The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-11-21

ncy Oh Sl mary C0uFCHs MenQOtat Ill.
Father Heaney wearing a miners cap
and carrying a torch, was down In the
mine with the rescue party. He said;
Just about 2 O'Clock, when we were
probably 300 feet into the gallery from
the hosting shaft, our party slackened
up because OF a pile of debris in the way.
Suddenly David Powell said, Listen,
/ boys; I thought I heard something We
were all silent A faint pounding, as If
coming through the thickness of a wall
was heard. My Cod said Powell, 7 be-
lieve somebody Is alive in there Some
of the other men replied, No. that is inn
possible. Nobody in the world thinks for
minute the men could live down here
for seven days Well 1 said, let's
listen again.
Could Not Believe II True.
1--WE all listened for what seemed TO be
full minute. Sure enough. there came
the same muffled pounding sound we had
heard before. Then we were too much
affected to speak. We could not believe
our own senses. Grabbing hold OF the
picks and axes, our men began 70 tear
down the loose pile OF earth and rock
Frequently we stopped to hear whether
the pounding continued. II took US sew
eral minutes to make much Roadway into
the obstruction.
at was a weird scene. The lights Of
our torches on our caps kept bobbing up
and down as we labored, filling the place
with moving shadows.
Now, let's stop and listen again. said
Powell. Much to our joy the pounding
brought down the dirt from the top and
a little black hole appeared before US.
Alive and Hungry.
1.-TWO or three Of US climbed over the
dirt and yelled:
"'Are any Of you alive in there, boysT
IAN answer came back, Yes.
ftThR men hogan milling at the C1rL
again and soon large gap appeared. We
yelled into it, You hold one of our
torches.
"How many Of you are alive in
minute
I'm faint. husky tones the men
called back, Yes, we are alive and, you
bet. we are hungry, too. Have you
got some lunch out thereT"
81 crawled up as near the hole as I
could without interfering with the
"'God bless you, men; we viii get
the lunch you can eat. Be patient as
81 couldn't see anything back in
there, for the men were in total dark
ness, so 1 climbed back and prayed that
God would make the number we were
about to rescue from the living grave
as many as possible.
Keeping Up Courage.
1--WE kept yelling in to the men to
keep up their courage, promising them
that the water would soon be clear
and the cage in the hosting shaft was
down and ready to carry them to the
zone of the men inside answered
back, Most of us are all right and
feeling fine, but there Is one poor fell
low here-a Frenehman called Frank
who is almost gone, and I'm afraid he
will be dead in q few minutes If he
doesn't get some fresh air
when the pile of dirt finally tum-
bled down some of the men were stag
gered by the thrush of air and the
lights from our torches. For during
seven days they had lived in total
darkness.
Rescued Men Joyous.
with a shout we jumped over and
met them, throwing our arms around
their necks and almost lifting them
from their feet, Their Joy was in
expressible. They pounded US on our
backs and continued to laugh and cry
aloud until. the whole place reverber-
ated with the cheering.
I'VE wanted to carry the men to the
hosting shaft in our arms, but they
enough to walk out themselves. The
only trouble was they were practical
ly blinded by the torches. We threw
blankets over their heads and started
to escort them.
MY first concern was to get after
the poor little Frenehman who was
9ying 81. baa fSun Srea hin oS Ss
| last. Holding a torch over his face,
which was black with SCOT, 1 said
to him, DO you give your soul to
HE answered, am afraid will
never get I'D alive
"That was true. I administered the
last. sacrament and in a minute he was
| dead.
Heroic Walter Waite.
"I then joined the others and
walked toward the shaft, there occur
ring one of the greatest acts of hero
ism I have ever heard or read of. 1t
| can hardly be believed.
Walter Waite, one of the men we
rescued, on hearing that there were
mine. threw off the blanket with which
we had covered his head, and shouted
| We'll, then, by God, I am not going
out of this mine until 1 get the
1--WE demonstrated, saying that for him
to remain down there longer would mean
{" we will take you up to the fresh air
and give you some warm food and then
maybe we will let you help US do the
rest OF the work But Waite protested
and we actually had TO force him into
| the cage. All the way UP he shouted,
! Let me go GOWN anu hSip get the OIHehS
up
"At this time those on the surface had,
as during the last three or four days. q
1 firm conviction that everybody in the
mine was dead. Nobody conceived any
/ other possibility. 1t was a great joy then
to cry up the shaft. We've got some men
alive. Hoist her up
up we went like a shot and rushed
them into a Pullman car standing near. p"
Joe Pigati's Letter.
| Joe Pigati. who was being revived,
| brought out with a smile letter he had
written on a piece of brown paper on the
fourth day of his Imprisonment, when he
| thought there was no hope of escape.
/ The letter was addressed to his wife and
freely translated from the Italian, read
This is the fourth day that we have
been down here. That's what I think.
but our watches stopped. / am writing
the wax from our safety lamps. I also
! have eaten a plug of tobacco, some bark
and some of my shoes. / could only chew
/ it. l hope you can read this. l am not
afraid to die. Oh. Holy Virgin, have
mercy on me. I think my time has come.
You know what my property IS. We
worked for it together, and it is all yours.
This is my will and you aust keep 1t.
| You have been a good wife. May the
/ Holy Virgin guard you. l hope this
reaches you some time and you can read
it. It has been very quiet down here, and
l wonder what has become of our COM
rades. Goodbye until heaven shall bring
US together.
(signed). JOE PIGATI."
This Man Had Fears.
Another man who was brought to the
/ surface very solemnly requested that his
wife be kept from the car.
! Ioxr 7 4rIr