The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-22
Tragic Scene When They Return and Spectators Read Awful News In Faces. SAMUEL JOHN WENT
 WITHOUT EVEN HELMET A. Perchot, a Miner, Accompanied Him and They Were First to See That
 All of Their Comrades
 Were Dead
 

One of the most daring acts ever wit terday morning at 5:30 o'clock when Samuel John, the mine superintendent and brotoher of Morgan John, the mine foreman who was entombed in the mine, crawled into the bucket hanging over the mouth of Shaft No. and without a hel- met, without any means of communica- tion with the top, without any knowl- edge of what gas, fire damp. fire or fall ing rocks and timbers he might encoun- ter, was lowered down, down, down, into he knew not where, as a member of the first rescuing party to enter the mines. MT. John was accompanied by A. Per chot, miner, who was rigged out in a helmet and signaling apparatus and who also displayed his bravery as the first to enter the exploded mine.
 Hand on the Lever A
 Inside the engine room. with one hand on the lever of the clutch and the other on the throttle. stood Engineer Short, every muscle strained, every sense alert for signals from the men whom, dangling among the wrecked tiubers of the shaft housed in small wooden mine bucket, and bouncing from one side of the shaft to the other, he was lowering into the black, mysterious hole of death. One slip of that hand, one mistaken signal. and two more souls would have followed nity.
 
 The attempt at raising the cage in Shaft No. l was abandoned early yes terday morning. The cable was cut and a bucket tied on by which the first res cuers were to be lowered. John and Perchot started down at 4:!S o'clock yes terday morning, but had to be brought back to the surface as the engine would not work properly. It was 5:30 o'clock before the engine was repaired and the party entered the second time.
 They were gone about 70 minutes. No words can express the feelings of that lit -le group of men that huddled about the shafts mouth as the cage was being hoisted from the bottom. It seemed to be hours before the bucket took form in the black hole of the shaft after the signal had been given to begin winding up. Slowly the bucket came into view. first the knot in the cable, then the bucket handle, and then the bucket, In 1t were two men-the same as had gone down what seemed to have been ages before. The same question was on the lips of every man present, yet no one spoke.
 Rencuers Climb Out
 kI.r <,r-- cuers climbed out An ominous silence -.the silence of awe and fear-reisned over every man present. No word had been spoken, yet everyone knew the yer dict. Tears cana into the eyes of men who had not cried for years, men who are not given to experience. of the tender passions of humanity. They cried-and they were not ashamed of it..
 Mir Johns eyes were red and his face was downcast The crowd parted and allowed him passage as with Assistant superintendent Fies he went apart from the crowd and tho two men held a whis- pered conversation. The news was out what everybody had known and yet dared not believe, was affirmed. The mer in the mine were dead. The little homes nestling ,lp the mountain side were father legs and brotherless and without the strong arm that won their daily bread The crowd dispersed and many or the per |left to carry the news up to the village where. dim light shining from the win. dow of a little cottage. revealed mother and her family, some white and some col ored. weeping and worrying as al women must and waiting for the wort soncernins the fate of their loved ones.