St. Paul daily globe., 1893-04-22
Nine Men Meet Death in Silver
Bow Mine No. 2 at
Butte.
The Mine One Which Had Not
Been Operated for Sew
eral Months.
Fire Breaks Out on the Fivea
Hundred-Foot Level Of
the Mine.
Some Of the Men Might Have
Escaped, but Were Prob
ably Bewlldered.

Spec1al 10 the GloDe-
BUTTE, Mont, April 21.-Probably
the most terrible mine horror in the hiS<
| tory OF Butte occurred today, when nine
men were imprisoned in a burning
mine, and in all likelihood have lost
their lives. The men who are i'll the
mine and who are probably dead are:
EDWARD PASCOE,
RICHARD ANDREWS,
SAMUEL ROVETTO,
FRANK GERHARD.
RICHARD TREMBATH,
THOMAS GRAY,
JAMES NETTO,
ANTONIO BEARA,
E. PEUGHS.
The Silver Bow Mine No. 2, of the
Butte and Boston company, has not been
actively operated for several months,
but nine men have been working there
on each shift in development work. At
9:3O o'clock this morning John Kramer,
pump man at the 50O-foot level, went to
the surface for oil. He returned to the
station, but almost instantly gave the
signal to hoist. He reached the surface
badly burned and blistered. He said he
saw one man on the 500-foot level aud
called on him to
Come to the Cage
if he would escape with his life. The
man called back tG wait until he could
warn his partners. Kramer waited as
long as he could stand the flames, which
were right around him, and then went
to the surface. OF the nine men i'm
prisoned five we're on the 700-foot level,
the lowest level of the mine; two on
the five-hundred, where the fire broke
out, and two on the four-hundred.
There was no possible escape for the
men on the seven-hundred-foot level
except bv the shaft. The men on the
fve.hundred and feur-hundred, how
ever, might have passed by the conIfee-
tions into Silver Bow Mine No.
and thence reached the surface.
They must, however, have be-
come bewildered until escape was
no longer possible. The attempts
at rescue began at once. 1t was impoS-
sible for men to descend lower than the
3OO-foot level at first, on account of the
dense smoke. The cage was lowered
to each level and left at each station for
a few minutes in the hope that some Of
the imprisoned men might reach the
cage. But there were no signs of life
below. Streams of water were turned
into the shaft This so
Drenched the Shaft
that the fire made no progress there.
The fire is believed to be confined to the
pump station at the 50O-foot level. and
to have been caused by the turning over
or exploding of lamp. The services
of the Butte City fire department were
secured. The nozzle of line of hose
was fastened to the cage in such way
that when the cage was lowered to the
5OO-foot level the water would be thrown
into the pump station. All day
water was thrown in at the rate
of 800 gallons minute. Mean
while the cage of the other compart-
ment was lowered to the 400, 500 and
7O0-foot levels repeatedly, but without
result. Two streams of water were
played down this compartment in order
to force as much air as possible down
the mine. A dog was lowered to the
7OO-foot level, kept there a minute,
and reached the top again alive.
Numerous attempts were made to
reach the scene of the fire, but
without success until 6 o'clock,
this evening, when two miners made
three or four trips to the five hundred
foot level and used chemicals on the
fire. They reported the fire small, the
timbers cracking and a cave to have
started The smoke was so dense and
suffocating that they could only remain
one or two minutes below at time.
They were unable to make any eXcur-
sion away from the cage, as that would
probably have resulted in further loSs
of life.