The Washington times., 1926-09-30

Mat Stulich.
Ironwood. its tears and cheers
of last night already forgotten,
has returned to its normal state
of complacency and iron mining.
There are murmurings of an in
vestigation into the collapse Of
the hanging wall of the g. Pabst
mine, but as yet no action in this
direction has been undertaken.
Families Are Happy
John B. Chapple. managing editor
of the Ashland Daily Press. has an.
nounced that he has called on State
and Federal agencies to make a
sweeping inquiry into the condition
Of the wrecked shaft.
But the men who were held
in their subterranean prison 727
feet below the surface of the ground
are not interested in Investigations.
They are resting on cots in the
Grandview Hospital telling some of
the episodes of their narrowing ex-
perience.
Jacob Luoma, the father OF nine
children, has a ready smile as he
tells of the underground prison.
II guess We could have stood it
another week." he says.
F 1T wasn't SO bad.a We were
afraid that no one would reach. US
until it was too late.
Divided Their Lunches
eve felt pretty safe. After the
first slide we got busy and blocked
up the shaft with timbers so that
no more falling rock could clog
up in it.
Some of the men had their
lunches left SO we divided them,
then Joe Anderson showed US how
to strip birch bark from some of
the log supports. I smoked it and
it wasn't so bad. We made some
tea from the bark and that helped
brace us up a lot.
''The water got into. our shoes
after a while and some of the men
got pretty cold feet. They took off
their shoes and wrapped their feet
in pieces of blankets which we found
in the safety box,
"What'll I do now? Oh, when
get feeling right I'll go back to the
Mines"
Mike Dedera, husky and beaming,
was happy to be able to see daylight
again.
ITO come UP from down there-it
was just like Jesus going up from
the EARTH" was Mikes exultant de-
scription OF the rescue.
At the side of Joseph Smith sat
his wife.
Now can sleep again." she told
her husband. "For five nights /
have walked up and down in the
house waiting for you and now
am glad you are back"
1.-THE baby did not want to go to
school" she added. "She said she
could not do her school work while
her daddy was down there
A number of the wives VINO keep
vigil at the hospital now instead of
at the mine shaft cannot speak
English.
Mrs. John Kozala, her baby in
her arms. converses in Polish with
her husband.
What does she say?" he repeats.
"She says she Is happy"
Everybody here. with the excep-
ton of the bereaved families Of the
three men who lost their lives when
the cage was hnrtIed into the bot.
tom of the G Shaft. is happy.
Thomas Trewartha, the sturdy
shift boss, who assumed charge
of the situation when the cave-iu
occurred and organized the en-
tombed miners on a military
basis. was so exhausted that he
had to be carried on a stretcher.
as did Lawrence Uren. the Saliva
ton Army miner. whose hymns
and talks helped to maintain
morale.
eve established three camps"
said Trewartha. two for sleep,
ing and one for cooking and eat
ing,
1--WE didn't have any stove, but
Joe Anderson solved that problem.
Men Made a Stove
lone OF the fellows had a to
bacco tin, and there was five
gallon can of coal oil in the tunnel.
We took the casing of dynamite
bomb, stuck 1t In the tin. which we
filled with coal oil. and using bits
of our clothing for wicks, had
pretty good sove, as well as light.
I'VE never doubted We would be
rescued. We heard the blasting
last Sunday and knew 1t was only
a matter of time. We tried to let
the fellows know we were all right
by tapping on tho pipes and once
We fired off a dynamite bomb, but
I guess they didn't hear US.
After the second day we did A
l1ot Of sleeping. When we weren't