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Monday Evening, November 22, 1909
NO MORE RESCUES AT CHERRY MINE Cherry, Ill., Nov 22 - Two exploring parties today found indications which lead them to believe that there area a large number of living men still in the mine. The searchers at 3 a.m. were able to pass far into the galleries and their hope springs from the fact that where they expected to find a large number of dead, none were found. Nearly two hundred men are still unaccounted for, dead or alive. Their bodies have not been found, nor, of course, have they been seen alive. RUMORS Rumors of hearing signals of living miners from the east gallery spread about the town today and were promptly discredited by mine officials. No indication, save the absence of dead from the east gallery, has pointed to the existence of other living men. DIED OF GRIEF Dr. L. H. Howe visited today all the survivors taken from the mine yesterday, and reported them gradually working toward recovery. Mrs. Charles Dovan, whose son still remains in the mine, died today of grief.
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Cherry Coal Mine Office |
NOT ONE MORE Day of Almost Fruitless Endeavor Casts Another Pall. Cherry, Nov. 22 - Alive or dead, 198 men remained down in the St. Paul mine last night. Following the rescue of 21 men Saturday, not a survivor was brought up yesterday. A few more bodies were brought up to the surface, making the total ninety-two. While enormous Sunday crowds thronged the village and seriously hampered the work of rescue by their mere presence around the shaft, determined men, down in the depths, were working feverishly to reach the far corners of the corridors, now cut off by flame or deadly fire-damp. There is still hope that some of the entombed men have walled themselves in and remain alive. But every hour's delay now adds to the improbability of their being saved. |
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Dozens of bodies are in sight in the corridors that have been reached. But the concern of the workers is with the living and not the dead. No man can be spared to bring up bodies. Meanwhile black despair has settled again over the village in which Saturday hope was born anew. As hour after hour passes and no more rescues are made, the wives and children of the entombed men are breaking down under the strain. In a score of homes only is there happiness. CAME UP HOPELESS Relays of eager miners succeeded those whose strength failed in the pit. Those who staggered from the pit mouth were surrounded instantly and a babel of questions hurled at them. "We can see bodies. There are piles of them. They're dead boys: all dead." was the reply of the first, and those who followed gave no more cheering answers. "But they could be living back there, they could be alive, Tom, couldn't they?" came a voice from the group about one. "No chance," began the miner, then paused as he saw the trembling hands of the old man who had pressed to his side. "Why sure, didn't the others come out?" was the quick reply, "Don't you worry. He'll be up soon."
MARTIAL LAW RUMOR But it is Again Denied and Branded Silly Chatter Cherry, Nov. 22 - A rumor was circulated yesterday that the town would be put under martial law. However, Sheriff Skoglund last night denied absolutely that there was any possibility of the town being put under martial law. "Cherry," he said "can only be put under martial law by the governor, and he will not act until the sherif reports that the situation is beyond his control. We are satisfied with the way things are going now. We have the situation well in hand." TROUBLE AMONG RESCUERS Early in the morning, after a night's work in the depths of the mine, three of the rescuers are said to have come to the surface and announced that they would do nothing more until the plan of attack going on below had been changed. The places of these men were quickly filled, but from then on there came frequent reports of trouble in the galleries below. Yesterday, as far as results were apparent on the surface, little was accomplished. Ten bodies were brought to the upper air, but no living men were found and apparently no well-directed effort was being made to find them. HEAR RAPPINGS? It is claimed by some of the men who are toiling underground that rappings have been heard from distant pockets, but that when they attempted to go in the direction of the supposed signals they were stopped by their superiors. These reports, of course, may be founded on nothing more substantial than the idle mouthings of dissatisfied men, but they have become so frequent and have been discussed so seriously by officials who really have the responsibility on their shoulders that there has sprung up a current belief that there may be something in them. Friction among the officials had its origin some days ago when a captain of the militia clashed with an official of the coal company, with the result that the latter was ordered outside the cordon that surrounded his own works. QUARREL WHILE MEN DIE? Since then living men have been brought to the surface in the face of the fact that all of the state experts had pronounced them dead days before. This has increased both the popular dissatisfaction and the dissatisfaction of the men who are in touch with what is going on below. The charge is made that there is a conflict in authority, which is lessoning the chances of the men who may be fighting the black damp in sealed-up corridors. SAVED THEMSELVES It is pointed out that the twenty men who had come up alive virtually saved their own lives and that all the rescuers did was to bring them up to the surface after they had fought their way to safety. Some of th firemen charge openly that they could penetrate into unexplored corridors if they wer permitted by their superiors to do so, but that they are being held back and kept at work bracing up the walls and putting in supports. UTMOST CAUTION NEEDED It is said on behalf of those in charge of the work in the mine that everything is being done for the entombed men that science or good judgment can suggest. It is pointed out that fires are still burning below and that the workers must proceed with the utmost caution in order that a new conflagration like that of last Sunday may not be started. The men, it is urged, are being kept busy tearing away falls of coal and rock that block the free circulation of air. One fan is now in operation and the air which it is sending down into the mine is beating back the black damp faster than any number of rescuers, rushing headlong through the drifts, could do. STILL FEAR RIOTING One thing that gave rise to much comment yesterday was the fact that so few bodies have been taken up. It has been stated repeatedly that there are a number of dead men lying in the galleries and that no effort has been made for forty-eight hours to take them up. One reason given for leaving the bodies below was that it was thought dangerous to take them out of the mine when so large a crowd was gathered to watch the proceedings. The fear of a riot is not dead here by any means.
