The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-11-19
ALL TO SAVE A MINE?
Charges That Lives Were Sacrificed
That Financial Loss Mjuht Be Low.

Charges That Lives Were Sacrificed
That Financial Loss Might Be Low.
Cherry, ILL.,, Nov. 1S.-With popular
feeling running high over the st. Paul
mine disaster, James Steele, superin-
tendent of the mine, has made the
startling statement that every man
who may have been alive when the
shafts were sealed persisted within
two hours after the sealing of the
shafts. On the heels of this admis-
sion, James H. Penn of Peoria, ILL.,,
member of the Illinois subdistrict
board of the United Mine Workers of
America, charges that the sealing of
the mine was done without regard
to the lives of the entombed miners
and for the purpose of saving the pro-
perty of the company.
superintendent Steele's statement
and PENIS charges, coupled with the
expressed opinion of experienced min
ers, that men working in parts of
the mine remote from the fire would
have escaped death, dashed the last
hope of the relatives of the miners
imprisoned men were still alive, and
caused the authorities to fear an out
break of violence.
1t was after he had expressed the
opinion that all the miners were dead
and that their bodies would be found
near the main shaft that Steele ad-
mitted the quick and deadly effect
of sealing the shafts.
at is my belief" Steele said, that
every man in the mine is dead And
l further believe that all the bodies
will be found near the main shaft of
the mine. My belief is based on my
knowledge of the action of miners in
case of fire. They always rush for the
exit. That is what all the men did
in this case"
How long can man who Is i'm
prisoned in mine live without food!"
Steele was asked.
"If he has air and water he may
live for two or three weeks" was the
answer.
How long would he live if all the
shafts Of the mine were closed?"
mot very long-not more than two
hours"
"At what time did you first seal the
shafts of the st. Paul mine?"
"At about 1890 o'clock Monday
night"
Granted then that some Of the
miners were alive when you first
sealed the shafts, how long after that
would any of the men live?"
mot longer than two hours"
What would kill them so quickly?"
"Black damp"
What causes black damp"
"The shutting off of the oxygen by
closing the openings of the mine
when does black damp begin to
FORM"
Immediately after the oxygen is
shut off,"
How long after the shafts were
closed would the black damp. in kill
ing quantity, reach to the Furthermore
parts of the mine?"
within two hours"
Then, as an expert miner, do you
say that every man II the St Paul
mine who may have been alive at the
time you closed both shafts, even
though he was at a point furthest
removed from the fire. was killed by.
black damp within two hours after
you closed the shafts?"
81 do. And | am not a greenhorn
at the business. have been a practi-
cal miner for thirty-three years, and
have been superintendent of several
mines for number of years"
The reason assigned for sealing the
shaft was that it was the only way to
check the fire. The company repre-
sentatives assert that the fire would
have killed the entombed miners but
1t also argued that they could have
escaped from the fire in some OF the
mine passages.