The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1909-11-27

Formentl, D.. Merchant Of Cherry
Norbsro, Alex. Boss Of third vein
Lewis, Ike. .LIveryman Of Ladd
Flood, John. !. .storsksepsr Of Cherry
chevIsnnskI, John. .........Top eager
Waite, Frank. .................. Miner
Stewart, Harry ................M Miner
Clark, Robert. .................M miner
Shears, james. ...............M Miner
Steey, John. ....,............. Miner
Tells Of Their Death.
The only account of how they per-
ished IL told by the engineer. Cowley.
II let them down." he said. ITO the
first level, distance of 165 feet.
What happened down there don't
know. The whole shaft was afire, and
guess they signaled me to haul them
back, butf never got the signal. I
left them down there long enough for
them to get out and get a load OF
miners, and then hauled the car
back to the surface.
when 1t came to the top its IRON
work was almost red-hot. There We're
ten men In the car and three on the
roof of the car. All of them were
dead--roasted alive. II live to be
100 years old I shall never forget the
expressions on the faces of the dead
men in the car. They were all stand
ing up huddled together. grinning the
grin of death itself out into my
face
What had become of DR.. Howe,
didn't know. l was too horror-struck
even to think. While we were drag
ging the bodies out of the car he sud
denly came up out of the shaft. He
said that he got out of the car,
reached ladder inside the shaft and
made his way to the top. How he did
1t don't know. 1t was one Of Gods
miracles"
Howe's hair was singed and his
clothes were afire, but he Immediately
began preparations to return to the
mine The flames by this time were
not so fierce In the shaft as they had
been. Six times he went down into
the burning mine, each time alone.
and six times he returned to the sur
face with gasping miners. In all he
saved 25. Then the flames broke out
anew and he was forced away from
the mouth of the pit.
The fact that there was no water
made all efforts to fight the flames
useless. Nevertheless. volunteer
fire department did all that 1t could
with the limited supply at hand. AS
the minutes slipped by 1t was seen that
the fire was gaining in spite of every.
thing that could be done. Finally, at
about four o'clock Superintendent
Steele gave orders that each of the
six exits to the mine be sealed up.
The report was that miner named
James Hanney first saw the fire at
one o'clock and reported, but no no
tice was taken of 1t, and the mine
continued to hoist coal until three
o'clock, when 1t became so hot that
general alarm was sounded. -
The fire spread rapidly from the
hay and the timbers in several Of the
entries was soon a mass of flames.
The stables are located near the base
of the escape shaft, and in few mo-
ments the flames were shooting up
the shaft and several hundred feet in
the air above the ground. The alarm
signal was given and the work of res
cue in the main shaft was commenced
at the same time.
The fans were reversed, the air cur
culating in the opposite direction with
its outlet In the escape shaft. The
fans are located on the top near the
escape shaft, and they were kept go
ing until the fan shed was burned
from the heat and flames. BY revers-
ing the air 1t was possible to carry on
the work of rescue in the main shaft.
and $50 of the $50 men in the shaft
were removed before the fans were
burned. The flames started up the
main shaft. Rescue work was stopped
and but little hopes we're entertained
for the recovery Of the rest of the
men.
teart-Rendino Tales.
The men rescued from the shaft
told heart-rending stories about their
efforts to escape; one man said that
he crossed the dead bodies of at least
eight men in reaching the main shaft
Another man said he had taken his
boy with him into the shaft. When he
heard the alarm of fire he started for
the main shaft with his son. The
fumes soon became SO strong he could
hardly breathe, but he had the boy
by the hand.
They crossed the bodies Of men
dead and dying and the boy was cry
ing for his father to save him and to
carry him. He dragged his son as
long as he was able, and when about
exhausted himself was obliged to drop
his hand and allow him to 60 to his
fate. The father had barely strength
enough to reach the bottom of the
shaft and fall into the cage. He be-
came unconscious, but revived after
reaching the top.
All the men who escaped report hav-
ing PISSED dead men on the way out.
There were 500 miners at work in
the three veins OF the mine when the
first explosion occurred. A few OF
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