Hundreds gather to remember
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| Members of the Chicago Fire Department Color Guard mark the close of Saturday’s ceremony unveiling the Cherry Mine Memorial marker. In 1909, Chicago firefighters came to Cherry to help extinguish the blaze that resulted in the deaths of 259 men and boys. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt) |
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CHERRY — The gray sky reflected the mood of the hundreds and hundreds of those who came to Cherry Saturday.
They came from all over the state and the country to remember the 259 men and boys who died 100 years ago in the mine-riddled land under Cherry in what has come to be known as the Cherry Mine Disaster. The tragic deaths, resulting from the fire or the dreaded “black damp,” a poisonous gas that burns in an atmosphere lacking sufficient oxygen, shook the country and resulted in stronger mine safety regulations and contributed to the Illinois Workmen’s Compensation Act.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, the village held a ceremony that included the unveiling and dedication of a new Miners Monument. After a procession to the monument by the Chicago Fire Department Color Guard, a welcome by Cherry Mayor Bob McCook, and an invocation by the Rev. Paul Meismer of Cherry’s Holy Trinity Catholic Church, members of the Cherry Booster Club unveiled the monument, which features the slag heaps of red ash, a black coal mine tipple, and the 259 names of the miners who died.
Also included in the ceremony were several union officials and local politicians. Tim Drea, secretary treasurer of the Illinois AFL-CIO, told the group that until the time of the Cherry Mine Disaster, the term “disaster” was used for any incident with five or more deaths, and Gary Butler of the United Mine Workers said the miners’ deaths will not be forgotten.
“The price paid here on Cherry Hill will not be paid in vain,” Butler said.
Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-11th District), then spoke, first recounting the history of the tragedy and its aftermath.
“It’s a shame that it took a tragedy like this to bring real reform for American workers,” she said.
Halvorson also read her House Resolution 752 honoring the miners, which was unanimously passed by the House on Nov. 4.
Sen. Gary Dahl (R-Granville) praised Cherry for continuing to remain a vibrant community after the tragedy, and Rep. Frank Mautino said the names on the monument include the names of descendants who still live in the area. Mautino also read his Illinois House Resolution 691, which was adopted by representatives on Oct. 28.
Larry Spivak of the Illinois Labor History Society said few events in Illinois could be more tragic than the Cherry Mine disaster, and that it was important to always remember.
“I believe that we can become better as a people individually and collectively if we surmount the difficult task of taking stock, of thinking how we might have done things differently, and make use of every teachable moment,” he said. “When we do this, we can become more thoughtful, more helpful, more caring and wiser. This is how we change the world to make it a better place.”
After two songs by the Cherry Grade School students, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride read an anonymous poem that appeared in the Bureau County Record on Dec. 22, 1909. The poem is included in the new memorial.
‘Afterward-At-Cherry’
When the dead have all been recovered and silently laid away.
When men have returned to their labor, and the children have gone back to play.
When the last reporter has vanished and the soldiers, too, have gone.
When the long, long train of sleepers has crept away into the dawn.
When they awake from their nightmare of horror and realize all they have lost.
When they understand the full disaster, and all of its frightful costs.
Then will come days of anguish, and nights when hearts will break.
When grief-dimmed eyes are sleepless, and tired brains throb and ache.
Then they will need your pity, and the help your purse will permit,
For then they will suffer a thousand times more, than the men who died in the pit.
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