The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-11-22

'rne old man was so far gone tnat nc
could not resist. and In the darkness
could not see who his assailant was.
"a secret guard was established
over him, and before many hours had
passed we pounced on man who
was drinking the sick mans water.
We gave him bad beating. lie re.
sisted and fought back. He was
strong and worsted one or two of us.
AT last he drew a knife and began
slashing around. Then we felled him
with an ak and drew him into cor
ner.
after that we had no trouble
about water being stolen. We estab-
lished a regular guard over all the
sick men. Some of the men only got
snatches of sleep. We knew that
they could be trusted and used them
for guard duty"
covered in the second vein. The dis
covery of the bodies was made In the
third cast drift, where a pile or de-
bris WAS blocking q trap door. Re-
moving this the miners forced open
the door and were Mortified to find a
CHASTITY heap piled up against the
door II was estimated that there
were about 50 bodies in the heap.
Three men apparently had rushed to
the door just after the fall came and
had been killed in few moments by
blackdamp.
e fur rf-
covered have been identified. Thirty
four bodies have been buried. Twen.
ty-two bodies have been taken to
nearby towns and ~ were placed in
the cemetery adjoining the Catholic
church
Word camc from the foot OF the
| shaft that workers on the east side
| of tho vein had distinctly heard the
| voices of two men shouting for help.
Andrew White. driver employed at
the 81 Paul mine in Grandville, who
has been brought here to work,
brought up the report.
The charge is made that there Is a
conflict OF authority, which is lessen
ing the chances of the men who. may
he fghting the blackdamp in sealed
/ up corridors II is pointed out that
! the 20 men who have come up alive
virtually saved their own lives, and
| all the rcscuers did was to bring
them TO the surface after they had
| fought their way TO safety. Some OF
the Hrcmen charge openly that they
| could penetrate into the uncXplored
| poltlous IL they were permitted by
| their superiors to do so, but that they
had been held back and kept at work
| snoring up the walls and putting In
supports. II is pointed out that fires
are still burning below and that the
workers must proceed with the ut
| most caution in order to avoid a new
connagratlon.
The survivors spent the day quietly
| at their homes. Such of them ms
were able TO sit up were visited al
| day by friends from other towns. A
\ number of the men remained all day
| In their beds nursing back TO life tho
spark of vitality so nearly qucnchet
during scvcn DAYS of thirsting ant
famine in the mine.
Nearly every one OF the 20 miners
left a will. Most of the married mer
| left letters to their wives, some o
these documents being pathetic ir
| their illitcracy. There Is, for in
| stance, the case Of John Lorimcr, {
| Scutchman. Lorimcr came to this
country with his young wife. They
! have been married three years. on
| Sunday, when the mine had not beer
opened Mrs. Lorimcr walked tho
streets in da2e, tortured with thu
thought that her husband might still
be alive. On that day Lorimcr, b,
the light OF his cap lamp, wrote Tho
following letter on slip of not'
paper
Dear Wife, am still living yet
This is o'clock Sunday morning
but we have poor hope as tho black
damp is getting the best of us. Thor'
is 81 of ms altogether here. Dea
wife, don't grievc we will NEE
again. God bless you and believe II
Him. lie viii take care of you.
guess we will meet in a better land
| Nncn you Sct oNcl lHlS w Wv"
know mt home. That Is all, dear
God bless you"
81 would work my hands to th'
bone n he would quit mine work
she said.
There was joy and grief at th'
home of Mrs. Guile Sorbolli whel
her youngest brother, Buonfilio Ru
geri, aged rs, came out alive. He 1
small for his age, and his seven day
without food has left him only
shadow OF what he was. 60 back?
said he yesterday. Never. Bette
to starve up here In the sun than t
die slowly down there in the darl
ness"