Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1909-11-19
In COAL MINE DISASTER AT
CHERRY, ILLINOIS.
Five Give Their Lives in Heroic En-
deavor to Reach and Resce Their I'm
prisoned Comrades Impossible to
Save Any-Mouth of Pit Is Sealed to
Smother the Flames.

Several bodies have been taken from
the mine of the st. Paul Coal com
pany, which was set on fire Saturday
afternoon by burning bale of hay in
the mule stable.
The men entombed number at least
$50, according OF the estimates of the
mine officials, and that any can be res
cued is beyond all hope.
Some of the miners, however, de-
clare that there must have been 400 or
more.
The entrance to the mine was sealed
up in the hope of checking the flames.
Despite the efforts of officials and scores
of volunteers it seemed assured that
only bodies of the dead would be taken
from the mine.
Fire Allowed to Smolder.
The fire that caused the explosion,
which may prove one of the greatest
tragedies in the list of mine horrors
had an origin Of the most trivial kind.
A pile of hay allowed to smolder too
long finally ignited the timbers of the
mine and before the workers realized
their danger the mine was filed with
smoke, gases and flames and all exit
was impossible.
Great heroism was shown by Off
Gals and residents of Cherry. These
men, who were outside the mine when
the fire started, contributed five to
the list of the ~ known dead by rush
ing into the mine, trying to save the
doomed men.
Alexander Norberg, a pit man gave
his life unhesitatingly in futile effort
to save those of his comrades who
risked their lives with him. Standing
at the bottom of the shaft he carried
the bodies of four men into the cage,
the only way of escape. AS the last
was carried in he fell unconscious
across the body. He was dead, as
were all his companions, when the
cage had been lifted to the top.
The Heroic Five.
Those who went into the pit with
him were John Bundy, mine superin
tendent; John Flood and Isaac Lewis,
merchants of Cherry, and John Fer
mento.
DR.. W. Home, physician of the city
who had tried to go with the men
when they descended in the cage, had
been thrust out of the cage by Bundy,
who declared: "They will need you at
the top if we get any one out. No
use risking your life down here" The
physician vainly sought to revive the
men when they were carried to him a
few minutes later.
At the entrance of the shaft
hundreds of women, weeping children
and frantic, but helpless, men crowded
about. A few survivors were sur
rounded by groups of the women and
their answers to the loudly shrieked
inquiries only added to the terror.
Almost to a man they declared there
was no hope for the men left behind
in the mine Almost 200 of the men
imprisoned, they declared, were in the
third vein, the only entrance to which
was for the second vein, few hun
bred feet from the main shaft of the
pit.
Air Fan Collapses.
Superintendent Steele reluctantly
II echoes the opinion of the miners When
the extent of the fire was realized
the officials saw ordinary measures
were Intellectual The fire had burned
away timbers and the flames soon
reached the escape shaft. A few min
utes later the fan which supplied air
to the shaft collapsed and tumbled
through the opening The flames then
swept on the mouth of the pit, where
they were carried to the surface, fore,
ing back all those who ventured near
The officials knew that fire must be
eating it's way back into the shaft and
| then it was decided to seal the mouth
of the pit. Before this water had
been poured down the escape shaft but
with no better effect than to impede
, any effort of those inside to escape
The first that was known of it was
when there was a deafening explosion
and a column of fire and smoke shot
out of the mine shaft. The cage was
instantly lowered and a moment later
it was pulled back full of miners who
staggered to the ground as it reached
the surface and gasped out the story
of the scenes of horror they had wit
messed below.
Before they could finish their story
r the cage was sent down again anG
r again, each time bringing up its bur
!, den of blackened and weakened men
r Finally there was no signal from be
t low to drag the cage up, and when il
a came up it was empty.
Nearly All Foreigners.
Cherry has a population of about
5000, nearly all of them Austrians
Italians and Lituanians, employed il
the mine. When the news of the dis
aster spread there was wild rusi
from the little cottages to the moutl
3 of the mine, where wives, mothers anG
. children of the victims waited for tn,
5 news of the men buried under the
: earth. Each time the cage came VI
with survivors the women and children
l rushed to the shaft and almost over
: whelmed the occupants in their eager
ness to identify them.