The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-29
BY JOHN B. CHAPPLE.
Especial to The Daily Worker)

BY JOHN B. CHAPPLE.
Especial to The Daily Worker)
IRoNWooD, Mich, Sept. 27-Thres
mutllated bodies of workers who went
hurtllng for a half mile In a steel
cage to the bottom Of the G shaft Of
the Pabst mine Of the oliver mining
properties have been recovered, ano
43 other workers, miners on the eighth
level, are entombed with practically
no hope Of their recovery, as the no
suit Of cavern of the c shaft Fri
day.
The shaft was not sufficiently rein
forced to withstand the effect of re-
cent rains, and the result was tho
worst mining accident in the history
of the Gogebic range.
No officials are among the men
trapped nthe drift at the eighth level,
breathing the choking blasting pow,
der and gas damp. If they are still
alive at all. They were all work
ers-mostly Firms, and not regarded
as of much account by the steel mag
mates who profit from their sweating
labors in the bowels Of the earth.
The three men who were in the
cage when the cavern occurred were
dug out Of the dirt inside the tele-
scoped cage driven into the ground
at the bottom of the shaft. Tho
safety dogs" which are supposed to
keep such a thing from happening
did not prevent it, and the men took
the death plunge when the cable snap
ped. When the bodies were finally
recovered, miners tried to tell who
the men were by examining the boots.
Two Exits to Each Drift.
There are supposed to be two exits
to every drift, but the emergency had
not been used for years, miners re.
ported, and when the men on the
eighth level were cut of by the shaft
cave-in, there was no way out.
Rescue squads who started up from
the 26th level found the emergency
way was blocked by a mass of de-
bris thru which they dared not dig
for fear of fresh cave-in which
would trap still more workers.
Shaft Gazing In.
Workers trying to reach the en-
tombed men from the surface had
only got down $50 feet by Sunday, and
dared not go farther because the
shaft was still caving in at intervals.
From this point to where the 43 men
are trapped it is $50 feet.
When the cavern came the air and
water pipes and light and telephone
lines we're all cut of, and there is
no communication. Their carbide
lamps are good for only few hours,
the air filed with blasting powder
fumes and gas damp, and with
small supply of water, the trapped
workers are once more sacrificed to
steel industry profits.
The Inspired Press.
In the face of what the miners who
are working in G shaft say, the min
ing officials, who don't know because
they haven't been there, issue reports
thru the capitalist newspaper of Iron
wood that the entombed men are
perfectly safe"
In the next breath they admit that
they cannot hazard a guess as to
how long a period will elapse before
they are brot to the surface
The bodies Of the three recovered
were taken out by going underground
! from G shaft to II shaft and then to
the surface, but no one can get within
hundreds of feet of the entombed
men. Acetylene torches were used
to cut thru the crushed steel that
held the bodies Of the workers in the
cage.
"Dlffieult to Explain
The mining officials say the cave-in
is difficult to explain and the news
paper that jumps when the strings
are pulled talks about the morbid
crowd" at the shaft but says nothing
about the wives waiting in the biting
wind for news from below.
Men and women nuddled in the chill
wind all thru the night, faces haggard
under the lights as they listened to
the rumble of the cables and waited
for the cage to bring rescue squads
to the top. The watchers strained
forward each time the cage appeared
and the miners stepped out, their car
bide lamps, set atop their yellow oil
skin hats, still aglow.
NerVe-Shattered Workers.
In the change house we~e exhaust.
ed workers, strewn on the floor. faces
and hair red with ore as the floor
next to them is red. In the shanty
were still other workers, nerves shat
tered so that they could not sleep,
talking in low tones. Hundreds and
hundreds Of lockers In the big room