ARE AFTER PROOF Miners' Representatives Will Try to Fix Responsibility on Company Cherry, Nov. 22 - Determined definitely to fix responsibility for the mine disaster, and declaring that a grand jury probe will probably be demanded, Duncan McDonald, president of the United Mine Workers of Illinois, and Attorney Seymour Stedman, counsel from Chicago, yesterday admitted that they were attempting to uncover legal proof of the St. Paul Mine Company's alleged failure to use reasonable precautions for safety of the men in the Cherry mine. The two state representatives in this, the seventh legislative district, W. J. McGuire of Kewanee and William M. Scanlan of Peru, each of whom is closely in touch with the labor element, are urging Governor Deneen to aid in fixing responsibility. TRY TO SIDESTEP BLAME "There is no question but that certain persons are attempting to sidestep blame." said Representative Scanlan, "But I can't say what I think until all the facts develop. Mr. McGuire and I are anxious to do all we can to aid the miners and to get a hearing of the charges which they make against the company. This must be done." The rescue of survivors, who will be able to give positive testimony as to all that occurred just previous to the fire, is declared by state federation officers to strengthen the charges of alleged negligence on the part of the coal company. The men who were brought out alive were questioned by legal representatives of the miner's organization, and before Sunday night considerable data had been obtained from them. USED OPEN TORCHES It is said that the open objective point of attack will be the use of open torches in the mule stables instead of electric lights, which had been used previous to the breakdown in the electric equipment. "There is no law to force an employer to use the most improved and safest machinery." continued Attorney Stedman. "He is required only to use the machinery which is reasonably safe. But the use of open torches in a chamber filled with inflammable material like hay, and where the danger was recognized by the common use of electric lights, raises the question whether the coal company's manager's action could be termed reasonably safe. It is a good subject for a grand jury investigation." OPPOSED LEGISLATION Duncan McDonald scored the coal mine manager's for opposing proposed legislation which would prevent such disasters. Both Mr. McDonald and Attorney Stedman are keeping close eye on the activities of the state's attorney, sheriff and coroner. Repeated rumors that there might be an attempt to "whitewash" the coal company started the mine worker's representatives to investigate.
SEEK WIVES OF WIDOWS Letters Received Offer Home Inducements to Bereaved Women Cherry, Nov. 22 - Since the news of the Cherry mine horror has been flashed across the country various persons in an official capacity or semi-official capacity here have received letters from men desiring to marry women widowed by the fire. Duncan McDonald, state president fo the United Mine Workers has a letter from an eastern man, a machinist, who desires Mr. McDonald to select a wife for him. Enclosed in the letter are photographs of the machinist and his machine shop. Mr. McDonald refuses to disclose the sender's name or address. Oneida, Kan., Nov. 17 - To Mr. Marshall of Cherry, Ill. "If you will pick out a widow with two or three children that are good looking and smart children and their mother is an American and she can sing so as her children can be learned to sing and play, I would take them if she will do the work, and I haven't any family and love children. I have a good house and 160 acres farm, and if she will do what is right, I'll send the children to school, and clothe her and her children, treat them all just like they were my own and love her, too. I want her for companionship and help me do the work. We own our own farm and would give a deserving woman a good home. I am not particular about the ages of the children, only would like for one to be 10 or 12 years old, so they could milk two or three cows. We only milk one now but with that much family we would have to have more milk and butter. So give one of them a chance for a good home. We have an eight-room house; dining room is 14 by 20. So we would get along fine. I hope to get a favorable reply." From "H. SANFORD"
TAKING OUT BODIES Cherry, Ill., Nov. 22 - The work of taking out the thirty-one bodies first seen by the rescuers yesterday began this afternoon. Reports that many bodies are still warm and that death had occurred only a few hour before were denied by those who found them. Many of the bodies were badley decomposed.
WROTE WILLS Some Pathetic Letters Were Written by the Miners Facing Horrible Death Cherry, Nov. 22 - Nearly everyone of the twenty miners rescued wrote a will while imprisoned in the mine. Most of the married men scribbled letters to their wives. Some of these human documents are pathetic, even in their illiteracy. There is, for instance the case of John Lorimer, a Scotsman John Lorimer Lorrimer came to this country with his young wife. They had been married three years and the first warm love of their honeymoon has not yet cooled. Both are Scotch Presbyterian. On Sunday, when the mine had not been opened up, Mrs. Lorimer walked the streets in a daze. Her friends tried to comfort her, but she did not seem to hear them. She believed her husband was dead and yet there was always in her mind the torturing thought that perhaps, he might be lying by the black depths of the mine dying by inches. On that day Lorimer, by the light of his cap lamp, wrote the following letter on a slip of note paper. "Dear Wife, I am still living yet this is 1 o'clock Sunday morning, but we have poor hope, as the black damp is getting the best of us. There are twenty-one of us all together here. Dear Wife, don't grieve, we will meet again. God bless you and believe in Him. He will take care of you. I guess we will meet in a better land. When you get over this, let them know at home. That is all dear. God Bless you. Your loving Husband. "Oh." said Mrs. Lorimer today as she stroked her husband's wasted face. "I didn't think last Sunday that this Sunday I would see my John alive again." "Do you intend to let him go back into the mine again?" she was asked. "Oh I suppose I must," she replied, "but I would work my hands to the bone if he would give mining up." JOY AND GRIEF There was joy and grief at the home of Mrs. Guille Sorbelli when her youngest brother, Buonfilio Rugeri, came out alive. Buonfilio is 18 years old. He has two brothers, Gaetano and Francesco Rugeri, and a brother-in-law, his sister's husband, down in the shaft. Buonfilio is small for his age and his seven days without food has left him only a shadow of what he was. The terror of the mine is written over his face. He can only speak of his experience now with shudders. "Go back?" he said today. "Never. Better to starve up here in the sun than die slowly down there in the darkness." Among the other letters were four written by the Pigatta brothers, Giocoma and Salvatore. On the back of one was written: "We desire bands at our funeral." |
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