The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-04-02

4 CtOOu OuNoluN VI tiC WIN
map of the interior in their hands
and studied IL intently. They plan
ned like the general staff OF an arm,
during battle. Decisions were mad,
! quickly and then the rescuers entered
All men with experience at such ca
tastrophes know the folly OF haste
| they have also learned that few
trained rescuers cannot possibly saw,
more than 100 entombed men from
death unless they have the assist
ance of volunteers. Carrying their
apparatus in their hands. the rescu.
ers entered with volunteers. having
with them a canary bird in a cage
! Everybody watched for the canary
for it is known that as long as the
bird is able to sit upon his perch
there is no danger to the men from
gas poisoning, the canary being much
more sensitive to gas than men. They
proceeded until the bird began to
show signs of distress. and at this
point the volunteers without breath
ing apparatus retreated until they
were in a safe atmosphere. the train
ed rescuers putting on their appara-
tus and pressing forward.
The rescuers made three different
crews, one of them exploring the
mine; the second remaining at the
base with the volunteers to be ready
for an emergency and the third crew
put to bod in order to be able to re-
lieve the first crew, as the men wear
ing the artificial breathing appara-
tus can work but two hours at a
time. This work proceeded night
and day, twenty-fours hours until
Saturday morning. the rescuers wear
ing the oxygen-breathing apparatus
in advance of the volunteers without
apparatus. The continued eXplora-
tion by the trained rescuers at that
time developed that the main entry
had little wreckage and was in fair
iy good condition. This led Chief
State Inspector Henry to order the
reversal of the air current to permit
the use of this entry. 1t was at this
point that five weary and famished
miners stumbled against James W.
Paul, the head OF the Bureau of
Mine rescue service. who was hut
short distance in the mine al the
time. The five men were on their
way out. They explained that after
the explosion they had vailed them
selves in with the idea OF keeping the
poisonous gases from reaching them.
As soon as the air had cleared
through the efforts of the rescuers in
bringing fresh air up to where they
had barricaded themselves, they made
their way out. The men told Paul
that no others were alive in that
part of the mine. but the work of
the rescuers was redoubled.
One of the oxygen-rescue crews
OF Bureau OF Mines men
and trained miners from Gary, West
Virginia. proceeded for more than
mile with their apparatus under Or
ders from Paul They were headed
by Government Rescuer w. J. Ger
man. Mr.. Paul gave orders to take
my crew straight to ten left" says
German. when we reached there we
found a note in the main entry which
read, 'Forty-two men alive in ten
left, March 5. 1915, at 4:S0 p. m
After reading the note we advanced
about $50 feet until we found tight
stone stopping. This proved to us
that the men had bratticed them
selves in behind it. l sent a men,
Der of the crew back to Mr.. Paul
asking him to send stretcher crews
and blankets. When they returned
with the state inspectors, we had
torn down the stone stopping and
had advanced up the entry about 200
feet further until we found a second
stone stopping and could hear the
entomed men inside. When we had
4 hole through the second stopping
about two feet square, Inspector Hol-
iday and two of his party crawled
through so that l could help them
through one at a time, with the as
,istance of my five apparatus men,
whom l had ordered to continue
at tearing down the stop
ping in order to make the hole larg-
er. l saw that the air had cleared
quite considerably and helped the
men through the hole and ordered
each man to sit down close to the
oft rib. Each man obeyed orders
md acted like a child. After the
asst man had come out, l counted
he line of men which numbered
orty-two. / then had all these men
AXE hold OF hands and placed my
rev and Holidays at intervals
Ilong the line TO show the men light.
placed one of the Gary men and
me of the inspectOr's crew at the |