James Bennie helped to save Andrew Bogus and assisted in an attempt to save Edward Wyatt from suffocation, Gilchrist, Illinois, November 22, 1909. Bogus, 29, and Wyatt, 41, shot firers, were in a mine when an explosion occurred, extinguishing their lights, damaging the ventilating system, and making useless one of two hoisting cages. Ten minutes after the accident, Bennie, 51, miner, with a lamp in his cap, descended steps in a section of the air shaft, followed by two officials of the mine. When he was 15 feet from the bottom, he found the steps gone, and he dropped, in darkness, to the bottom. The other men followed him, and they walked about 285 feet through smoke-filled entries and found Bogus and Wyatt. The former was delirious, and the latter was unconscious. While one man remained with Wyatt, Bennie and the other walked toward the hoisting shaft with Bogus, a distance of more than 425 feet. The smoke grew denser, and after a time Bennie proceeded alone. When he felt that he was being overcome by gas, he stooped close to the floor until he felt somewhat revived and then made his way back to Bogus and the other man. He again went forward alone, reached the shaft, and called to have a cage lowered. He did not wait for the cage but returned and helped get Bogus to the shaft. After the three were hoisted, Bennie again descended and went with other men to where Wyatt and the other man had been left. The air in the mine was then better, and all left in safety. Bogus recovered, but Wyatt died three days later of pneumonia, brought on by the inhalation of smoke or gas. 6200-834
6200 – 834
6200-834Obituary
James Bennie, the miner who received a silver Carnegie Medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund, died Jan. 16, 1914, at his home in New Gilchrist, Ill. His death was due to wounds received in a shooting scrape in Brereton, Ill., several months earlier in which he tried to act as peacemaker.
While at the Graham Hospital in Canton, Ill., he received the glad news of being awarded $1,000 and the silver medal for helping to save Andrew Bogus, shot firer, in a mine at Gilchrist on Nov. 22, 1909. He also attempted to save Ed Wyatt, shot firer, at the same time.
Bennie was born in Paisley, Scotland, on Dec. 9, 1857. In the 1880s, he came to the U.S., working in mines at Hanna City, Ill., and New Gilchrist.
(Edited from an obituary in the Canton Daily Ledger, Jan. 17, 1914.)