Porter C. Gish

Porter C. Gish, 27, mine motorman, saved Henry A. Brooks, 49, miner, and 23 other men from suffocation, Henderson, Kentucky, May 26, 1921. The main shaft of a mine in which the men were working caught fire, and the flames descended to the main entry, 168 feet below the surface. Dense smoke entered the main entry for about 1,300 feet to a curtain which hung across the entry. The cages could not be operated in the shaft because of the flames. The men, in five groups, were in side entries, the farthest about 1,900 feet from the shaft, and all were unaware of the fire. The mine fan was running, and smoke had not penetrated other entries. Gish, who was operating a motorcar in the main entry, saw smoke and flames in the shaft, and he ran the motorcar, with two empty cars attached, to a point in the main entry just behind the curtain, where there was no smoke. He left the motorcar and ran into several side entries, over a total course of about a half-mile, warned the men, and directed them to the motorcar. After 19 men had assembled at the motorcar, Gish took them through the main entry on the cars to within 200 feet of the shaft and then led them through a passageway, which was unknown to most of the men, to an entry of another mine, whence they went to safety. Although somewhat affected by smoke and heat, Gish, not having thought to warn one group of five men, returned through the passageway, none of the other men being willing to accompany him. He ran the motorcar 600 feet through the smoke and heat of the main entry and then ran as far on foot to the five men. Gish and the men went to the main entry, encountering smoke within 50 feet of it, and he took them on the motorcar to the passageway and through it to safety.