The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-11-19
$40 die IN
Mine FIRE
At CHERRY
Hope of Saving Any
Is Abandoned.
BODIES OF 100 FOUND.
Women and Children Attempt to
Leap Down Shaft.
DISCLOSURES ARE STARTLING
Open Torches Were Used in Place
Of Electric Lights.
DISCLOSURES ARE STARTLING
Open Torches Were Used in Place
Of Electric Lights.

Of 80 men. trapped by fire in the st.
Paul coal mine at Cherry ILL.,, none
escaped death. This conclusion voiced
by searchers effaced the last hope OF
relatives of the victims who surged
about the opening Of the shaft to
hear it.
Two trips into the tomb, in which
fire still RACES, convinced those who
had gone to rescue any who might be
alive that their mission was useless.
That every bit of oxygen, or life
giving air, had been exhausted many
hours ago. was declared certain. The
searchers declared that no life could
exist for hundreds of feet beyond the
shaft entrance.
One hundred bodies were found ear
ly in the afternoon. When it was
learned that the bodies had been To-
Gated women and children attempted
to leap into the shaft and fought the
guards. -, ..--..-,. .~.-.-.
Shaft Sealed Again.
BY order of the mining experts and
inspectors after a conference with
George S. Rice chief of the field work
of the United States geological survey,
the main shaft was sealed again in the
hope Of smothering the flames sui.
ficiently to permit of fighting the fire.
The fire broke out with great intensity
after the rescue workers and inspect
ors had thrice descended into the shaft
to the bottom. -
All hope of further exploration in
the mine was abandoned temporarily
and experts believe it will be several
days before any further effort to reach
the entombed miners can be made.
Shortly after the mine was resealed
the officials announced that carbonic
acid gas and steam would be forced
through pipes to the bottom of the
mine. President Mcdonald of the
United Mine Workers, District II, said
if this was done every man in the
mine would be dead within a few
minutes.
Startling Disclosures.
The inquiry into the cause of the
mine disaster disclosed startling con
ditions. 1t was declared that the fire
was caused by open torches, used to
take the place of burned-out electric
lighting system in the second vein. T..
P. Buck, chief clerk of the ST. Paul
Mining company, said:
1.-THE fire was due to the use OF
torches. The part of the second vein
where the hay was ordinarily is lighted
by electricity. A week or so ago the
electric lead cable running to the vein
burned out. We ordered another ca
BILE, but it was slow in coming So we
had to use torches there, and it seems
as though fate waited for the chance.
"a torch was fastened in the wall
and someone carelessly pushed a car
into it or near enough to it to set fire
to the hay, which started the conf1agra-
ton.
Either the car of hay ran into it or
it was pushed under the torch so close
that the hay caught fire. Then the
men tried to dump the burning bale,
but the timber caught fire and the
whole shaft was ablaze"
Engineers Kept Cages Still.
The mining companys officials are
blamed for inactivity during the hour
that the air shaft cage was left at the
bottom after the fire started. Evidence
along this line was given before the
coroner's jury at the inquest over the
body of John Flood, one of the rescu
ePs. John Raisbeck, engineer OF the
air shaft. admitted that he raised his
cage only once in the rescue work. He
stated he adhered strictly to rules re
quiring a signal for every move Of the
cage. His evidence and that of John
Cowley, engineer at the main shaft
caused the jury to decide upon q
thorough probe of the matter of sig
nails. So serious did the jury conside;
the inactivity of the two engineers in
the crisis that 1t was decided to heal
only testimony of the routine facts
concerning the twelve dead officially
brought to its notice.
Disaster Most Appalling.
The disaster was the most appalling
In the history of the United States. Thu
few survivors, blackened by smoke AMI
singed by flame, crawled from reekinf
crevices in the earth to tell an inco
herent story Of the almost inconceiv
able horrors in the corridors below.
The cry Of the widow and the orphan
rings dolefully on the air. Gathered II