The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-04

| Of the rescuers in bringing fresh air UT
| 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.
Rescue Crews Proceed.
One OF the oNygen-rescue crews COM
posed of Bureau of Mines men and train
| ed miners from Gary. proceeded for more
than a mile. They were headed by Gov
ernment Rescuer w. j. German
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
.. 1915. at 40 p. m After reading the
note we advanced about 80 feet until We
found tight stone stopping. This prov
ed to us that the men had bratticed
themselves in behind it. l sent a member
of the crew back to Mr.. Paul, asking
him to send stretcher crews and blankets
When they returned with the State in
spectors. We had torn down the stone
stopping and had advanced up the entry
about 20 feet further until we found a
second stone stopping and could hear
the entombed mal inside.
when We had a hole through the
second stopping about two feet square.
Inspector Holiday and two Of his party
crawled through. followed by myself.
We saw two open lights burning back in
the entry. and at once called that these
lights be extinguished. The miners were
now crawling down toward the opening
in the stopping. / ordered them to stay
back. and / crawled through SO that l
could help them through one at a time.
with the assistance of my five apparatus
men, whom | had ordered to continue
working at tearing down the stopping in
order to make the hole larger. 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 left rib.
Each man obeyed orders and acted
like a child After the last man had
come out. I counted the line of men.
which numbered forty-two. l then had
all these men take hold of hands and
placed my crew and Holidays at inter-
walls along the line to show the men light.
placed one OF the Gary men and one
of the inspectors crew at the end of the
line and told the last man to follow them
to the surface. l then went to the front
of the line and advanced as quickly as
possible to get stretcher crews organized
to carry out the men that were becoming
too weak to walk. I was very sick at
the mine from the gas, but waited at the
pit mouth until the last man had reached
the surface"
Another of the brave resources was
Vitius Killer, of the United States Coal
Company, Gary, w. Va, who accompa-
MED German. In describing his expe-
rience, he said: When we tore down
the last stopping. the first live man
came sliding headfirst down the file of
slate. When he got through he asked
me if We found the note he had placed
two days before and showed a piece of
bark in his mouth which he had broken
from the mine timbers. He had another
piece in his pocket. and he told me he
had nothing to eat for four days but
the bark. but he said ne had had plenty
of water.
Old Man COllnpses.
Coming out with the men we reached
the sixth or seventh, when old man
Whalen felt too weak to walk, and l
left one rescue man wearing a machine
to attend to him until l could send
man with a stretcher to carry him out.
Shortly after I left Whalen. an Italian
dropped out Of the line. One of the
rescuers attended to him and l admin
istered oxygen from a bottle. At this
same place the whole procession stopped
for rest, and 1 found one of the miners
sitting on the left rib. He was telling |
me that his heart was about to give |
out ! let him breathe oxygen through |
the mouthpiece of my apparatus and a |
few minutes. later he said. You have |
about saved Ele now; l feel fine After |
this he got up and commenced to walk |
put. In the meantime men with |
stretchers passed us and 1 instructed
hem about the two men who had been
left behind. Men arrived with blankets
which they distributed among the
miners. We came to about 200 feet
within the drift, mouth. There DR..
.ynott. the Bureau of Mines surgeon,
stopped the men. telling them to be
cautious with their eats not to eat
but hot soup or coffee and to
lie down and sleep after getting out.
md j. in broken Italian. told the Ital-
ans the same thing. The men got out
# the mine alright. 1t was a pathetic
light. the rescued miners hugging and
Kissing the rescuers."
Ter husha nd ahnrld oo oroupd lookip1