The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-23
ACCIDENT AT ELK PARK.
Two Miners Who Niraculously Els
cane Death


The Butte correspondent of the Ana
conda Standard writes very interest
ingly regarding an accident which be-
fell Paul Grmogez and Nick CVelt at
Elk Park, near Butte, as followS:
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
40 feet and were working in the stump
when the accident occurred. They had
put in a round of three holes in one
corner to square the shaft, and when
all was ready for blasting they spitted
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 bellcord to give the sig
nal to hoist. The skip was not taken
away, and, after waiting until they be-.
gan to be alarmed Grmogez pulled
away at the bellcord again, and, to his
horror, discovered this time that it had
caught. He could not ring the bell.
Both men now realized their peril and
fully expected 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 it was useless to try to go up
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, and could they have concealed
themselves entirely they might possibly
have escaped unhurt. Their state of
mind may be imagined as they lay
there during the few seconds that
elapsed before the holes went off. Cveit,
in telling about it last evening, said:
Those few seconds seemed a life
time, and l thought I should go crazy
AT last the blast came, and after the
three holes had all gone off the two
men found themselves still alive, but
suffering the most awful agony, and
with something else to contend with
nearly as fatal to life as the blast. 1t
was the fumes that filled the shaft.
I'VE could only lie there and wait
for the air to clear" said CVeit, but
1 thought we should surely suffocate.
I did not believe either of us would
ever live to get on top, but we put our
faces close against the ground and sue
ceeded in holding out But, OH what
an experience! If am ever in such a
fix again, l want to be killed quick,
rather than suffer as 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
believed he was able to climb; but that
was all there was left to do and they
attempted it. Injured as they were,
Grmogez blinded and CVeit with his
leg terribly mangled, 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 men were in good con-
dition at a late hour last night.