The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-21

|
others alive in another part Of the
mine, throw of the blanket with which
we had covered his ho1d and shouted:
Wcll, then, by God, | am not going
out of this mine until / get the 9th.
| crS.
him TO remain down there longer would
mean his death
:" We will take YOU up TO The fresh
air and give you some warm food and
then maybe we will lot YOU help MS do
the rest of the work But White pro.
tested and wc actually had so force
him into the cage. All the way mp he
shouted, Let me 80 down and help get
the others up.
''At this time those on tho surface
| had. Is during the last three or four
days. a firm conviction that everybody
in the mine was dead Nobody con
ccivcd any other possibility. IT was
shaft, We've got some mon alive. Hoist
her up
Cup VIC went like shot and rushed
them into n Pullman car standing near.
Sends Final Farewell.
Joe Pigati. who was being revived,
| brought out with smile letter he had
written on r piece of brown paper on
the fourth day of his imprisonment
when lie thought there was no hope of
escape The letter was addressed TO
his wife and freely translated from the
Italian. read:
''This is the fourth day that we
have been down here, That S what
think, but our watches stopped. ] am
writing in the dark because we have
been eating the wax from our safety
lamps. | also have eaten n plug 0t
| tobacco, some bark and some of my shoe.
] could only chew il. hope YOU can
| | af tn
| Holy Virgin, have mercy on me. think
my time has come. Nou know what my
property is. We worked for it together,
and il is all yours This is my Will
and you must keep it. You have been
good wife May the Holy Virgin
guard you, | hope this reaches You
some time and you can read IT.. lt has
been very quiet down here, and / won
der what hns become of our comrades.
Goodbye until Heaven shall bring us to-
gethcr.
| (Signcd) JOE PlGATI'
| Another man who was brought to the
surface very solcmnly requested that
lis wife he kept from the car.
81 We been away seven days. ! thlnk
can apologize better TO her at home. -
Another Thrilling Tale.
How the imprisoned men sucked water
out OF ccal and climbed over dead bod
years old, an Italian miner. lie said;
Gas ! remember. the first | knew
about the fire was about ) 2, IN, My
partner called TO mo and asked me II
| smelled smoke. ! told him | did, and
we started down the road towards the
cago to see what was the matter.
When we got near the cage, the smoke
became so thick that we rushed back.
"'We went away back TO the end
of the minc and closed ourselves in
one of the chambers that had four gal
lerics. We had our lamps and kept
them lit The air was not bad then, as
il kept circulating.
Days Of Darkness.
"On Monday our lights would not
burn, and from then until today. we
were in darkness. ! would have gwen
a month s pay for loaf Of bread. we
managed TO get enough water from the
sides of the gallery for the first few
days, but soon this gave out and we
thought we would have TO die of thirst.
One of the men said: There is lots
of water in this loose coal lying around,
is we could only squeeze II out. Sey-
eral of the men tried sucking handfuls
of coal off the floor and III TINS way
moistened their lips and tongues.
"After awhile we all did the same.
That's the way we quenched our
thirst.
"In all we made about twenty at
tempts to get out, but It was no use.
This morning seven of us started out
of the room.
"Our courage diminished last sun
day night when ono poor fellow died.
Since then we have passed our time
| alternately IN gloom and merrmcnt.
When some one would get desPondent
the others would try to joke and cheer
him mp, Most of them talked of their
families and wondered what they were
doing. / have mother and father llv-
ing in Italy aud ! thought OF them;
When ! got out of the mine today l
felt all fight. except for being hun
gry and thirsty
Zannarini spoke no English and gave
his accounts TO an interpreter
The fight against death was led by
| Joseph Crescini. Cresinl was one OF
the two men brought MP in the cage.
He reported between thirty and forty
men alive in the south wing
In the darkness, where they had
waited for seven DAYS in an agony OF
hunger and suspense, the imprisoned
men had lost track Of time and thought
today was Sunday
| Nourishment was administed in the
form of milk diluted with water.
The next trip Of the cage brought
seven other survivors. They were
smiling and healthy, save for weakness,
due to lack of food. News of the res
cue Of these men travelled with light
ning-lke rapidity, and the change from
despair TO hope which swept over the
crowd was a most dramatic and im'
presslve scene.
Crowd Become Frantic.
Women who had stood for days and
nights with only the hope Of recover
ing the mutilated forms of husbands
and sons fought with the guardsmen to
reach the mouth Of the pit, The latter
restrained them, explaining that to
overrun the pit would only delay the
rescue.
AS one by one the survivors became
visible to tho multitude outside the
rope barriers, the women crowded
around them. When one would rccog,
nize kinsman the joyful scene moved
many to tears. But saddest of all was
the change again to blank despair Of
those who recognized no one whom
they sought.
Under the leadership Of Crescini,
such food rs remained in dinner pals
was assembled and the men put on
| cborf rafions In This and subsequent