Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-11-24
FOUR DEAD BODIES
TAKEN FROM mine
GREAT PILES OF coRpsEs FOUND
by REscuERs BUT MOT YET
BROUGHT UP.
WEIRD as PICTURE FROM IN
FERNo is GRAPHIC DE-
scRIPTIoN OF SCENE.
NO HOPE THAT ANY LIVING
BODY MAY BE
FOUND.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nov. 20.-Science COM
bined with desperate work has great
ly checked the fire which caused 300
deaths in the St. Paul mine. Charity
poured aid into the homes of the sur
viving relatives, but could not subdue
their grief over the sight of dead men
lifted from the tomb
1t has been six days since the fire
started, but only five bodies have
been recovered, four of these yester-
day Today it is expected that many
more will be recovered. More were
found yesterday, but the explorers
working deep into the second gallery
were forced to fee when about to bring
them out, ON account of falling earth
and rock.
Last night the miners were replac-
ing the burned timbers in the CALLER
which impede access into the coal
veins for more than $50 feet from the
main shaft. Beyond, the latest fires
still burn.
The state mine inspectors, who have
charge of the attempt to subdue the
fire and effect an entrance, said last
night that the work progressed more
than they anticipated. Inspector Tay-
Tor, before starting home, said:
As soon as the galleries are cleared
and reinforced many more dead will
be brought out
Taylor, who repeatedly exDIored
the mine when in its most dangerous
state, received yesterday from his
first employer, w E. Phelps. of St
Joseph, Missouri, who hired him 35
years ago in a coal mine at Elmwood,
Illinois a. telegram reading:
Highest appreciation of your nerve
and daring. May God bless and pro
tect you''s
The mouth of the mine yesterday
was a sorrowful scene. AS the weep
ing women and children viewed the
dead, their grief moved the hardest
hearts. The sight of the mutilated
forms brought realization that there
is no hope for any being who failed to
escape from below. This realization.
however, enabled the charity agents
for the first time to talk with the wo-
men satisfactorily about the future
and the children
The soldiers around the mine pre-
served perfect order.
The dead recovered were Henry
Knoll, aged 90; his son, Alfred. aged
Is; George McMullen, aged Sc, and
Charles Waite oood 90 I5;f4 cur
cago firemen did heavy work making
1t possible to enter the mine The
men working in the second level were
once almost cut off from escape by
the sudden falling of masses of earth
and rock. They had placed two bod
les on a stretcher and were ready to
carry them out when a shower of de-
bris began falling.
Drop the bodies and run for your
Hyes, shouted the leader, cor we will
ali be buried alive
To the danger of falling rocks was
added that of cracking timbers.
which fell on all sides. The men were
then $50 feet from the hosting shaft.
Further in they could see a great
heap of bodies of men. boys and mules
lndlscriminately mixed, indicating
that mules were driven from the shaft
by the heat and in their final strug-
gle tumbled over each other. The
scene viewed by the firemen in the
light of their torches and lamps was
as weird as picture from the inferno.
Leaving the two bodies which they
had struggled to reach, the men
rushed to the hosting shaft, where
they were revived by cooler air and
brought up, Clearing away the debris
delayed exploration almost the entire
afternoon. George S. Rice of the
government geological survey. said
concerning the lingering hope that
some miners are still alive, 1T is true
that long periods of Imprisonment in
a mine may be endured, but the con
ditions in those cases are more favor
able. Here everything is against it,
| believe there is no chance of recos
ering anybody alive
Some of the visiting nurses, who
have needed all their training in
cheerfulness to bear up under the
continuous stories of grief here. last
night 7isited the Congregational