Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1875-10-10

which are of SO frequent occurrence
in the depths of our various mines,
happened in the shaft of the Dayton
mine, on Friday afternoon, at about
s 80 O'Clock, resulting in the crush
ing, and perhaps badly manning for
life of miner named JOSIAH Craze.
We have taken pains to ascertain the
full facts connected with the acct
dent, and herewith present them as
detailed to us by the foreman of the
mine, Mr.. james Showers. Five
men had been put at work in drift
from the 22O-foOt level, while the
shaft was being freed from water.
When this was cleared the foreman
went down and removed the men to
the bottom Of the shaft, telling them
he would go on top and send down a
car Immediately. Showers rung the
cage up, the carman showed on car,
and the engineer sent the cage down
on a run. Two tags or marks are put
upon the cable which lowers the
cage, to denote the proper length of
cable that must he run out before the
cage reaches the bottom of the shaft.
If there are men in the shaft the
cage must be stopped when the first
tag is reached, as a precautionary
measure, when the men at the bot
tom again ring to lower it. If the
shaft is clear Of miners, the cage may
run to the second tag without danger,
but is then at or very near the bot
tom. In this instance the lowering
of Car signiiied that there were
men at the bottom to fill it up, but
from some cause or another the cage
was run rapidly clear down. The
shaft is three compartment one,
four hundred and eighty feet in
depth, the center one being used for
the cage, and as it came down Craze
happened to be picking directly be-
meath it and of course was caught
and crushed. Craze. who is able to
converse, says the bottom Of the cage
struck him on the back of the head
and shoulders and completely flat
tened him to the ground. The sig
nal to hoist was Immediately given
by the other miners, who narrowly
escaped without scratch, and the
wounded man was brought to the
surface and DR.. Sehnabcl sent for.
On examination it was found that
the left leg ind sustained bad
fracture just above the knee and ex-
tending into the knuckic of that
mem Der, or what is known to surgery
as a comminuted fracture of the
lower thirl of the fcmur. He had
also received severe confusion
above and below the light eye, and
internal injuries about the region of
chest, altogether making a serious
combination of injuries for the at
tention of his physician. As quickly
as could be, Craze was taken to his
room in the Sierra Nevada Hotel,
where DR.. Schnabel set the limb,
the reporter being present and wit
Messing the operation. This was
performed by 0 O'Clock, and "Cy,"
ss the boys call him, stood the pain
like major. 1t was the first shift upon
which the man had worked, and he
had only been in the shaft about ten
minutes when the accident occurred.
John Cooking, Emanuel Williams,
Francis Lewis and Charles Fisher,
we're with him on the shift. c. b.
Smith, the engineer, has been work
ing in that capacity at the Dayton
ard Silver Hill mines for the past
two years, and this is his first acct
dent. We are told that he is con-
sidcred first-class engineer, but it
seems that in this instance he has
made a mistake somewhere. 1t is
said that he feels very badly over the
accident, and at once refused to hold
his position longer. We do not know
to what combination of circum-
stances has made this slip, but
that the cage was not lowered ac-
cording to the usual precautionary
rules is certain. We have sympathy
for Mr.. Craze's misfortunes, but do
not choose to be too severe on this
engineer until we have heard his ac-
count of the affair. If the accident
occurred through carelessness or in
attention to duty, Mr.. Smith would
do we'll to adopt some other profess
sion, the following of which would
not be likely to endanger the lives of
others, though he is not the only en-
gineer who has had such things &C.
cur, and still held position.
DEpARrED.-The wife OF Mr.. John
Briggs, of the Excelsior Mill, de.
parted on Thursday for California
and will remain during the winter,
as usual. Were it not .that her