Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1909-11-18
Details of Disaster

Details of Disaster
Cherry, ILL.,, Nov. 13.-Eight
bodies were taken from the mine Of
the st. Paul Coal company, where
more than $50 men are imprisoned,
and probably scores are dead. The
bodies were taken out of the shaft |
while the fire was burning fiercely. |
in the interior and dense volume OF
smoke was pouring from the mouth
of the pit. They were put on the
cages and lifted to the surface by
unknown heroes, who may have
been sacrificing themselves in a vain
effort to save them.
known dead:
John Bumby, superintendent.
Alexander Norberg, foreman.
Isaac Lewis. a visitor.
John Rubinski, miner.
Four unidentified men.
The entrance to the mine was
boarded over in. an effort to check
the flames inside. This checked Ill
miners. In the three veins of the
mine, one three hundred feet below
the surface, the miners are imprison-
ed and their only chance of life is
to retreat to the ends of the veins.
where enough air may exist to pre-
serve their lives until rescued.
The fans are stopped, the wires
are burned out and the mouth is i'm
penetrably sealed to smother the
| flames.
The first explosion occurred short
ly after 3 O'Clock and in some un-S
| known manner communicated with
the other sections of the mine and in
less than ten minutes all chance Of
escape seemed shut off.
While smoke and even jets of
flames swept up through the en-
trance the cage which carried the
| miners continued to ascend and de-
| scend. The first loads were score
of miners who escaped with only
burns or bruises received in the rush.
On its last trip the cage carried the
bodies of the superintendent and his
assistants The men were dead when
they reached the surface. 1t is be-
lieved they were dead or dying when
placed in the cage. None survived
to tell the story.
The mouth cf the shaft is sur
rounded by hundreds of frantic wo-
men. children and men. Many tried
to enter. and some were carried
away unconscious from the smoke
| fumes after the attempt For two
hours the mine officials tried to de-
wise means of helping the impris-
oned miners, and finally decided the
only way to check the flames was to
board over the entrance. The open
ing is almost Theoretically sealed
The covering will not be removed
i until tomorrow, The most optimistic
watchers believe not less than hun
dred are dead.
The mine is the only one in Cherry
and more than half the male popula-
work in all three veins extending
from the main shaft
GUESSES AT NUMBER
The latest versions by escaped min
ers placed the number of the impris-
oned at about $780, They said that al
together 1870 OF 565 in the mine escaped
The twelve dead taken out are the
following:
John Bundy, Alexander Nuerberg.
Thomas Flood, Isaac Lewis, John
Fermento, two unidentified, Jos. Year
lev, Jos. Jamison, James Speer, Henry
Stewart Robert Clark
Practical miners asserted toniet
that none of the imprisoned miners
could survive more than two hours.
While the mine officials declare air can
reach the mine through the open es-
cape shaft, but water poured down the
opening in an effort to quench the
lldlAeS apparently DiOCheQ passage OIL
air
WORST IN ILLINOIS.
No similar accident has been record
ed in Illinois The greatest loss Of life
was at Braidwood in 1879, when eighty
rerished as result Of flooding of a
mine.
| In mine disaster in Japan in 1907,
470 were killed
The Maximum loss Of life in mine
disaster was at Monangah, W. Va, in
1907, when 1913 were killed
At midnight the number of men in
the mine is in 1icr"tn Thn~e familiar
with the mine and not connected W.
the management. ureia. ed the force
numbered 565; but officials placed it at
a much lower figure and added that
1876 escaped
That none survived or at least were
near the entrance was indicated when
an iron bucket large enough to hold
several men was lowered at II O'Clock
down the shaft. 1t was brought up
empty.