Mourners after the Cherry Mine disaster. On November 13, 1909, a coal mine in Cherry, Illinois, caught fire, eventually killing 259 men and boys, including some rescuers. Twenty-one miners survived underground for eight days after building a makeshift wall. The disaster is the third deadliest in American coal mining history. The following year, the Illinois legislature established stronger mine safety regulations; in 1911, Illinois passed a separate law, which would later develop into the Illinois Workmen's Compensation Act.

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Keywords: 1909, 20th, act, aftermath, america, bw, century, cherry, coal, coffin, comp, compensation, death, disaster, fire, funeral, history, illinois, man, miner, mining, mourner, mourning, person, usa, victim, widow, woman, workmen