The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-24
HOPE FOR LIVING ONES ABANDONED.
 Earth Cave. z n-Fst.d "
 GLOOM sET7 OVER VILLAGE
 Miners PrS.1st Against System of Recovering Victims. Appeal to Governor Deneen te Desig- nate Man ts Take Charge of Rescue werk--FIames In Second Gallery May Delay Workers.

 might stiTl be alive some of the 1Ss men known to be entombed in the St. Paul coal mine was practically aban- doned today
 An exploration Into what is known as the second vein. where 1t was thought probable many miners had barricaded themselves and had man. aged to exist on oats and corn provided for the mules, showed that the tunnels had collapsed. It is thought many were buried under the debris and if the obstruction is not sooon cleared away at least 100 bodies may never be dug up. Fire was stillsraging in these tunnels and the back portions where imprisoned men could have found a retreat was said to be full of the fatal black damp.
 What little hope we had was given up whene we penetrated to what IS called the overcast" said W. w. Tay- Tor, general manager of the mine. Tn that place. pure air would have been found If 1t could have been found anywhere, and the miners. aware of 1t. would have retreated there. When we got into that place we found it empty bloth of bodies and of live men. We listened in vain to detect signal or any other sign of life"
 Village of Mourning.
 Meanwhile Cherry continues to be village of mourning. The death today of one of the survivors brought to the surface last Saturday reduced the to- tai number saved out of the S10 lost in the disaster to nineteen. Almost all of the forty-two bodies taken out yesterday were identified. Women who have been prostrated for ten days were called to make certain by recognizing a pocket knife or a dinner pail that their hopes were gone.
 Down in the mine the rescuers met with great obstacles. In one instance fire broke out In tunnel temporarily cutting of the escape of twenty-fve men who had ventured 4,000 feet from fhe hoisting shaft. The smell of smoke gave the warning above and the res- cuers were brought to safety by an- other rescue party.
 Followfnk a telegram sent to Gov- ernor Deneen by the Executive Board of the niners' State organization. ask ing that some one be designated by the state to take charge of the mine, Mine Inspector Hector McAllister was placed in charge.
 the discouraging news of the tunnels having fallen in. the rescue work would be pushed night and dry.
 Diary of Dylng Boy.
 4 diary was found today on the clothing taken from one of the thirty eight bodies found in a pocket of the mine.
 The diary was begun on November Is and was written by Samuel D. Howard, q years old It describes the slow death of the men by the en- croaching black damp and refers ten- deriy to Samuel's efforts to save his AtR.o5 fG uaaras old vrh1 flied by his side.
 The diary follows:
 aAIiye at 10:s0 o'clock yet. At 1O:45. II sharp. By Sam D. Howard. Brother Alfred is with me yet. A good many dead mules and men. l tried to save some but came almost losing myself. I am dead Give my diamond ring to Mamie Robinson. The ring is coming at the postofiice. Henry can have the ring I have in my good clothes. The only thing l regret Is that my brother could not help my mother out after l am dead and gone.
 T tried my best to get out but could not. saw Jim. Jamieson and Steven Timke lying along the road and could not stand 1t eny longer. It Is i've minutes past II o'clock and the air IS fine. but sometimes it is So bad 1t ale most puts fellow out. It is some thing fierce to see men and mules ly- ing down all over like that.
 f'To keep me from thinking thought I would write these few lines, There is rock falling all over. We have our buckets full of water. stump water and we drink 1t and bathe our heads with it. 10 to 12 o'clock. after 1 o'clock. ?. 3 o'clock; and poor air and black damp. 1.fk o'ciock-change of place. No. men tried to get out and could not get hack. 7:5o o'clock. tired, hungry and sleeny but could stand quite bit of this if could get out of this hole.
 Death CreePa on sunday.
 "7:5O o'clock in the morning. This is sunday. There is no air. We fan ned ourselves with the tds or our buckets. 25 after and black damp coming both ways; 25 after 10. we give up ali hope. We have done all we could. The fan had better start soon 2g after 10 a. m. Sunday. We are still alive. The only hope is the fan.
 T think won't have strength to write pretty soon.
 "iS after l2e p. m. Sunday: If they can't get us air we will make fans ourselves. We take our turns at the fan. We have three of them going.
 "27 to p. m. and the black damp IS coming in on us. Only TOT the hans
 
 n11 to 4 D. m. Dying for the want of air. We have six fans moving. One fan after another. IS feet apart.
 ..25 after 10 D. m. Sunday evening: We all had to come back. We can't move front or backwards. We can stand 1t with our fans until Monday morning.
 "t5 after 2 a. m. Monday morning Am still alive. We are cold. hungry, weak. sick and everything else. AL fred Howard is still alive. s;15 a. m. Monday morning: still breathing. better tupn up soon or we will be gone. i1:i5 a. m, Still alive at this time. 16 to 1 ?. m. Monday. The lives are going out. think this Is our last. We are getting weak, AL fred Howard as we'll ag the rest of us."
 The men were eviduntly ell killed by black damp late Monday afternoon, forty-eight hours after the fire broke out fin the mine.
 The diary was scribbled with lead pencil on loose leaves torn from an account book.