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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 16, 1909
Cherry, Illinois – Horror, Heroism and Heartbreak at Scene of Great Disaster.
Heartbreaking Scene at Cherry Mine Fire.
At the entrance of the shaft a scene was enacted such as is witnessed only at a disaster of this kind. Hundreds of screaming women, weeping children and frantic but helpless men crowded about the place.
A few survivors were surrounded by groups of the women, and the answers of these men to the shrieked inquiries only added to the terror of the women. Almost to a man the survivors declared that there was no hope for those still in the mine. Nearly two hundred of the men imprisoned, they declared, were in the third vein, the only entrance to which was from the second vein, almost five hundred feet from the main shaft of the pit.
[Photograph added.]
From the New York Tribune of November 14, 1909:
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Cherry, Ill., Nov. 13.-Officials of the St. Paul Coal Company mine, where an explosion occurred to-day, say that four hundred men are dead in the mine. Twelve bodies have been taken out. Five of these were men not employed in the mine, who gave their lives in a futile effort to save the imprisoned workers.
Mine Superintendent James Steele declared five hours after the explosion that it was almost impossible that any of those still imprisoned could have escaped death.
The mine had a day shift of 484 men. Of these, fifty left at noon. Twenty-five or more escaped after the fire broke out. All the others are believed to be dead.
The entrance to the mine has been sealed up in the hope of checking the flames. The building above the pit entrance was blown up to permit this. Despite the frantic efforts of the officials and the scores of volunteer assistants in the little town of Cherry, it seemed assured at 6 o’clock that only bodies would be taken from the mine.
Until to-morrow morning, when th« covering will be removed and rescuers will endeavor to penetrate the smoke and gas choked shaft and veins the fate of the men inside cannot be learned.
The fire causing the explosion, which may prove one of the greatest tragedies in the lists of mine horrors, had as origin, almost trivial. A pile of hay, allowed to smoulder too long, finally ignited the timbers of the mine, and before the workers realized their danger the mine was filled with smoke, gases and flames, and all exit was impossible.
FIVE HEROES GAVE THEIR LIVES.
Heroism such as is rarely exhibited was shown by officials of the mine and residents of the town of Cherry. These men, who were outside the mine when the fire originated, contributed five to the list of twelve known dead.
Alexander Nerberg, a pit man, gave his life unhesitatingly in a futile effort to save those of his comrades who risked their lives with him. Standing at the bottom of the shaft he carried th« bodies of four men into the cage, the only way of escape. As the last was carried in he fell across the body.
He was dead, as were all his companions, when the cage was lifted to the top.
Those who had gone into the pit with him were John Bundy, the mine superintendent, John Flood, and Isaac Lewis, a merchant of Cherry, and Dominic Fonenti. Dr. W. Howe, a physician of the city, who had sought to go with the men when they descended in the cage, had been thrust out by Bundy, who exclaimed: “They will need you at the top if we get any one out! No risking your life down here!”
The physician vainly sought to resuscitate the men when they were carried to him a few minutes later. He said they had died from suffocation.
SCENE AT THE SHAFT.
At the entrance of the shaft a scene was enacted such as is witnessed only at a disaster of this kind. Hundreds of screaming women, weeping children and frantic but helpless men crowded about the place.
A few survivors were surrounded by groups of the women, and the answers of these men to the shrieked inquiries only added to the terror of the women. Almost to a man the survivors declared that there was no hope for those still in the mine. Nearly two hundred of the men imprisoned, they declared, were in the third vein, the only entrance to which was from the second vein, almost five hundred feet from the main shaft of the pit.
When the extent of the fire was realized, the officials saw that ordinary measures were ineffectual. The fire had burned away the timbers of the shaft, and the flames soon reached the escape shaft. A few minutes later the fan which supplied air to the shaft collapsed and tumbled through the opening.
The flames then swept on to the month of the pit, where they were carried to the surface, forcing back all those who ventured near. The officials knew that the fire must be eating its way back into the shaft, and then the measure of sealing the mouth of the pit was adopted…..
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/6
New-York Tribune
(New York, New York)
-Nov 14, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1909-11-14/ed-1/seq-1/
IMAGE
Cherry Mine Disaster, Crowd on Nov 13, FP Buck p49, 1910
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=H4Lo1RptHXcC&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA48-IA1
See also:
Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1909_Cherry_Mine_disaster
The Cherry Mine Disaster
-by F. P. Buck
Chicago, 1910
https://books.google.com/books?id=H4Lo1RptHXcC
Great Cherry Coal Mine Disaster
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
St. Paul No. 2 Mine Fire
Cherry, Bureau County, Illinois
November 13, 1909
No. Killed – 259
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/cherry.htm
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Song re Cherry Mine Fire by Ray Tutaj, Jr: “Black Diamonds”
Lyrics
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/MP3/lyrics/lyrics_black_diamonds.htm
Audio
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/MP3/Black_Diamonds_MP3_by_Ray_Tutaj_Jr.mp3
Cherry Mine Disaster Video by Ray Tutaj Jr.