Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-11-21
HYSTERIA OF HOPE
SUCCEEDS DARK DESPAIR

Cherry, H., Nov. 20.-The gam ut
from deepest despair to an hysteria
of hope was run here today when
twenty miners entombed in the St.
Paul mine for a week, almost to the
hour, were brought to the surface
alive.
The story of their sufferings and the
heroism Of their resourceful leaders
is one of the most thrilling in all the
black history of mine disasters.
Dawn broke with the bearers of
stretchers moving from the pit mouth
TO the tent which served as morgue
with bodies swollen and scorched al
most beyond human semblance. Forty
OF them had been brought up and
most of them identified, when the
marvellous report shot through the
PROSTATE community:
They've found them alive, they've
found them alive"
In moment the moreue was de-
serted, scarcely to be revisited, While
the crowd, frant.eails ilisa4ae ,si.s. ,Is
great hope that had sprung up like a
miraculous flame from the ashes OF
despair. rushed to the pit.
All thought was of the men who
we're alive. 1t took six hours to bring
the survivors to the surface. Mean
while a report spread that seventy or
more men were alive in distant part
OF the mine, cut off from escape by
ho-'- 80 h'act damp between their
barricade and the main shaft
Ut Two oxygen helmets remained
at the mine, the others having been
started back to Pittsburg this morn
ing, and with this scant equipment
two experts began new exploration.
Al 0 a. m. they emerged, their oxygen
%n1 \
ther success.
There are other resourceful lead
ers among the missing and they, ike
Waite, Clellan and others, may have
led their men to comparative safety,
said States Attorney NJ. l.. Eckertt to-
night.
The search is now for the living.
Less optimistic notes were sounded
by others, but the women, with nope
born afresh. refused to believe any
thing but the best and haunted the
mine far into the night. seizlng fran
ticsly at every straw of encourage
ment offered.
At midnight q small fire broke out
in the mine, cutting off the rescue
work. Fire apparatus had to be low
cred and stream of water had again
been turned into the mine. 1t is feared
II the fire is not extinguished quick
ly many of the men will perish UP
TO midnight only twenty-five men
have been brought to the surface
The fire appeared to be spreading
and the heat grew more intense,
r. Z. Maxwell, mining engineer
In the rescue party, was overcome
and had to be hurriedly brought to
the surface.
Eager Women Surround Pit Mouth.
The men were brought to the sur
lace and taken in twos and threes TO
the string of sleeping cars brought
here by the mine and railway OFF,
cials. These cars had been converted
into temporary hospitals and placed
ia charge of physicians and trained
burses from Chicago.
From the top of the hosting SHAFT
to the sleeping cars drawn up on the
sidings was a distance of about 100
feet. Between the crowd held back
by militia. a passage was was formed.
IL was along this line that the wom-
en-, looking for loved ones, gazed into
the faces of the survivors as they
passed through.
Each time the signal sounded from
the hoist for the cage to come up from
the mine, the noise of the the crowd
subsided into murmuring expectancy
Hoist her up"
The men and women pressed for
ward against the line of soldiers de-
termined to get as near as possible.
Everybody be quiet; please don't
cheer" whispered the guards. The
machinery of the hoisting apparatus
ruinbled and screeched as the cage
came upward. Would there be in this
load live one who had been mourned
Tor seven days as dead2
This question flashed through a
hundred minds. The passageway
narrowed as each anxious locker
Pressed forward. A woman here and
there who could not see. held up a
child and cautioned IL. look and try
II you can see papa when they pass
As the cage rose dozen torches
sned a dingy light on its passengers.
Between the rescuers wrapped IN
blankets were the rescued men, some
Standing, others carried in arms.
slowly the procession moved. burst
OF appliance started from the crowd.
put a raised hand from the militiaInen
brought silence. 1t was a critical mo-
Tnent.
The blankets drawn over the heads
ot the men hid their faces and pre-
vented Identification from the crowd.