Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1909-11-18
HOPE ABANDONED
FOR 800 MINERS {.
FIRE STILL RACES IN ILLINOIS
SHAFT AND REScUERs
ARE Baked.
RESCUE BELIEVED IMPOSSIBLE
Many Bodies Probably Are Heaped In
Furthermost End Of the Vein.
More than 1000 Orphans In
Cherry-ReIief Asked.

Cherry, ILL.,, Nov. 1.-THE 300 OF
more miners who were entombed In
the st. Paul coal mine by last Satur.
days disaster are dead. Many Of the
bodies No buried beneath thousand Of
tons OF earth, which have caved n up
on them. and it is doubtful II many Of
the bodies can ever be recovered.
This was the opinion expressed
when attempts ct rescue work, car
ried On night and day for q hours,
was temporarily abandoned.
Fires in tho nins, which broke out
with renewed herosnsss early in the
day, made further dsscents by res.
cuers impossible. Means employed IN
IN effort to carry fresh air and life
down to the Imprisoned mon served
only to enliven sparks which sprang
into flames.
Soon the heat and smoke became 20
dense that 1t was necessary again to
seal up the mouth Of the hoistins
shaft and the mon down there, what
ever their condition. are locked in
as effectively as in q dungeon.
- Whether the bodies will be taken
out today or not for several days will
depend upon the condition Of the in
ternal fire.
1t is possible that steam and chem
icals producing carbonic acid gas
which will be forced through pipes to
the bottom of the mine will have q
tendency to choke out the flames.
It was conjectured the miners had
crawled for safety into the recesses.
remotest from the fire, but to these
parts the rescuers were unable to go
without reascending. Before they.
could reascend the ire broke out.
Gradually the crowd about the mouth
of the shaft began to thin as hope
seemed to wane.
The spectacle about the mouth of
the wrecked mine at dusk was pathet-
ic A TALL skeleton framework of iron,
reaching skyWard, surrounded by a
group of low wooden buildings, which
a few days ago had been the scene Of
Industry, suggested by their desolation
that hope had been abandoned Only
q half dozen guards patrolled the
premises. In the distance, scattered
over the field here and there. few
women, wrapped in shawls, gazed on
In silence.
That not one man of the hundreds
entombed in the St. Paul Coal COM
pany's mine will be taken from it alive
Is the practically unanimous opinion
Of those on the scene.
Rescuers equipped with oxygen
hemlets who have entered the mine
added to the horror by declaring that
the mine was still on IRE, AID in many
places was caving in.
The rescuers were unable to pene.
trate more than a few feet from the
main shaft in the second vein.
Equipment consisting Of the most
modern paraphernalia was useless in
the chambers, all Of which were
choked with gas and smoke.
That every bit of life-giving a.r had
been exhausted many hours ago was
declared certain: Three descents
WcFS hAOc, DuC uO sign Vi llic Was
seen and the rescuers declared that no
life could exist for hundreds of feet
beyond the shaft entrance. A few
miners caps and lamps were seen
tragic tokens of the first mad rush for
safety by the miners who escaped
but no bodies were found.
There are 1000 orphans in Cherry
today and unless food in large guam.
titles is rushed into the town many
will be hungry. We will need aid and
plenty of it, said Mayor Connolly,
and it must be forthcoming prompt.
ly or there will be great suffering
among the destitute families Of the
miners.
Three hundred collins have been or
dered. Meantime, the several score
Of nurses who have been rushed here
look forward to no prospect Of work in
srev1ying injured and half-suffocated
men.