Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-23

shaft.
But two oxygen helmets remained at
the NINE the others having been started
back to Pittsburg this morning and with
this scant equipment, two experts began
| a new exploration. At p. m. they
| emerged, their oxygen tanks being eX-
hausted, and reported no success.
At a late hour tonight DR.. Weeks, one
of the physicians in charge of the surviv-
ors, said:
MORE ARE ALIVE.
ct have talked with all of the rescued
! men. They say they are convinced many
are still alive, but it would be impossible
to estimate how many. There may be
so or 100, or there may be less. 1t seems
that the men are scattered in all parts of
| the NINE If the others have barricaded
themselves as these did, they are still
alive.
"At 10 o'clock the men coming UP from
below said they had heard signals in
distant parts, but these sections are still
cut off by distractions. Some, however,
are within reach and are being given
medical attention. They will be brought
up as rapidly as possible"
William Cleland. one of the sur
vivors. after drinking bowl of soup
appeared none the worse for his ex-
! perience
UNCONSCIOUS OF TIME
1--WE made the most of our situa-
ton" he said, sitting in the car sur
rounded by nurses. CAS- soon as VIC
| discovered fire last Saturday and that
there was no hope Of escape, we re-
| treated to a safe place where water
could be found. Fortunately some IF
! the timbers behind us burned out ami
this let earth and rocks fall down. cut
| ting us off from the heat and gas.
How the time went we do not know.
| We must have been unconscious part
of the time.
Il remember soon after we were
shut in Of drinking great quantities Of
the seepage that had dripped down into
the gutter and eating my lunch. After
That some of us pulled off the bark
and began chewing it.
I'VE did not realizze how serious
was our position. In fact some of the
men spent the time joking and said
they wished they had a pack of cards.
1t was after we had drank up all the
water and the seepage had run dry
that we began to pound on the wall.
to cause more to drop down.
VOICES ARE HEARD
Soon after this we heard voices
| and one Of our men said. AT last
they are coming after u.s. We could
hear them digging on the other side
Of the rock and dirt which filled up
the passage and soon little hole was
seen at the top and the CLEAN of the
torches came through.
Our first question was: rs it Sun
day or Monday? AS a matter of fact
most of us thought it was Sunday and
that we had been in the mine only
about "a hours"
Tine difficulty in reaching the east
side was said to be due to a bank of
black damp between. the main shaft
and the barricade erected by the men
imprisoned in this section. The de-
lay in this exploration was due to the
fact that 1T was necessary to prepare
the oxygen helmets.
OF the Fl men found in the south
gallery II were too weak to brave sud
den exposure to the air. Food was
taken down to them. ss-
George Siemitz, another of the rescued.
answered the clamorous greetings of
his friends with an explanation of the
incident uppermost in his mind-the loss
of his dinner pail. When the fire broke
out Siemitz rushed for the shaft but was
driven back. He fell over a PROSTATE
mule, losing the dinner pail, which later
became of more value to him than all
the banquets served in the world during
the week.
STORY OF RESCUERs.
A graphic description as the rescuers
saw it of the recovery of the men was
told by Father James P. Heaney of St.
Mary's church. Mendoza, ILL.,, who was
down in the mine with the rescue party
He said:
Just about o'clock, when we were
as near as can tell, 300 feet into the
gallery from the hosting shaft our party
slackened up because of a pile of debris
'It was a weird scene. The lights of
our torches on our caps kept bobbing up
and down as we labored and filled the
place with moving shadows.
Now, let's stop and listen again said
Powell Much to our Joy, the pounding
sounds came louder. A few more digs In
shovelfuls brought down the dirt from
the top and little black hole appeared
before us.
1.-TWO or three of US climbed over the
dirt and yelled, Are any of you alive in
there, boys?"
IAN answer came back: Yes
Before another word could be utter
ed, the men began pulling at the dirt
again and soon a large gap appeared
We yelled into them: Hold one of our
torches.
WANTED FOOD FIRST.
How many of you are alive in there,
boys? We will save you in a minute
I'm faint, husky voices, the men called
back: Yes, we are alive and you bet we
are hungry, too. Have you got some
lunch out there?"
I crawled up as near the hole as
could without interfering with the men.
-" God bless you, men, we will get you
out in a minute and give you all the
lunch you can eat. Be patient as you
cam
''I could not see anything back in there
for the men were in total darkness, 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.
by that time the hole was wide open
and a dozen pair of glistening eyes shin
ing out from black faces appeared.
1--WE kept yelling in to the men to
keep up their courage, promising them
that the way would soon be clear and the
cage in the hosting shaft was down and
ready to carry them to the surface.
zone of the men inside answered back:
Most of us are all right and feeling fine,
! but there is one poor fellow in here-a
Frenchman called Frank-who is almost
gcpe and I'm afraid he will be dead in