The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-11-25
RESCUE WORK CONDUCTED IN
RELAYS BY EAGER
MINERS.
ONE REPORTS HEARING VOICES
Ninety.tWo Dead Are Taken From
the Cherry Mine-Einhteen
Victims Were Buried
Sunday,

Cherry. Ill-Twenty saved, ninety.
+ two known dead. and 1873 miss
| ing is the record at the St Paul mine
Ten dead were brought to the sur.
face Sunday. and thirty.seven more
/ dead were located in the second level
. but were not brought up on account
OF black damp.
James Lewiston, Of Peru. one OF the
members Of the rcscung party. de.
| clared AT midnight he had heard 4
human voice on the other side OF the
( Caye.in He said he had heard the
/ voice plainly, although II sounded as
though q was far away Lewiston
/ Immediately called the attention OF
/ the other workmen TO the place from
/ which the voice came. but they could
hear nothing
/ Il would swear that ! heard some.
I one calling through the caye-ln," said
/ he 1t sounded like they were far
away, or were so weak they could not
shout loudly. Those people are alive,
and the sooner we get TO them the
better because | do not think they
can last much longer"
What had promised TO be Cherry's
real day OF Thanksgiving, ended in a
night OF hope deferred or despair.
At the end OF the day no living man
or hoy had been added to the list OF
the twenty rescued Saturday.
A.. nn-A
All day long the tollIng OF church
bells resounded in Cherry and Spring
VALLEY Eighteen bodies were in
TERED in a field south Of the town.
4, the mine a dozen coffined vic
Tins remained awaiting removal
while n score Of Baskets were piled
near by for the bodies which are 10
come
From the yet unified graves in
which the Roman Catholic dead were
placed, the pastor hurried to the mine
entrance. where. with a second priest
| h. waited to administer the last rites
for the living should his services be
needed
The black damp in the east gallery
was the obstacle that proved insur.
mountablc to the men.
Through II the bodies OF thirty.
| seven dead men could be seen, Prep
ara'uns for the taking on OF the
bodies visible to the explorers was
preparing when the morbid crowd
around the mine had thinned.
Rescuers Work In Relays.
In the mine level the work Of the
rcscuers went on increasingly. Re
lays OF eager miners replaced these
whose strength failed
The gamut from deepest despair to
an hysteria of hope was run when
twenty miners. almost to the hour,
were brought to the surface Tive Sat
urday
At midnight fire started in the
mine. cutting on the rescue work,
Fire apparatus had to be lowered and
stream OF water again turned into
the mine II was feared the living
would be killed. but the FIRE was soon
under control
The heat was intense. X. f. Max.
well mining engineer In the rescue
party. was overcome and had to be
hurried to the top. During the night
the bodies of forty dead have been
taken from the east entry.
The story OF their sufferings and the
heroism OF their resourCeful leaders Is
one Of the most thrilling In all the
black history of mining disasters.
Forty Dead Brought Up.
Dawn broke with the bearers OF
stretchers moving from the pit mouth
TO the tent which served as n morgue,
with bodies swollen and scorched al.
most beyond human semblance. Forty
OF them had been brought up and
most OF them identified, when the
marvellous report shot through the
PROSTATE community: They've found
them alive-they've found them alive"
In a moment the morgue was de.
serted. scarcely to be revisited, while
the crowd fairly insane with the
great hope which had sprung like a
miraculous flame from the ashes OF
despair, rushed to the pit All thought
was Of the men who were alive
From the top Of the hosting shaft
TO the sleeping cars drawn upon the
side tracks was a distance of about
$50 feet Between the crowd, held
back by the militia. formed a gang
way. 1t was along this line that the
women. looking for lost ones, gazed
into the faces OF the survivors as they
passed through
AS night drew on, the whole scene
was revealed only by a pale moon.
light and the Pickering lights of
torches worn on the caps OF the res.
cuers Each time, as the signal
sounded from the hoist for the cage
TO come up from the mine, the noise
Of the crowd subsidized into murmur-
ing expectancy,
Hoist her up came from the
depths. Hoist her up" repeated