boiling oil over the
surroundings. 81 ... 49,.
Fire In Stable and Hay.
He tried to put out the flames but
was unsuccessful. The timbers were
as dry as finder and the FIRE communi
Gated to the stable and the hay. Thus
the flames spread rapidly.
James Hanney. q miner, is said to
have reported fire in the mine at 1:3e
o'clock In the afternoon, but no at.
tention was paid to his report until
the fire became SO violent as to heat
the mine. 1t was while the mine was
warming up that the few survivors,
with the aid OF the rescuers, made
their way to the surface.
Brave Hearts Respond to Call.
Smoke came out of the escape shaft
at it's mouth at two o'clock. The en-
gineer In charge OF the cages failed to
get any signals from below to pub
up. Then IL men-Dr Joshua Howe
OF Cherry accompanied the rescuers fl
their first Observation-Disclosures to GO
into the mine to rescue the men be
low ..e sts.,.
They entered the cage of the down
cast shaft and the engineer opened his
throttle and dropped them the 500 feet
into the earth as rapidly as he dared
There was brief walt, when the
slackened cable told that they had
reached the bottom, and then a frantic
signal to pull up. -,
The cables sizslsd on the drums
until the cage with the rescue party
rose to the top of the smoking shaft
!, The rescuers were all there, but there
were no rescued. The rescuers had