Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-17

galleries of the mine and there found
oxygen enough to keep them alive for "a
day. The tests in this mine showed that
on the day of the fire the air current in
the mine had a velocity of 600 feet a
minute. The longest gallery in the mine
is t~hree-quarters of a mile. The fire in the
mine was intense and the smoke and the
poisonous gases, known to the miners as
white damp, were whirled to every corner
Of the mine, No living thing could escape
1t. To argue that pockets might be found
into which the gas did not penetrate is
folly. The entombed men all breathed this
gas. They could not escape It. Caught like
rats In a trap, they went to sleep just
about as a person would taking ether. II
Is not a painful death. I have been twice
overcome by the gas. but was rescued in
time and recovered.
Exploration Work Dangerous.
But we all have done everything in
human power to get into the mine to allay
the anxiety Of the people. We know that
all are dead who were there, but In such
an emergency we have risked our own
lives to satisfy the relatives.
The work of exploration has been
dangerous business. We don't want to lose
any more lives. God knows we have al
ready lost too mony. Yesterday I thought
1 had gone. I had been feeling about the
second vein for $50 feet from the shaft,
breathing the oxygen in the apparatus on
my back and on my return toward the
cage l discovered the flames. 1 staggered
just as l discovered the renewed fire. l
could see it near the cage and my first
thought was that the cage was stuck,
owing to warping from the heat. 1 thought
that my end had come, but when o reached
the cage and gave the signal my heart
grew light as it responded to the tug Of
the cable and l shot up through the smoke
to the free air above.
at is a mistake to think that sealing the
shaft cuts off the circulation Ct air. It
does not. Our anometers have shown all
along a good circulation of air in the
shaft, but the damage that was fatal had
been done long before the mine had been
sealed the first time.
NO Bodies Discovered.
fin my explorations in the mine did
not discover any bodies. 1 think that the
miners, when entrapped, ran as far away
from the fire as possible. 1 have seen re-
potrs that heaps Of bodies were found by
the mine explorers. 1 know that the dead
are in the mine, but 1t is untrue that any
have yet been found. II they had been
brought to the surface.
w will do everything possible to re-
cover the bodies because we believe ii is
essential that the poor sufferers should
bury their dead. They will feel much better
for a chance to clasp their dead in their
arms"
The fire fighting apparatus ordered from
Chicago came by special train.
President Earllng of the Chicago, Mil
waukee G. st. Paul railway was agltated
by the obstacles to the celaring Of the
mine and spent the day aiding the work.
In the morning an iron pipe line was
laid from the reservoir to the entrance
Of the shaft and from it a long lead of
house was dropped into the shaft. One
hundred thousand gallons of water has
been brought in tanks to Cherry on cars
n placed on side tracks near the ressr-
voir in to which the water was let as
fast as needed.
a steam fire engine was brought from
the zinc works at La Sale and forced the
water drawn from the tanks through the
pipe and hose line to the bottom OF the
shaft. This part Of the fire fighting APP
paratus was made under the direction Of
Fire Chief Koran Of Chicago.