Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-03-17
DISASTER ON
IRON RANGE
TWENTY TRACK LAYERS CAUGHT
IN PIT ~ cAvE.lN-oNLY
A FEW ESCAPE.
80 BURIED IN THE AVALANCHE
Efforts Of Rescue Party-sec-
ond Disaster at
Gilbert.

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ore, rock, earth, ice and snow shot
down upon 20 track layers working ir
the Norman open-pit mine here. Only
! IA escaped the avalanche and three
Of these are in hospital suffering
from, injuries that are likely to prove
fatal.
Ole johnson, foreman of one of the
three changes of men that were caught
by the vast mass, is the only one OF
the IA whose injuries are not dan
gerous. He was taken to the hospital
suffering from severe conclusions of
the head.
An army of men with shovels set to
work desperately to recover the bod,
ies. The work was pursued under ex.
treme difficulties. The men prayed
for the daylight to aid them, while
many of the crowd on the embankment
overlooking the site Of the catastrophe
dreaded to have the dawn come. for it
would show them broken and manned
bodies the sight of which would
change their stolid grief to hysterical
lamentations.
Wives and children Of the buried
men watched the work of the rescuers,
sobbing and wringing their hands.
Only Four Had Chance.
Only the four men near the outer
edge had . chance to run. So far as
can be ascertained all the men caught
in the slide were Firms and Austrians.
There is much confusion and the mine
oflcials are maintaining SO strict a
silence that the name of but one could
be learned-P Paulson, wtdower,
who leaves seven children. His wife
died month ago.
The pit was 1875 feet deep and Is
feet wide and the rock and ore and
earth filled this bowl to the depth of
so feet and shot out it's rim $50 feet.
The Norman employs about 1000
men when running to capacity. Just
ut this time, however, several hundred
are employed working in night and day
shifts.
Buried Miners Reached by Pipe.
Gilbert, Minn., March 13. - Captain
Benny and three miners were en-
tombed $50 feet down in the Elba
mine at Elba location, just outside of
the village. Through an iron pipe
three inches in diameter air was trans
mitted to them and continued wrap
pings upon this pipe encouraged the
rescuing parties to believe that the
four might to reached.
Benny and his companions were
caught on the first level by cave-in
of ore and rock. The mass piled up
many feet high. There was fifth
man in the party and he Just missed
being walled up Although he escaped,
It was not without painful injuries.
He reached the shaft almost in state
of collapse and told what had hap
pened.
In remarkably short time scores Of
miners were crowded about eager to
help in the work of rescue. The very
first move was the driving through OF
the big iron pipe, which gave air to
the prisoners.
Almost instantly they began to tap
on the pipe. There were answering
taps from the mouth of the level and
as rescuing parties Of eight to ten
men shoveled away hour after hour
the tapping from the four men was
kept up necessarily.
The rescue work was necessarily
slow but confidence was expressed
that the men would hold out. The
Elba mine employs about 200 men
when running full capacity. 1t is in
charge of Superintendent Chinn and
is owned by Pickands, Mather & Com.
pany of Cleveland.
Capt. Benny Rescued; May Die.
Captain Benny was rescued alive and
taken to his home.
The two miners. however, met what
must have been instant death as their
bodies were bruised and crushed in
a horrible shape. That Captain Ben
ny is still alive is considered mar
vel after receiving the injuries which
he did and undergoing the terrible or
deal in the death trap for so many
hours. His condition is reported as
extremely critical and it would &C.
casion no surprise should he succumb.
William J. Stone. an Englishman,
and Joseph Bovich, an Austrian. are
the men who lost their lives. Stone
vas single man, aged 2S years. He
was native of Cornwall, England,
and had been in America only about
\ year. Bovich was about IS years
Did. He leaves a wife and five chill.
dren.
Mrs. Roosevelt on Way West.
Chicago, March 11-Mrs Theodore