Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-11-18

Cherry, M.-Nearly 400 human be-
ings, men and boys, it is now believed
are dead or perishing in the st. Paul
mine here, though experts, who sue
ceeded in penetrating the smoke-hlled
air shaft to the depth of 800 feet late
Sunday, returned with a ray of hope
for the grief-stricken relatives of the
entombed men.
That the fire has been extinguished
was the conclusion of mining experts
and inspectors sent here by Gov.
Deneen to investigate the clamity and
its cause.
For more than thirty hours the
miners have been cut off from fresh
and undoubtedly have been subjected
to smoke-illed veins. That life could
exist under such conditions is doubted
by many, but because no trace of high
temperature was found in the depths
of the mine, friends of the miners, and
ven officials of the company, have
hope that the victims may have been
safety in remote recesses of the mine.
A. ]. Earring, president of the Chi
cago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad
company, who has not slept since ar
irving on the scene Of the catastrophe
received an encouraging report after
heroic efforts had been made to open
the mine for the release of the en-
tombed men or the discovery Of the
much-feared masses of dead.
From the son of one of the missing
miners, a young man named John
Reid, the railroad president heard that
a conclusion of the earth had been
felt by the farmers half a mile south
of the main shaft. The report was
sent to Henry Burke, an official Of the
mining company. Burke rushed to
President Earling in the office of the
company.
1--WE heard signals from the men,"
he said excitedly.
What do you mean?" asked the
railroad president.
"What ~signals?"
A Ray of Hope.
John Reds boy says that he and
farmers whose lands is over the
southern end of the mine felt several
conclusions of the earth Sunday after
noon. There were several shocks, and
the men felt them are convinced they
were shots fired by the imprisoned
miners, and that they were meant for
an assurance that at least some of
them live"
"Oh, I hope So" said Earring THAT
is at least encouraging"
r. Y. Williams, experts at the gov
eminent experiment station connected
with the state college at Urbana,
created additional hope by a late re-
port that there was a good supply of
cold air in the second vein, located
80 feet beneath the surface. This is
taken as an indication that the in
terror of the mine is not so badly
aflame as was first supposed.
1t leads certain people to think that
at least some of the men in the third
vein, 4S4 feet deep, are still breating
and that their lives can be saved if
they are brought to the surface within
the next twelve hours or so.
Williams has made several descents
into the mine. but his last was the
most successful. He walked some dis
lance along the second level, but a
rope attachment to his outfit limited
his exploration. He expects to dis
conect the rope on his next trip down.
Crowd Becomes Unruly.
Subsequently, Edward Fellows, for,
mer inspector of state mines, made an
examination of the smoke issuing
from the main shaft and declared his
belief that it was caused from the
timbers in the shaft and that the fire
had not spread much.
President Earring is not the only Of.
fetal who now expects bright things,
but they are doing more hoping than
talking.
The crowd became so large and IN,
Iuly dDUuL the mll6 ludL IL was lOuUu
necessary to stretch ropes and station
many special policemen to hold il
in check.
Along the outskirts of the CROWD
were the Reverend Father Wenzell
pastor, and the Reverend Father
Ernest, assistant pastor of the Holy
Trinity church, and the Reverend
Thomas Gleason, pastor of the Con
gregational church, ~consoling suffering
women and in some instances offer
ing up special prayers.
An idea Of the calamity may b.
cleaned from the fact that in a string
of t~hirty-three houses on Long Row
only two miners were saved.
In a family named Love the fathe
and four sons persisted.
1886 Miners Are Missing.
The list of the missing was com
piled in the office of the mining com
pany, and it reached the astounding
1 ~.