The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-09-19
NOXIOUS
Gas CAUSE
Of DEATHS
Ruddled Bodies Found Be-
hind kakeshift Bulk
heads
INTERNATIONAL NEWS sEsv,er,

UP It's dead today in the same siIen.
manner that the lives OF forty-seven
miners were snuffed out three weeks
ago
! The work OF bringing up the
bodies OF the forty seven miners.
found dead last nigh. behind hastily
constructed bullheads. began early
today.
All persons were ordered of the
Kennedy mine. through which the
Argonaut disgorged from It's gold
lined depths the remains Of its vic
tins.
Coffins were taken below in which
TO bring uO the bodies All the dead
were found behind two bulkheads
which the entombed men had con-
structed in vain effort to save
themselves The bodies were de-
composed so as to make identihca-
tion difficult.
Not one OF lhe forty-seven had
remained alive after the first few
hours of tbs fire which broke out in
the Argonaut shaft at midnight on
August 27. They were driven from
passage TO passage by the deadly
fumes OF gas and finally made a
last stand on the 435o foot level OF
the Argonaut behind two make
shift bulkheads- And there, one by
one. they took their last breath and
died for lack OF air.
Today the mining town Of Jack
son mourned It's dead. In the relax
alton Of the grief that followed the
twenty-five days struggle to break
into the Argonaut from the Ken
nedy mine, the knowledge that the
effort was in vain. that all of the
men were already dead hours before
the first shovelful OF earth was re-
moved in the drift-had come with
an irony too bitter to be borne.
The men were alive but dying at
3 o'clock on the morning of August
%. BY o'clock they were in the
embrace of death. huddled bodies
lying still
This fact was established by two
notes. one from william Fessel, q
miner and chemist and father of a
family, who perished, and the other
from an unknown hand.
Fessers note was burned deep in
to the wood on the innermost OF the
two bulkheads which the men fran
tically had constructed to keep out
the gas. He had used the fame of
his tiny miners carbide lamp and
had scared the wood with this mes
sage:
Three A. NJ. Gas very bad We
are going to leave you. William
Fessel."
A second note. a penciiled scrawl.
was picked up on the wet floor OF
the drift. 1t read:
Three o'clock. Too much gas"
Below was q rudely scrawled hg-
ure ~" 1t appeared as IL the writ
er had endeavored to write mes
sage at o'clock, but the gas had
already overpowered the men and
they were falling into the sleep
which was to be their last.
The fact that the men died hght-
ing poison gas caused by the burn
ing of the mine shaft and in doing
so stripped their bodies OF clothing
TO stuff in the cracks of the first
crude bulkhead they constructed.
added TO the difficulty in identi1ca-
tion. The brass tags handed out TO
each workman as he goes on SHIFT
were in this way discarded to
great extent and three of the men
went on duty that fatal night three
weeks ago minus their tags The
rescue workers are sticking grimly
to their gruesome task. however.
and will do their best to make iden-
tifcation absolute.
jackson has but one consolation
today: Their sons died heroes They
died fighting They had leadership
and lived up TO the best traditions
of their calling. The manner In
which their nearly nude bodies
were found arranged in the cross
cut of the 1850 foot level behind the
double bulkhead shows they died
quietly. Experts knowing the man
ner IN which the deadly carbon
monoxide gas works, expressed be-
lief that the end was easy and quick
once the gas reached them
one woman. a relative OF one of
the entombed miners. to whom news
of their fate was too much. attempt
ed suicide by poisoning. Prompt
action by friends in securing ply
sician probably will save her life.
Compensation IN sur a n c will
probably reach the WIDOWS and heirs
of the miners tomorrow 1t will be
the hrst installment representing
proportion of their earnings during
the three weeks their fate was un-
l,nown-about SIS per man. Later
the state industrial accident COM
mission will award death compen-
sation.
Gas conditions were reported TO
have delayed the work Of sackins
the bodies and the possibility exist
ed that all might no. be brought 10
the surface until tonight. It was
ranorted some officials favored hold
ing all of the bodies underground
until they could be brought up to-
night.
Definite burial plans have not
announced although it is understood
the interment will be handled by
the mining company under the jur-
addiction of tke state health author
tiles.
The possibility of both state and
federal investigation OF the disaster
doomed today with the receipt oy
B. o. Pickard, head OF the United
states bureau of mines rescue crew,
of a telegram from DR.. II. Foster
Balm. director of the United States
bureau of mines, in which he De
cIared the safety codes prescribed
by the laws of many states are in i
adequate Clarence Jarvis, rep-e-