The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1909-12-02
RESCUE 20 MINERS
MEN THOUGHT DEAD SEVEN
DAYS AGO SNATCHED
FROM TOMB.
s8 CoRPSES BROUGHT OUT
Under Direction Of Experienced Coal
Workers Small Band Makes Sue
cessful Fight for Llfe-Rapturous
Joy Prevails at Cherry.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nov. 26-The st. Paul
mine was sealed up Thursday and will
'ot be opened again for several
weeks. This action was taken when
Z became known that the fire could
not be controlled No attempt will be
made to rescue the bodies still in the
tunnels until the flames are under con-
troll It is estimated that 204 bodies
are sealed up in the mine. There were
angry mutterings among the men and
grief was displayed by the women
when the news spread that the effort
TO recover the dead had been aban.
doned.
Twenty-one men who it was believ-
ed lost their lives when the fire broke
out were rescued after having been
ntombed for seven daily. One of them,
however, died soon after reaching his
home.
The news of the rescue of living
men swept through the village like
telepathic wave. II transformed
community which was grovelng in
the deepest pits OF woe into a com
munity delirious with joy, intoxicated
with hope.
Gaze at Own Coffins.
When their eyes, accustomed for a
week to the inky blackness of
sealed-up mine, were able to take in
the sights around them one OF the
first things that they saw was the
piled.up collins in which by all the
laws of science and engineering, they
were TO have been buried.
When they were able TO speak, the
first words that left their lips were
words that brought up hope that hun
dreds of other men yet in the mine
might be still alive. During the long
watches of their own Imprisonment
they said they had heard sounds that
made them sure that the crannies and
corridors about them held living men.
Third Vein Untouched.
Hone that there are other men alive
In the mine is based on the fact that
its area covers nearly a square mile
and that the third vein has scarcely
been touched by the smoke. All the
men saved were in the second vein.
In the third vein are at least 100 men.
There is a great quantity of water
there, but there is still hope that
some of them are alive.
Ten minutes before the first of the
rescued miners came to the surface
the news that they had been saved
had been flashed like lightning over
the town. Workmen dropped their
tools, storekeepers left their counters.
the local banker directed that his
vaults be locked, and deserted the in
stitution.
"The Men Are Alive"
"The men are alive!" rang in a
scream through the streets. Women
dropped their work and, snatching up
their children, ran to the main shaft.
Hone and despair fought battle on
every face. Men showed their excite
ment by shouting incoherent nothings
nj one another, while the women
trembling in every limb, could not
even weep. They stood and stared
At last the first car came to the sur
face. II contained eight men, all on
cots. White canvas was spread over
each so that the face was hidden. The
cots we're carried off the elevator and
a squad of soldiers stepped forward
with each to hold back the spectators
while It was being borne to the tenn
porary hospital in a Pullman cal
near by.
Crowd surees Forward.
A tumult of shouting followed ant
the crowd surged toward the rescued
men in a wave that 1t seemed woulC
overwhelm them, The militia sprani
forward. AS the cots passed the ng
ures beneath could be seen to move
The crowd went forward. straininI
every energy to see who 1t was tina
lay beneath the cloth. Then almos