The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-21
MINE RESCUE WORK IS MOST PER|L0US Men Take Daring Chances
 to Save Others FATALITIES ARE MANY Rescuers Themselves Are Frequently Overcome By the Deadly Gases.
 Some Examples in Recent
 Mine Explosions
FATALITIES ARE MANY

Washington, April. 2o-(special.) 1.-The
 most hazardous occupation known to
 man is that of life saver in the service of
 the United States Bureau of Mines. It is
 popularly supposed that deep sea diving
 has the highest mortality rate among all | the dangerous oallings, but 1t is not to be compared with rescue work. In the first year of this service two out of the a4 experienced miners employed by the bu- l reau in this desperate work have given 1 their lives while attempting to save oth- CTS. Seven others have fallen uncon- | scious in the poisonous vapors of the
 miries and have been rescued only after
 the most heroic efforts of their com
 rades, and then resuscitated by the use of the modern oxygen apparatus in the
 skilful hands of the employees of the bu- reau.
 l Statisticians have a cold. calculating method of finding the comparative risk l of the different industries and they us ually figureson the number of men killed per 1000 employed in a years time. On thlG basis the mortality rate among Bu- reau of Mines rescuers is 80 in 1000 men tHt Iib htol otatii iolc huonl lO any ut- cupation.
 With such fearful record before
 them it might be thought that miners would hesitate about engaging in such a business, but this is not the case. Min CTS are as brave a body of men as can be found in any industry, and those who have been trained in rescue work by the
 Bureau of Mines and have sought em- ployment as life savers are imbued with 10 hof yod ff. great work, which promises within a few years to materially reduce the disgrace full death rate in American mines. That the life savers have made a good beginning is shown in the records of the Bureau of Mines. In the period of one year 40 entombed miners have been res cued directly through the efforts of the bureaus men and perhaps as many more by individual miners who were trained in rescue work by the Bureau of Mines Best of all. the federal rescuers have stopped the death roll among volunteer life savers at disasters. In the past 1t is said that a rescuer has given up his life for every man saved. Forty rescuers were killed at Hanna, Wyo., two years ago, trying to save IA entombed men. At the Cherry mine fire in Illinois, F volun- teers who went into the mine were brought up on the cage lifeless.
 Since the Bureau of Mines took tip this great kork. but one volunteer rescuer In the last eight or ten disasters has lost his life. and this was a hero in Colorado who loaned his helmet to a dying miner The latter was saved but the rescuer was found dead where he had given up his helmet.
 In the accomplishment of this. as said before, the Bureau of Mines has had two martyrs-Joseph Evans of Wilkes-Barre
 Pa, at the Pancoast colliery fire, Throop, Pa, April ', 1911, and John Terrell, Els worth, Pa, at a fire in the Cherry Val l ley mine, Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, January 19. 1912. Evans, who had | been an experienced miner and mine fore
 man for years, had been trained by the Bureau of Mines and had charge of the
 mine rescue car that responded to the call for aid. He lost his life while press ing forward in the suffocating gases to locate entombed miners and bring them to place of safety All indications show that Evans died from over exertion in his heroic efforts to save the lives of men,
 some of whom he had known personally having worked as a miner in that sec ton of the coal fields.
 Terrell was exploring. a burning mine
 with the idea of determining whether it was safe for the miners to enter when he met death. He had gone in the mine with another federal rescuer who had be- come affected by the gases and who had told Terrell he intended to get to the fresh air as soon as possible The sec ond rescuer staggered fantng out of the mine, but Terrell failed to follow as he had promised Another bureau rescuer, alarmed at the failure of Terrell to ap- pear, went in search of him.. Later he returned and fen unconscious. Still an other rescuer endeavored to find Terrell and barely succeeded in reaching the sur face before he became unconscious. A second crew from the Bureau of Mines respondedN and Ferrell's body was re- covered From its location 1t is assumed that Terrell. in the darkness. having failed to note his comrade pass on the way out of the mine, went in search of him. Thus Terrell gave up his life en- deavoring to save another.
 At the Banner mine. Littleton. Ala. where a serious explosion took place. J. J. Rutledge. mining engineer of the bu- reau, and Rescuer John Key two phy- sioians, two mine officials and two rep resentatives of powder companies were caught without helmets is, a body of gas and all became unconscious. Other res cuers from the bureau. assisted by num- Der of brave volunteers. carried the nn- conscious men from the mine and re- vived them after hours of work with a special oxygen apparatus which the bu- reau carries for such purposes. The res cue was work of the most desperate sort and required the highest degree of courage, but it is of such stuff that the heroes of the Bureau of Mines and the average miner of the United States are made
 Necessity