The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1909-11-26
SCENES or yUplLATroN

mine examiner for the company. The
greatest credit ID given him for thu
work Of saving the entombed miners
The Ecene around the shaft and the
company's once was a OF the wild.
est jubilation.
The anne Of the men rescued were
shouted from group to group down the
railroad tracks and into the village
which was suddenly elevated from the
depths Of despair to the pinnacle Of
hope.
Every shopkeeper Joined the crowd
Of women shd children In . hysterical
rush for the mine.
Since Monday no expert, either OF
the schools, or practical mining. be.
lieved . soul remained alive.
HOSPITAL IN THE MINE
Inspector Crawford, of the state
board OF health. after being down rhe
mine Tor half an hour, reported sixty-
seven of the live men 90 weak that
they wsre unable to stand the exer-
ton u being moved. All the Doctors
on Che grounds and In the village were
hurried into the mine. where . tenn
porary hospital Is arranged.
William Cleland. m OF the surviv-
ors. after drinking q bowl OF soup, ap-
peared none the worse for the exper-
fence. He said:
AS soon az We discovered last Sat
urday that there was no hope OF es-
cape. WI retreated TO q safe place
where water was found. Fortunately
some timbers behind us burned out,
and this let the earth and ro-k. "a,
cutting us OF from the heat and gas.
How time went we don't Anom. -
must have been unconscious part Of
the time.
CHEWED BARK FROM STANCH-
IONS
II remember drinking quantities OF
seepage that dripped down into a gut
ter. and eating my lunch. After that
some OF US pulled on the bark. chew
ing II.
I'VE did not realize how serious our
position was, In fact some men joke /
about II. After we drank all the wa
ter and the seepage had run dry. we
began to pound On the wall, to cause
more to drop down. Soon after this
we heard voices. We could hear them
digging on the other side OF the rock
and dirt which filled the passage, and
soon a little hole was seen at the
top. n a CLEAN of torches came
through.
Our first question was: Is 1t Sun
day or Monday Most of us thought
IT was Sunday. and that we had been
IN the mine only t%wenty-four hours"
FIRST SIGN OF LIFE
Father Heany Of St. Mary's church,
Mendoza, who was down with the res
cuers, said:
AT 2 o'clock. when we were 800
feet into the gallery from the hoisting
SHAFT. our party Stacked up on account
OF the debris. Suddenly David Powell
said: Listen. boys; heard some
thing We all became silent. A faint
pounding on the wall was heard. My
God said Powell, Il believe somebody
Is alive In there Some others re-
piled: No, that Is impossible; nobody
believes the men could live down here
for seven days
Well. now / said, let's listen
again.
I'VE listened a full minute, There
came the muffled pounding We heard
before. We were too much affected to
speak and could not believe our senses
but grabbing picks and axe we began
to tear down the loosened earth an
rocks. When We listened again the
pounding was louder. A little black
hole opened before US.
ALMOST HISTORICAL
Three OF US climbed over the dirt,
and yelled: Are any OF you alive In
there. boys!
The answer came, yes
Soon q large gap was made and
we yelled: How many OF you are
alive. boys! W. will save you in a
minute
In faint. husky voices the men call
ed: Yes. We are alive. and o bet We
are hungry. Have you got some lunch
out there?'
y crawled up near the hole and
yelled:
God bless you men. we will ge'
you out In . minute. and give you all
you can eat. Be patient rs you can
Il could not see anything back
there. so l climbed back. and prayed
to God to make the number we would
be able to rescue as many as possible.
by that time the hole was wide o e1,
and q dozen pairs of glistening eye,
shining from black faces appeared.
We kept yelling to the men, Prom
ising the way would Don be clea-
and We would be ready to carry them
to the surface.
"One OF the men answered: Most OF
NE are all right. but one fellow, q
~Frenchman, Is almost gone
When the pile Of dirt finally tum-
bled. some ofthe men were staggere!
by the thrush Of air and the light
from the torches. With q shout we
jumped over and met them. throwing
our arms around their necks. Their
Joy was in~expressible. They pounded
us on the backs and laughed and cried
until the place reverberatea.
We wanted to carry the men to
the shaft: bat they insisted they were
strong and we'll enough to walk.
Il found the Fren,nman breathing
his last. Holding q torch owe his
sooty face ! asked: d, you give your
uSrsN1 IN NnA&S