New Britain herald., 1915-10-04
RESCUE NINE MINERS .ENTOMBED SIX DAYS
Buried Last Monday Men Are
 Found on Top Of Chute

noon last Monday were taken out alive Sunday afternoon. They were found on top of chute in which they had crawled to, escape a flood of water that had broken from an abandoned working and caused more l than 300 feet of gangway roof to fall, shutting off means of escape. The
 men are now in the hospital at Coal dale and reports from there hold promise that all will recover. None l of them, however, was in condition ! last night to tell of their harrow ] ing experience.
 | The rescued men are Elmer Her l ring, Peter Lemmick, Joseph Mur- phy John McAndrew, Dominici Hotcheck, John Dononus, Michael ! Bodsidy, Joseph Lagunis and Charles Matchakis Two fellow mine workers. 1 William Watkins and George Holley- wood, escaped from the underground prison on Tuesday after crawling l through holes made in the falling rock and coal
 | Battled Six Days.
 The rescue was accomplished after | 200 mine workers and company off, l fcials had battled for six days against discoura ging conditions in chok-
 ed up gangway Their task was
 made more difficult by a three-foot l stream of water which flowed from
 an adjoining working and which couIt be regulated only by constant opera | tion of many pumps.
 After blasting and tearing away
 more than 300 feet of solid rock, coal
 and timbers that had been wedged
 tightly into the gangway by the fall
 of roof, rescue forces early today | ohn o1y of o1,, ,fo | No. A, down while the stream of
 water poured from the undermined source. Once more their work was ] checked by the presence of a wooden 1 platform resembling a large raft was l built above the surface of the water and further progress was made to- ward the chutes in which the men had 1 taken refuge. * Huddled on Top of Chute. At the top of chute No. 27 down 1 which the coal from upper veins is l thrown to the loading cars the pitiful l group of huddled humanity was dis covered. It was intensely cold in 1 the little space and the rescuers round the nine men, two of whom are | scarcely out of their teens, curled up 1 in a compact mass to retain the ! warmth of their bodies. All were terribly weakened by their 15O hours ] of waiting and praying, and with wan | faces uplifted and eyes blinking at l the, strain of the unfamiliar lights, the
 men in weak voices shouted greetings l to their rescuers. .-@ l With such dispatch and system had | the rescue work been carried on that
 no report of the finding of the men
 had travelled to the outside world be- fTsct nf fIo c+x
 CTS emerged from the mouth Of the
 tunnel and lifted their burden into
 the ambulances. The report quickly
 spread through the crowds of ap- proximately 5000 persons who had
 travelled from twenty miles around in
 the hope that they would witness the final scenes of the rescue work. Joy
 at the recovery of the miners mani
 fested itself in one great shout from
 the spectators
 Lived on Fish Oil.
 Several of the rescued men talked
 oh eerfully to their stretcher bearers
 while being taken from the mine and
 from then it was learned that fish
 oil and few crushed chicken bones
 had made up their principal diet until
 Thursday, when the latter "delicacy''
 gave out and the fish oil composition
 proved to be the only item on the bill of fare
 Each of the men had in his pock- cts several cakes of a fish oil sub-
 stance that is used by mine workers
 in lamps and which gives a smokeless flame. One of them, John Bononus. has for many years held a reputation Tor his enormous appetite and the size of the dinner can that is required l ntai in hic the rush of water forced in the roof, Bononus, according to the story of his companions ran with the others to chute No. 27, keeping a firm grip on the dinner pail. This probably is % what saved the men from starvation. One Miners Full Dinner Pail. T In the pail Bononus had a large \ quantity of bread, other articles of 3 food found in most miners cans, and & the greater part of roast chicken % All of the food was shared among his J companions, but the chicken was sav- 3 ed until last Not knowing how Iona H they would be held prisoners, the men 8 partook of their food in small uuan. Il titles and after carefully cutting of
 all the meat from the bones placed the latter back in the dinner pail fol
 a reserve supply
 , More than forty-eigh hours before
 their rescue, as near as the men could
 determine, the reserve supply O.
 chicken bones was passed around, ant
 then, according to the men who coult
 talk, were ground between their teetl
 and partaken of in small quantities
 For the past two days. however. the,
 | had been without food.
 , | HONOR RIT EY,S RIRTHnAY