Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-12-03
OF MINERS
FOUND IN LOWEST
LEVEL AT CHERRY
Not More Than a Dozen
Victims of Horror Are Now
Unaccounted For.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nov, 20
Bodies of more than $50
miners were found in the
Lowest level Of the st. Paul
mine today. An accurate count
of the victims has not been
made, but it is now believed
all but a score of the missing
men have been accounted for.
The bodies were found 500
feet from the main shaft on an
elevated surface, where they
had retreated before the adj
vancing water and fatal black
damp. They had not been able
to escape the latter and had
died after a struggle that may
have continued for two days.
Messages scrawled on wood
and the natural slate cropping
from the walls placed the num-
Der of dead at 100 or 1853. One
message read:
I'VE are all here to die
together"
This is accepted by mine
officials as indicating that many
men whose escape from the
second vein had been cut off
by fire, had descended to the
lowest level, and that fewer
than a dozen bodies will be
found in other sections of the
mine.
Skif to Remove Bodies.
To AXE out the bodies today a skiff
las been brought from the illinois river,
seven miles away, and will be lowered
$50 feet to the vein in which the bodies
were found. 1t will be rowed across
the four feet Of water in the vein to
the spot where the bodies lie, I'M they
will be transported to the main shaft
for removal to the surface.
The exploring party Of four, led by
Anton Lodiycieni, was in the gallery for
more than an hour before the bodies
were found. They had waded in water
waist deep through the circular tunnel,
making their way towards the elevation
bf the shaft or ridge" where they had
expected to find the men living or dead.
The signals given by the rescuers and
he usual cry: ANY body alive In
lere?" were not answered.
Bodies Piled in Heaps.
when we climbed up on the ridge
said L~odiycieni, I'VE almost stepped
Upon the bodies, piled in heaps. Some
as If sleeping. Others were lying across
each other and some were sitting as If
resting against the wall.
Nailed to the wall were two fans
made of timberirg tied about pick
handles, and under them were the big
gest heaps Of bodies.
lone poor fellow had his hand up
holding the fan. 1 think he died as
he was turning II. Another held q
must have died as he climbed up on
the ridge. The bucket was half filled
with black water that he must have
gone some distance to get.
The black damp killed them long
Before the water reached them. We
had been in the shaft more than an
nour then and though the air was fair
ly good we knew it was time for us
to get out.
1--WE Are Here Together"
I'VE did not stop to examine any of
the bodies or try to identity them. Tom
Mulligan, one of our party, picked up a
piece of natural slate on which was
written: WE are here together, 1853.
That must have meant the number OF
men and / think that was about the
right number.
ION a wooden box used to hold tools
I saw written with a lead pencil. we
are here to die together Some figures
were scratched under u and ] read I:
as 100. but I'm not sure
No evidence that the men had at
tempted to barrlcade themselves from
the black damp was seen. Many of the
former workers in the mine protested
angrily after they discovered that the
men would have been safe from the
deadly gas nae not the ventilating fan
of the mine been reversed shortly after
the discovery of fire.
Machinists Won't Risk Lives.
The announced intention Of the mine
officials to pump out the water in the
lower lever DeIOre the ARRIVAL OF the
skiff was baked by the refusal of the
machinists to aid them. The connec-
lions of the pump have been discon-
nected near the second level and ma
chinists who were called on declined tc
risk their lives in repairing the ma
chinery.
Robert Shaw, a third member OF
the exploring party that found tn,
bodies, told of reading a piece OF slate
on which one of the victims apparent
ly had checked off the totals Of the
groups who ciamored upon the ridge
in their last stand for life. The writ.
Ing, as remembered by him. was:
Thirty more came in. Tw~enty-foui
more. Fourteen more. One hundred
twenty here now"
Other figures, which were no
totaled On the written tally, but hastily
computed by Shaw. indicated that tn,
number exceeded 80 when the talley
ended.
81 think some of the men had bar,
ricaded themselves In pockets in tn
gallery, but were driven TO the ridg,
by the rising water" said Shaw. Il
they had not got out of the pockets
they would nave been drowned IL
49,