The Meeker herald., 1896-01-11
EIGHT MEN KILLED.
IN THE ANNA LEE MINE AT
VICTOR.
Shaft Timbers Give Way Catching the
Miners While They Were Trying to
Strengthen the Weak Spot.

were caught in cave-in in the Anna
Lee mine at 94O o'clock Saturday
morning. No bodies have been recov-
cred, but there is little doubt but that
all are dead. Those in the mine are:
Thomas II. Sheldon. assistant super
intendent of the Portland group.
w. E. Loane, superintendent Anna
Lee mine.
Thomas H. Harnan, miner.
James Hancock, miner.
Jack Malloy, miner
Mike McGuirk, miner
Pat Nee, miner.
Joseph Dinsmore, trammer.
For nearly month past the mine
has been troubled by timbers In the
second and third slopes crowding up
on the shaft to such an extent that the
cage would often work with difficulty.
OF late the management has been CIV
ing attention to this and trying In
every possible way to catch up the
dirt and prevent general cave. The
men who have probably lost their
lives were engaged in this work, when
the long-threatened cave came, crush
ing them In the timbers among which
they labored.
The men went to work at S o'clock
Saturday morning. At that time the
cage was working badly, and Harry
O'Neil, who came on late to work In
the ninth slope, was told he could not
be let down, but was told he could go
to work If he cared to climb down the
ladder. This he decided not to do,
and by that decision saved his life.
Assistant Superintendent Tom Sheldon
and Superintendent Loane were giving
personal assistance to the work of
catching up the falling timbers. 1t
was foreseen that slide was immi-
nent.
Suddenly it came. The engineer re-
ceived an imperative order to hoist,
but before the cage had been drawn
up 1t was stopped and carried down
by the slide.
The alarm was quickly sent to the
office and force organized to rescue
the men.
The Anna Lee shaft at its seventh
level is connected with that of the
Scranton, about 1,5OO feet away from
its third station. BY descending the
Scranton shaft the connection with
that of the Lee was reached and found
encountered with broken mass of
timbers, dirt and rock. A miner went
down the ladder in the Lee for thirty
five feet and found his progress check
ed by the slide. After an hour of work
an opening was made into the tim
bers and by prying loose fallen stull
here and there and allowing the debris
to fall to the bottom of the shaft, after
1t was fully established that none Of
the men were below, the rescuing par
ty, headed by James Burns and John
Harnan, gradually worked their way
up full twelve feet over the connec-
ton. or within 30 feet of the surface.
The cave-in seemed to have started
near the surface, and extended down
nearly 100 feet of the shaft. The
wreckage of the timbers formed n
check to the thousands of tons of dirt
and rock that had pushed in from the
sides.
1t having been established by mid
night that the square timbers put in
by the Portland company, after 1t Sc
cured possession of the Anna Lee from
the Battle Mountain company, had
Withstood the slide and were compe-
tent to hold up the mass precipitated
from the old workings, the rescuers
worked over to the hanging wall and
began inch by inch to progress up into
the pile 1t Is slow and labOrious
work. Great timbers are broken and
crushed and packed in with rock and
dirt 30 that they can be extricated but
slowly. Saws were used wherever pos
sible to force way into the mass.
Block and tackle were used to pull
out timber when progress could be
made in that way. Now and then
shot was put in when 1t could be done
with safety, but against all the stub
born mass yielded but slowly.
The objective point was the cage.
The idea that three men were on it,
and the hope that they might be found
alive urged the centerlng of work In
the direction in which it was supposed
TO he. A vuntnge ground was gained
by the reScuerS at the fifth level,
where prospecting cross-cut had been
run in the past, and from this point,
where tools could be stored and the
workers could get foothold, the ut
tack began to tell.
The work progressed more rapidly
yesterday and at midnight Mike Ryan,
who has charge of the night shift. tel
ephoned to the company's office that
the rescuing party was making great
headway. The general opinion of all
seems to be that the distance from the
point of operation to the fourth level
Is about thirty feet
In every kind Of buying and selling
the rules of business prudence must be
observed or losses are almost newt