Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-24
BODIES LIE IN HEAPS
One Hundred and Fifty Latest
Find in Cherry Mine.
PATHETIC SIDE OF HORROR
Hopeless Messages Scrawled on
Pieces of Wood and Slate.
DEATH AFTER LONG STRUGGLE
Estimated That Less Than a Dozen
Men Remain to Be Ac-
counted For.
PATHETIC SIDE OF HORROR
DEATH AFTER LONG STRUGGLE

| CHERRY. Ill. NOVem Der 24.-BOdleS OF
80 miners were found in the lowest level
of the ST. Paul mine today An accurate
count OF the victims has not been made,
but it is now believed all but score OF
| the missing men have been accounted for
The bodies were found 500 feet from the
main shaft. on an elevated surface where
they had retreated before the advancing
water and fatal black damp. They died
after struggle that may have continued
for two days
| Messages scrawled on wood and the nat
ural slate cropping from the walls placed
the number of dead at 100 or 16S One
message read:
we are all here to die together
| This is accepted by mine officials as in.
dlcating that many men whose escape
from the second vein had been cut off by
fire had descended to the lowest level.
and that less than a dozen bodies will be
found in other sections Of the mine.
Skiff Employed in Mine.
To take out the bodies today a skiff has
IL
seven miles away, and will be lowered
$50 feet to the vein in which the bodies
were found. 1t will be rowed across the
| four feet of water in the vein to the spot
where the bodies lie, and they will be
transported to the main shaft for removal
to the surface. The exploring party of
four, led by Anton Lodiyieni, were in the
gallery for more than an hour before the
bodies were found. They had waded in
water waist deep through the circular tun-
mel, making their way toward the eleva-
ton of the shaft or ridge where they
had expected to find the men, living or
dead
The signals given by the rescuers and
the usual cry. Anybody alive in here~'
were not answered
When we climbed up on the ridge"
said Lodiyieni, I'VE almost stepped upon
the bodies, piled up on top of each other
in heaps. Some had their heads rested
on folded arms as if sleeping. Others
were lying across each other, and some
were sitting as if resting against the
wall.
Mailed to the wall were two fans,
made of timbering tied about pick han
dies. Under the fans the largest heaps
of bodies were found.
Dies While Turning Fan.
Zone man had his hand hold of the
fan. 1 think he. died as he was turning
it. Another had bucket in his hand
He was fiat on his back. and must have
died as he climbed up on the ridge. The
bucket was half filled with black water
that he must have gone some distance
| to get. t"s5.
1.-THE black damp surely killed them
long before the water reached them. We
had been in the shaft more than an
hour then, and though the air was fairly
good, we knew it was time for us to get
out.
We didn't stop to examine any of the
bodies or try to identify them, although
we probably could have il we had had
more time. Tom Muligan, one of our
party, picked up a piece of natural slate
| on which was written: We are here to-
gether, 16S.'
mel. and think that was about the right
number. He put the slate in his pocket
without trying to make out the name on
it, but as we climbed up the shaft to the
second level 1t fell out of his pocket.
ION a wooden box, used to hold tools,
l saw written with lead pencil, We
are here to die together Some figures
were scratched under it and | read it as
16O. but I'm not sure. as the writing was
wavering as if it had been by some one
who was mighty weak"
No Evidence of Barricade.
evidence that the men had attempt
| ed to barricade themselves from the black
damp was seen. Many of the former
workers in the mine protested angrily
after they discovered that the men would
| have been safe from the deadly gas had
no. the ventilating fan of the mine been
| reversed shortly after the discovery of
| fire.
| They assert that the men had retreated
to the bridge, where under ordinary con-
ditions the noxious gas would not have
| reached them, and believing themselves in
| no danger merely had fortified them
selves against hunger, thirst and the sup
posedly lesser danger of gas that natu-
| rally would be generated after a few
days of Imprisonment.
The fans fashioned by them, they as
sert. would have dispelled this gas, which
would have formed in small quantities
and have given the men enough fresh
air to sustain them for weeks. With the
reversal of the fam they assert the
deadly gas forming in the second gal
lery and creeping out of the escape shaft
went into the lower level and the men
were suffocated before they had oppor-
| tunity to seek pockets or erect protec-
Pathetic Story in Diary.
A diary was found yesterday in the
| clothing of Samuel D. Howard, twenty
| one years old, whose body was taken
from a pocket of the mine. The diary
was begun November ID, the day che
| fire started, and covers a period of two
| days, describing the struggle for life
| until black damp ended the weird tale.
| The story was written with pencil on
loose leaves of an account book.
The diary follows:
ALIVE at 10 80 o'clock yet BY Sam D.
| Howard. Brother Alfred is with me yet
A good many dead mules and men.
| tried to save some. but came almost
, losing myself. If ] am dead give my
diamond ring to Mamie Robinson The
| ring is coming at the post Office. Henry
can have the ring 1 have in my good
clothes. The only thing regret is that
my brother (Alfred, Is years old could
| help my mother out after I am dead
and gone.
II tried my best to get him out, but
could not. l saw Jim Jameson and
Steve Timke lying along the road and
could not stand it any longer.
Writes to Keep From Thinking.
'It is five minutes past II o'clock and
the air is fine. but sometimes it is SO
bad it almost puts fellows light out.
1t is something fierce to see men and
| mules lying down all over like that
To keep from thinking I thought l
would write these few lines. There is
| rock falling all over us. We have cur
buckets full Of water. stump water, and