The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-11-27
TWENTY LIVE MEN RESCUED
Search in Depths of Cherry's
Burned Mine.
Discovery ALMOST ACCIDENTAL
Story of Suffering and Heroism, the
Most Thrilling in the Mining
District. Priest Relates
the Discovery.


Cherry, 1ll.-The gamut from
deepest despair to an hysteria of
hope was run here Saturday when
twenty miners, entombed in the ST.
Paul Mine for week, almost to the
hour, were brought to the surface
alive.
The story of their sufferings and
the heroism Of their resourceful lead
ers is one of the most thrilling in
all the black history of mining dis
tricts.
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.
The discovery Of the men was al
most accidental. They had been
drinking seepage and were pounding
on the wall in order to make the
water drip down. The noise of the
pounding was heard by the rescuers
and the work of reaching them was
begun.
1t was discovered that the men
after eating up all the food in their
dinner pals had subsisted mostly on
bark torn off the pine posts which
were used to support the mine walls.
The fight of the entombed men
against death was led by Joseph
Crescini. Crescini was one of the
two men brought up in the first cage.
He reported between 80 and 40 other
men alive in the south wing.
A graphic, description as the res
cuers saw it of the discovery of the
men, was told by Father James P.
Heany, who was. down in the mine
with the rescue party. He said:
when we were, as near as I can
tell, 800 feet into the gallery from
the hoisting shaft, our party slack
ened I'D because Of a pile of debris
in the way. Suddenly, David Powell
said:
Listen, boys, I thought I heard
Something
''We all listened for what seemed
to be full minute. Sure enough
there came the same muffled pound
ing sound. Then we were too much
affected to speak. We could not be-
lieve' our own senses. Grabbing hold
of the picks and axes our men then
began to tear down the loose pile OF
earth and rock. Frequently we
stopped to hear whether the pound
ings were continued. 1t took US sew
eral minutes to make much headWay
into the obstruction.
".'Now, let's stop and listen again,
said Powell. Much to our glee, the
poundings came louder. A few more
digs in srovelfuls brought down the
dirt from the top and little black
hole, appeared before us.
1.-TWO or three of us climbed over
the dirt and yelled. are any of you
alive in there, boys?'
"An answer came back. Yes, we
are alive and you bet we are hungry
too. Have you got some lunch out
there?'
"God bless you men, we will get
you out in a minute and give you
all the lunch you can eat. Be patient
as you cam
Il could not see anything back in
there for the men were in total dark
ness so / climbed back and prayed
that God would make the number
we were about to rescue from the
living grave as many as possible.
by that time the hole was wide
open and a dozen pair of glistening
eyes shining out from black faces ap-
peared.
when the pile of dirt finally tum-
b1ed down some of the men were
staggered by the thrush OF air ana
the lights. For during seven days,
they had lived in total darkness.
with shout we jumped over and
met them, throwing our arms around
their necks and almost lifting them
from their feet. Their joy was mex
pressable They pounded on our
backs and continued to laugh and
cry aloud until the whole place re-
yerberated with the cheering.
1--WE wanted to carry the men to
the hosting shaft in our arms, but
they insisted that they were strong
enough to walk themselves. The only
trouble was they were practically
blinded by the light We threw blank
cts over their heads and started.
"My first concern was to get after
4 poor little Frenchman, who was
reported dying. l found him on his
back breathing his last. Holding
torch over his face, which was black
with SCOT I said: