The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-09-15
From the Daily Of Friday.
FATAL MINING ACCIDENT.
a Miner is Seized with VertiQo
and Falls Down the
Gagnon Shaft.
Ills Crushed and Mangled Body
Picked Up at the
Bottom.

J0hn MINES, who recently came tc
Butte from the Trapper district met
with q of those frightful accidents
yesterday which 80 often ter
inmate the hazardous life OF
a miner. He had been EN-.
pioyed at the Gagnon but a few DAYS
and had several times expressed great
Tim idlty about descending and as.
cending the SHAFT. At nine O'Clock
yesterday morning he, with two
other miners, started from the 400
foot level to the surface to get some
tlmDers. Before starting he evinced
extraordinary fear and seemed re-
luctant to make the ascent, but final
~ took his place, upon tie bucket,
all three standing upon its edge, and
holding On with their hands to the
cable. The signal to hoist was given
and the bucket slowly assembled. At
the 200-foot station MINES
uttered a cry of terror, let go
his hold on the cable and fell over
backwards. The bucket was imme-
diately stopped and the signal given
to lower. AT the bottom Of the shaft
the men found the dead body of their
companion, crushed aud bruised be-
yond recognition. The shaft Is 500
feet deep, and he had fallen from the
2OO-fOOt station, a distance of 800 feet,
AS the shalt is AL incline the body
had, in its terrible descent, been
bumped and battered against every
projecting obstacle upon the lower
side of the shaft, and life was proba-
bly, extinct before it reached the bot
tom, where it struck head
foremost upon a staging of
double planks, two inches thick,
which covered the stump, with
such force as to break through the
staging, completely MASKING in the
top of his skulI, from which all of the
brains We're gone when he was
picked up. His arms and legs were
also broken and the entire body ter
ribly mangled and bruised. The
cause of the accident is inexpIicable
except upon the the theory tina he
was seizs d with an attack Of vertigo
superinduced by his mental condi-
and as he had been a miner all Ills
life, 1t is remarkable that he should
experience the nervousness of which
his actions at various times during
the past week gave evidence. The
body was brought to the surface and
laid in the carpenter shop where Cor
Oner Sarchet held an inquest, the
jury finding the following verdict:
The said John MINES came to his
death by falliag from the bucket at
the $50 foot station of the GagnOn
mine to the bottom Of the shaft, and
we find no one to blame for the &C.
cident by which he met his death,
which in our opinion was due to ex.
cessive nervousness on his part. III
testimony whereof the said jurors
have hereunte set their hands this
18th day of September, 1888.
CHAs NJ. PALMER, Foreman.
JOSEPH MICHIGAN.
JOHN RALEY.
z J. SHELTON.
PATRICK CONLON.
JOHN F. PAsCoE.
Colonel Thornton WAS very much
affected by the terrible accident,
which is the first one Of a serious
character which has happened in the
mine under his management. He
Immediately ordered the works shut
down until after the funeral.
The unfortunate man vas 80 years
of age, and a native O Cornwalj. But
little is known Of him, or his rela.
tives here, though he Is believed to
have a brother IN the Territory, and
is known to have worked at Silver
Star, Trapper and Unite, Utah. His
funeral will take place from the resi-
dence of John Doble> in Ce%nterville,
at two O'Clock this afternoon.