The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-11-19
SCORES BURIED IN MINE
MAY YET Be RESCUED
Fire in The Cherry Shaft Has Been Elk
tinguished and Rescue Party De-
scends to 3OO-ft. Level
THE ENTOMBED NUMBER 372

of thirty-three houses on Long Row
only two miners were saved.
In a family named Love the father
and four sons persisted.
The list of the missing was COM
piled in the office of the mining com
pany, and 1t reached the astounding
total of 3S5, including the dead whose
charred bodies were taken from the
burning cages Saturday afternoon. 1t
was declared to be probable that this
list might be increased. One hundred
and seventy men who entered the
mine Saturday morning have been ac-
counted for. The company had scores
of tracers at work rounding up the
employees, and at nightfall the COM
pany officials admitted that the num-
Der of men in the mine was greater
than they first had believed possible.
Among the missing are many Amer
leans, who have lived for years and
reared their families IN the mining
section of Illinois, so often the scene
of terrific tragedy. Though the
majority of those who never may be
found alive are foreign born, yet all
had their homes here or in the sur
rounding towns and villages, and the
grief over their probable fate has
cast a pail over the community.
Mines In Two Shafts.
The catastrophe probably the
greatest in the history of mining, &C.
cured shortly after / o'clock Satur-
day afternoon, when the miners were
the mine.
A fire started and the men were cut
off from air. Out of the 450 miners,
only e~ighty-five are known to have
made their escape.
A rescue party, consisting of thir-
teen men, made two trips in the mine
cage and brought out a number of
men. On the third trip the entire
rescue party was suffocated and were
dead when the big cage was brought
to the surface.
A majority Of the victims met death
from suffocation, although many are
believed to have burned to death.
The disaster was the result of a
load Of hay catching fire in the sec.
ond vein of the mine, over 300 feet
below the surface, the explosion fol.
lowing. Quickly the mine was a mass
Of flames.
The entire population of Cherry
was at the mine when the bodies OF
the rescue party were brought to the
surface. The scene that followed is
beyond description. A great moan
swept through the crowd. Women
tainted and men wrung their hands
and wept. The cries and shrieks OF
the mothers, wives and sisters of the
victims, mingled with the hoarse
shouts of the men who were attempt
ing to aid the entombed miners.
Aid Sent by Special Train. ,
James Steele, superintendent of the
mine, Immediately wired the office Of
the company in Chicago for aid. He
was notified that a special train bring
ing supplies and physicians would BIZ
sent at once.
The terrible loss of life was indi
rectly caused by the reversing of the
big fan which supplies air to the two
big veins Of the mine.
When the fire was first discovered
1t was thought that the blaze could
be drawn out by the fan. The revers
ing Of the fan shut off all the air in
the shafts below and also drew the
flames up the shaft. The fire came
out with such fury that the fan itsel1
vas burned almost Immediately. II
was realized that unless the miners
were brought to the surface within &
few moments they would die from
suffocation.
The only means of rescue left wa!
the cage. BY this time large volumes
of smoke were issuing from the shat
and it was thought to be impossible
for any n to live in the big cage
John Flood and Isaac Lewis, mer
chants, however, stepped forward ant
called for men to go down in the ele
vator.
Volunteers Reach Second Vein.
Volunteers answered Immediately
: They entered the cage, and the en-
gineers lowered them to the secon,
vein.
Here the rescue party left the ele
vator, and as quickly as possible the,
carried the unconscious miners to th,
cage. Only a few minutes was spen
, in this work. as the air was such tina
the men could not breath. Back +