Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1876-07-24

Death OF ri0ethy Ryan In the
ahafs Of The Lady Washingtsa-
The Cersnsr's Inquest To-day.

The most disastrous consequence Of
Saturdays cloud-burst was the death Of
Timothy Ryan. a miner working In the
shaft Of the Lady Washington mine. The
deceased, Patrick Doolan. Richard Maggie
and Michael Toohey were working at the
bottom Of the shaft At the time the water
began TO pour In. To-day Coroner Mayer
held an inquest into the circumstances.
Patrick Doolan. the working partner Of
Timothy Ryan. the deceased, testified that
they were about to to drill .
hole at the bottom Of the shaft when the
water began to come down. and all hands
thought that the tank was overlooking.
The ~downpour increased in volume and
they thought the pump had burst. The
lights began TO 10 out. The frightened
men sung out 10 ring down the
cage and when Il was done but one
light remained burning in the shaft. This
went out a. the man who pulled the bell
rops put 10 under his coat. The noise Of
the falling water was 50 great that they
could not hear . man halloo. There were
four Of them there when the last light
went out and some one shouted 10 get In
the timbers. II graspcd them To the east
side Of the wall-plate," said the witness.
II had my hand out to find II could feel
the cage. Ny hand came In contact with
. rope which l surniised To 10 the bell.rope
and gave II several pulls. A soon as
felt the cage I said to the boys TO get aboard.
The cage. I think. was not quite at the
bottom when I got aboard oft. I thought
Of little until the cage was some
distance up tho shaft when I said Mike.
where are you 2 and lac said : HAS the
cage left the bottom YETI" I put out my
hand and felt the side of the shaft and an
swered that w were In motion. but i did
o know whether up or down. When We
got ON top we cried out to stop the pump.
Is there were two men still in the shaft (;
we got two lanterns and went down the
ladders ~ far ~ the water. and Of course
could go no farther. We returned TO the
top, and then the cage Was let down and
tho.. who descended brought mp Dick
maggie aud tho hat Of decreased. The mans
life could have been saved II the lights had
not gone cut.
Matt. Truren. = pumpmsn at the Lady
Washington. testified that he saw the way
the creek Was rising. aud after informing
the engineer fixed . dispatch To the cage
upon = board, telling this men Ia come up. i
expected that the dispatch would be there
to get the men Out without any
danger. There was no danger with the
water that went down IL the men had had
presence Of mind to keep themselves In the
part VI the shaft where they should have
gone. suppose they got scared and Lost
their heads. There are two close doors In
the drain tunnel. and there could no more
water go down than rushed through the
discharge pipe Of the pump, and this would
not prevent . man climbing against u. IL
the drain tunnel hal been open the shaft
would have been iilled one hundred feet In
less than 4 minute. When the rush Of
water came down, II they hsd kept them.
selves in the pump shaft and stayed there
they would have been all right. The de
ceased lost his presence of mind AMI
climbed the shaft under the cage. and 10
came down and knocked him away.
Other witnesses testified In about the
same tenor. II seems that the men all lost
their presence Of mind when the water
came pouring down the shaft AMI extin.
guished the lights. II Ryan hal taken the
ladders Of the pump shaft he would have
reached the surface In safety, instead ~
being dashed 10 Jeath by Oh. cage. The
Jury. largely composed VI miners. ques-
toned the witness closely. AMI by their
queries showed that they thought the two
men who came up On the a q should have
waited q little for their companion. IL
proved that after all not enough water
entered the shaft 10 drown = man who had
Loaf hi fa.t