Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1909-11-26
KNNERS OUT OF
DEATHS JAWS
Twenty of the Men in the Cherry,
ILL.,, DEsster Are Brought
Up Alive
THEY bWLT SAFETY BARHICADE
Wallsd Up a Chamber 50 That the
Gas Could not Reach Thorn and
Then Sat Down to Wait-Had Lit
tie Food, Which was Divided Up.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nev. 23.-One week to
the mtnuS after fire started in the
St. Paul mine, entombing more than
three hundred miners and bringing
upon them what looked like inevita-
bic death, twenty were rescued AL
most the last hope for life had faded
away.
There was then some reason to be-
lieve that others We're alive in the
mine. Some estimates went as high
az 1ss. This aroused the rescuers to
4 frenzy Of labor The rescuers will
work night and day until 1t Is settled.
Hysteria and humor were intermin-
gied In the scenes incident to the de-
liverance of the mon, who had sat
during the slow passing hours and
days with death at their elbow, into
fresh air and into the arms Of their
families
In spite of their long burial and the
accepted belief that short time un-
der such conditions seems an age,
some Of the men thought that it had
been only twenty-four hours since the
Ore started.
Cut off by the flames in one of the
tunnels the men had rushed in terror
o the shaft, where escape was i'm
possible, ard then back to chamber
1t the further end. Assembled here
Inder the leadership of George Eddy,
one of the mine examiners, who was
below when the FIRE started, the en-
trapped men. painting with excitement
and fear, took counsel
Soon after they had arrived at the
chamber some rocks and dirt fell into
the Passage. partly blocking it. This
tortuitons happening helped them to
carry out an idea they already had.
The men under Eddy's direction be-
gan to add to the obstruction. They
made barrier between themselves
and the noxious gases which in a
short time would certainly stiAe them
if permitted to enter.
v hen the entrance had been closed
the mon sat down to wait for deliver
ance or death.
When hope was nearly gone, the
miners sehght consolation in prayer,
and as it seemed that human aid could
not reach them, they were led by Will
liam Clellsnd and Walter Waite in
song.
The men, suffering from intoierable
thirst, Tapped up the trickling water
from the coal riffs which they had
broken open. Banded together in
their fight for life, they battled day
and night. not knowing the possibil
ity of rescue without hope.
The relief corps, while working,
heard the cries of the men behind the
debris of rock of the wreckage. They
worked like demons to reach the i'm
prisonsd men. In a short time they
had broken down the barrier and car
ried two of the men to safety.
'She condition OF most of the men is
marvellous. They inquired for their
homes and children.
When the first two living men were
brought to the surface the scene was
dramatic in the extreme. Screams of
JOY were heard on every side.
John Semmick was among the liv-
ing brought out. His wife and two
children are delirious with joy and
threw themselves on the ground, kiss
ing the feet of the rescuers.
Hundreds of men, women and chill
1ren flocked madly to the shaft as
The news spread like wildfire
DR.. Howe, the physician in charge
Of the rescuins party said this is the
most remarkable recovery in the his
tory Of mine disasters in the world