This is a 4" wide standard glass paperweight with a photo by a Princeton, Illinois photographer. It shows the property found on victims of the disaster. I have looked at lots of photos of the disaster but have never found this image before. It shows lots of pocket watches, coin purses and pipes, most with tags. I'd guess they were waiting for the victim's families to pick them up. Rare and touching image of the third worst mining accident in US history. The photo has some staining and is offered as shown. Free shipping. Thanks! <p>The following is from Wikipedia, a great source of free info on the internet.

On Saturday, November 13, 1909, nearly 500 men and boys and three dozen mules were working in the mine. An electrical outage earlier that week had forced the workers to light kerosene lanterns and torches, some portable, some set into the mine walls.[3]

Shortly after noon, a coal car filled with hay for the mules caught fire from one of the wall lanterns.[4] Initially unnoticed and, by some accounts, ignored by the workers,[5] efforts to move the fire only spread the blaze to the timbers supporting the mine.

The large fan was reversed in an attempt to blow out the fire, but this only succeeded in igniting the fan house itself as well as the escape ladders and stairs in the secondary shaft, trapping more miners below. The two shafts were then closed off to smother the fire, but this also had the effect of cutting off oxygen to the miners, and allowing the “black damp,” a suffocating mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, to build up in the mine.

Some 200 men and boys made their way to the surface, some through escape shafts, some using the hoisting cage. Some miners who had already escaped returned to the mine to aid their coworkers. Twelve of these, led by John Bundy, made six dangerous cage trips, rescuing many others. The seventh trip, however, proved fatal when the cage operator misunderstood the miners' signals and brought them to the surface too late - the rescuers and those they attempted to rescue were burned to death.

One group of miners trapped in the mine built a makeshift wall to protect themselves from the fire and poisonous gases. Although without food, they were able to drink from a pool of water leaking from a coal seam, moving deeper into the mine to escape the black damp. Eight days later, the 21 survivors, known as the "eight day men", tore down the wall and made their way through the mine in search of more water, but came across a rescue party instead. One of those 21 survivors died two days later with complications from asthma.

Aftermath

The following year, as a result of the Cherry Mine disaster, the Illinois legislature established stronger mine safety regulations and in 1911, Illinois passed a separate law, which would later develop into the Illinois Workmen's Compensation Act.

A monument to those who lost their lives was erected on May 15, 1971, by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Historical Society. These people losing their lives helped spur legislation to keep future miners safe. The centennial commemoration of the Cherry Mine disaster was held in Cherry, November 14–15, 2009. A new monument, located at the Cherry Village Hall, was dedicated to the miners who lost their lives in the disaster.