The Sentinel=record., 1915-04-04


 memory completely away from every thing else in the world
 When the story of the rescue work reached Secretary of the Interior Lane who has direct supervision over the Bureau of Mines, he was
 moved to say:
 "Out of the gloom of such a catas-
 trophe, involving. as it appears, more than loo human lives. the saving Of forty-seyen men comes almost as benediction am proud of the brave fellows from the Bureau of Mines, who have been working heroically
 for seyeral days to bring about tlis cousummation. am equally proud of their associates who had been | trained in modern rescue methods by
 our men. For years it had been demonstrated that the old methods of rescue work not only did not save lives. but even cost lives of many i brave volunteers. The oxygen hel-
 nets worn by the trained rescuers. which permitted them to penetrat parts of the mine filled with poison ous gases where no other human be, ! ing could go, are undoubtedly respon- sible for the saving of the miners. | The bureaus men, always in advance of the volunteers, restored the ven l tilatiou in the mine, thus permitting | the volunteers to advance. Presum- ably the entombed men had protect ed themselves from the deadly gases by the erection Of temporary doors. 1 Then when trained rescuers reached them the way out of the mine was | comparatively easy, as it had been | restored to normal conditions as the rescuers proceeded. l have wired to
 the rescuers my heartfelt apprecia-
 ton of their heroic efforts in saving these lives
 l There are throughout the country Ieight specially fitted rescue cars be- longing to the bureau which respond at once with their crews to the call | for assistance In addition there are six rescue stations in the coal fields which send trained rescuers to the l scene of disaster. And when the res
 cuers are not busy at a disaster they are visiting the mining camps and ! training the miners in the use Of the | artificial breathing apparatus so that ! the miners themselves become capa- | be rescuers. It was this training or | other miners by the Bureau of Mines | that played a large part in the res | cue of the entombed men at Layland, | for eleven of the total crew of Sey- | enteen trained rescuers were volun- 1 taers from the mines of the United
 States Coal Company at Cary, W. Va The United States is not alone u l this aid to the miners for the states | themselves have an organization of state inspectors, whose duty it is to
 take charge at mine disasters, the | Bureau of Mines rescders working
 under the general direction of ila state officials.
 The Bureau of Mines rescuers, to- gather with other rescuers trained by | them. have saved from death since the inauguration of the bureau in 1910, several hundred lives, the bu reaus own men having rescued fully l l5O. These results are in marked
 contrast to the haphazard methods
 that were in use prior to the intro duction of the experimenting ap paratus into this country by Dr
 Holmes, director of the bureau, Then it was frequent occurrence that brave. but unprotected rescuers rush ed into the mines following explo | sions, only to be killed at once by | the deadly gases. It is pointed out that at Hanna, Wyo., eight or nine | years ago, l6 men were entombed in | a mine and 40 other miners rushed
 in to rescue them. the result belnl 1 that the eutombed men and the res l cuers too were killed. 1t was tn6
 same at the Cherry. Ill., mine disaster
 just few years ago. Before tho trained ,escuers had time to arrive seven brave volunteers entered th'
 mine cage only 10 be brought up iron | the bottom of the shaft dead lev minutes later It was at this sam disaster. however, that the trained rfscuers from the Bureau of Mine
 brought % men alive to the surface
 after they had besn entOmbed io seven days The bureau itself ha' in it's entire experience lost thre'
 brave rescuegs. martyrs to tha cause land but the other day another heI
 meted rescuer. belonging to a mininl
 company at Price, Utah, died iron
 exhaustion du, his strenuous work
 Since the Bureau of Mines starte
 its systematic efforts at rescue worE
 each disaster that occurred in thi
 country has seen the plans of tn
 bureau carried out with greater peI
 lection, until with tne previous expo
 rience behind them, the bureaus re'
 cuers. together with other men trair
 ed by the bureau on March 6, su'
 ceeded in bringing tha 47 men troi
 the mine at Layland, W. Va.
 A movement has been started D
 the American Mine Safety Assocl'
 ton to givefevery man who partic
 pated in the rescue work gol
 medal. It is said that time and tim
 again acts of personal heroism on th