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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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The Bemidji Daily Pioneer
Bemidji, MN
September 24. 1907


                              FOURTEEN MEN DEAD
                              
                         Three Others Fatally Hurt in  
                            Michigan Mine Disaster
                            
                              CAGE DROPS 700 FEET
                              
                 Accident is Caused by the Breaking of a
                   Steel Cable Attached to the Lift and
                   Every Occupant is Killed or Seriosly
                   Injured.
                   
              Marquette, Mich., Sept. 2. - Fourteen men were killed
            outright and three fatally injured by the falling of a
            cage in the Rolling Mill mine at Negaunee, Mich. The
            cage was full of men and every one in it was either killed
            or seriously injured.
              The steel cable broke and the cage dropped 700 feet. The
            bodies have been taken out and the injured are being cared
            for. The mine is the property of the Jones-Laughlin Steel
            company of Pittsburg.
              Fourteen men met their doom outright, all being dashed
            to their deaths, and three others were so horribly injured
            that they cannot live. The victims were being lowered into
            the workings, where they were shortly to begin their day's
            toil.
              The news of the fatallity spread quickly throughout the
            city and a crowd of thousands of people were soon gathered
            at the mine. Pitiable scenes were witnessed as the dead and
            dying were brought to the surface.
              What caused the cable to suddenly be severed is a mystery.
            It had been carefully inspected the day before, in accordance
            with the company's rules, and had hoisted cars of ore several
            times the weight of the seventeen men who were in the cage at
            the time of the accident.
              All operations at the mine are suspended.
              
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The Diamond Drill
Crystal Falls, MI
October 12, 1907


                           Loses His Reason
                           
              GEORGE SEBASTONO, who displayed such presence of
            mind when the cage was making its descent to the
            bottom of the shaft of the Rolling Mill mine at
            Negaunee by catching hold of a cross bar above his
            head and pulling his feet up from the floor in order
            to avoid the shock that he knew would follow, has
            lost his reason. SABASTONO was the least injured of
            the seven men taken out of the shaft alive, and it
            was thought that he would recover and be able to 
            resume his work in a few weeks. He was discharged
            from the hospital last week, and is now living with
            his brother. He talks a good deal in a rambling way
            about the runaway cage and the incidents that fol-
            lowed the crash. For a few days after the disaster
            SABASTONO was able to give good account of the
            catastrophe, but when sleeping he would often scream,
            as the men doubtless did when they were going down
            to their doom.
              The other men confined to the hospital are getting
            along as well as might be expected, but it is feared
            that some of them will not recover.
            
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