The San Francisco call., 1909-11-21
FIRE H|NDfRS WORK
FOR MINE VICTIMS
Flames Break Out Afresh After
Twenty Men Are Taken
From Tunnel
One Hundred More Believed to
Be Living Behind Debris
in Third Vein
Continued From Page II

mine examiners, who was below when
the hre was discovered He gathered
the men with him who were saved
INTO one company. Acting under his
olrectlon they built their barrier
asainst death and, encouraged through
the long vigil by his cheerfulness and
sood counsel, they waited the more
nopefuliy for rescue Thev had no
explosives and could do nothing to
oraw the attention of the workers
except to knock on the walls of their
self-constructed prison.
Eddy was in as good condition as
any of the rescued men. and after he
had been taken to the surface and
Ieo and had grown accustomed TO the
pure air which had been denied him
Tor week, he told his story of the
rescue
L was in the second vein when I
learned that the mine was on fire
MY hrst action was to try to reach
the main shaft" said Eddy. Il found
this blocked by the fire and already
the bodies of many men were on the
ground. All of them evidently had been
suffocated. did not try to go farther.
something told me that if. 1 attempted
10 pass that fiery barrier my death
was certain
turning, I made my way back to
the entrance of the third vein 1
realized the danger of getting mixed
up with the smoke. 1 shouted to the
men to warn them of their danger.
| even sprang in front of some of them
and tried to hold them back Many
OF them We're craZed with fright and
they pushed past me, only to fall when
they reached the heavy smoke. A
number of the boys. however, kept
thelr heads and came with US.
Scraps in Dinner Pals
I'VE got out of the fiery chamber
as soon as possible and got into an
other chamber that was free from
smoke. Every one of us had our din
ner pail. Some of the men picked up
the pals of those who had dropped
them in their mad flight for safety.
In these were only scraps of bread
and meat.
We realized that we must save this
food as long as possible. Many of
us had been in mine accidents before
where a little piece of bread and
scrap of meat meant life.
In the chamber where there was
plenty of oxygen and no smoke we
crowded together. BY the light of the
little torches on our caps we looked
into each others faces. They were
the men were
strong men and used to the most try
ing accidents. For a while we could
not say a word. We only looked at
each other.
Then l spoke to them. l told them
we were in the greatest danger, that
the mine was afire and that we might
never see daylight again or our wives
or children. l told them 1t was up to
us to keep our heads and preserve our
nerve. They listened to me and acted
like brave men.
Il knew that the first thing we
should do was to wall up the chamber
in order to prevent the gases from en-
tering. So all of the men set to work
and after short time we had the en-
trance to the chamber completely
blocked. There was nothing else to
do, so we seated ourselves on Jumps of
coal to await our rescue or death. We
did not know which it would be.
The day passed and then night
came and we heard nothing. We knew
that many of the men were dead in the
tunnel approaching the main shaft, but
we were powerless. We talked to
each other to keen I'D our spirits