Illinois (mining) disaster all but forgotten

[benburch]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0601050075jan05,1,348086.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Illinois disaster all but forgotten
1909 coal mine blaze killed 259 men, boys

By Ted Gregory
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 5, 2006

CHERRY, Ill. -- Watching TV, Burton "Bill" Waite saw news of the coal mine explosion in a tiny, almost anonymous town in West Virginia. He remembered his grandfather and another tiny, almost anonymous town in Illinois.

"The first thing I thought of was the disaster that happened here," Waite, 69, a grandfather of seven, said Wednesday. "It brought back memories of that and all the anxiety it caused the loved ones."

In truth, the November 1909 fire in the Cherry Mine has been largely forgotten. Even Waite, whose grandfather miraculously survived for eight days underground, acknowledged he rarely thinks about it.

<SNIP>

More at link.

There is a recent book about this disaster; Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, by Karen Tintori <-- Link to Barnes & Noble

[displacedtexan]

1. Most people have forgotten Mother Jones, too.

They think "Mother Jones" is just the name of a magazine.