The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-21
BUTTE News.
TORN BY FLYING ROCK
Two Miners Blown Up by Three
Sticks of Giant.
A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
They Escaped without a Broken Bone.
One May Lose His Sight-Flesh
Was Frightfully Lac
Grated.

Paul Grmogez and Nick Cveit. two
miners from Elk Park. are pretty
hankf TO think they are alive. They
were blown up by three sticks Of giant
powder in the stump of the shaft OF a
property they were prospecting. yet
they escaped without a broken bone.
though one may lose his sight and the
flesh Of both was terribly torn by the
flying rock. The face CT Grmogez looks
like a piece Of raw meat, so thick are
the powder burns and the cuts made by
the flying particles. n it is douottul
IL he will ever see again, wnile his arms
and body are almost covered with little
cuts and bruises. Cveit escaped more
His worst injury Is 10 one
leg. the flesh Of which ~ frighttully
lacerated. The leg was blown tull OF
small pieces Of quartz. which had 10
be picked out by the attending surgeon
Neither will die, but their experience
was so frightful they have not yet re-
covered from the shock To their nerves
and they will be laid up a long time
from the effects OF their injuries. IL
was by the greatest Of good fortune
that either escaped alive, and both are
very grateful that they escaped as luck
lily as they did.
The accident occurred near the rail-
way station at Elk Park, where Grmo-
gez is developing a claim. Cveit was
in his employ and they were engaged In
sinking a shaft. Their equipment was
a small hoist and skip. They had sunk
l40 feet and were working in the stump
when the accident occurred. They mad
put in a round Of three holes in one
corner TO square the shaft, and when
g.. hInGtfpu thaN Gniftnd
the primers and made ready TO go on
top. AS the last fuse was spitted the
two men got aboard the skip and Grmo-
gez pulled the bell cord to give the sig
nal TO hoist. The skip was not taken
away and. after waiting till they began
to be alarmed, Grmogez pulled away at
the bell cord again, and to his horror
discovered this time that IT had taught.
He could not ring the bell. Both men
now realized their peril and fully ex-
pected to be killed. They had timed
their primers to five minutes to give
them plenty of time to get up, but the
five minutes were nearly up by this
time and IL was useless to try TO go up
the ladder. for they would only get
caught on the way and be hurled back
into the shaft, so they did the next
best thing and climbed up four or five
feet above the stump and got In behind
some timbers as best they could. This
was undoubtedly what saved their lives,
n could they hav concealed them
selves entirely they might possibly have
escaped unhurt. Their state Of mind
may be imagined as they lay there dur
ing the few seconds that elapsed before
the holes went off. Cveit, In telling
about IL last evening. said:
Those few seconds seemed a life
time. and I thought l should go crazy."
Al last the blast came and after the
three holes had all gone off the two men
found themselves still alive but suffer
ing the most awful agony n with
something else to contend with nearly
as fatal TO life as the blast. 1t was the
fumes that filled the shaft.
w could only lie there and wait
for the air TO clear" said Cveit. but
I thought we should surely suffocate.
did not believe either of us would ever
live to get on top, but we put our faces
close against the ground and succeeded
in holding out, but oh, what an expert
ence, II / am ever in such a fix again
] want TO be killed quick, rather than
suffer as I did"
When the air had cleared and the
men were able TO get their breath, they
began to wonder how they would get
on top. The skip had been blown to
atoms and the only means Of getting out
was by the ladder, which neither be-
lieved he was able to climb. but that
was all there was left to do and they
attempted IL. Injured as they were,
Grmogez blinded and Cveit with his leg
terribly manEled. they at last reached
the top and fell on the ground at the
collar of the shaft. Frustrated.
The engineer summoned assistance
and friends brought the two men TO
Butte and took them to the Sisters
hospital, where their injuries received
surgical attention. Considering their
experience. both were in good condition
ct a late hour last night.