Daily inter mountain., 1899-07-24
William Thomas Dashed To
An Awful Death.
INDICATOR WAS WRONG
Thomas Jumped From the Cage and
Was Thrown Into
the Shaft.

william Thomas, shift boss of the
West Colusa mine, met with an awful
death about $40 o'clock this afternoon,
falling from the collar of the shaft to
the sump, a distance Of 1000 feet.
The accident which cost Thomas his life
was the result of disarrangement of
the mechanism connected with the indi-
Gator, the dial of which is supposed to
mark the exact locatio of the cage as
it ascends or descends the shaft. The
indicator dial is connected with the
hosting machinery by an endless chain
running on series of cog wheels and
these cog wheels, in turn operate the
hand on the indicator dial. In some way
this Chain had become disarranged or had
slipped along in such manner, as was
demonstrated shortly after the accident,
to throw the indicator just 40 feet behind
the actual position Of the cage.
Thomas had charge of the work in the
bottom Of the shaft, and started to the
surface about $40 o'clock this after
AAOO"' a. lAC NoiIOuo IcNClS OlIlGI men,
who were going off shift, got on to go to
the surface. Among the men who were
on the cage with johnson were Axtel
Johnson, Jack Harris, Jack Littlejohn
and four others, making eight men in
all.
Axtel Johnson was standing by
Thomas side. AS the cage approa ched
the surface and the daylight was dis
cernable to the men coming up johnson
noticed that it's speed did not slacken.
as it should have under proper condl-
tions. 1t continued to ascend at the reg
ular speed, which is fast johnson was
of the opinion that something was wrong
with the hosting machinery, and when
the cage did not stop when it arrived OPP
posite the shaft collar, thought seriously
of jumping off. The engineer, whose
indicator located the cage as some 40 feet
below the surface. did not abate the
speed, and the cage, freighted with it's
precious cargo, shot up to the top of the
gallows frame, 40 feet above the mouth
of the shaft, colliding with the heavy
timbering which caps the gallows posts
with a crash that shook the building and
called the engineers attention to the
necessity of stopping the drum, which he
Immediately did.
In the meantime Thomas, probably
thinking that the collision with the top
of the gallows frame would be attended
with serious consequences had iumped
off, when the cage was probably 35 feet
above the surface.
In falling he encountered several elec-
trcal wires, which diverted the unfortu-
nate man from the course which meant
safety, and threw him into the shaft, the
drop to the bottom being over 1000 feet.
Coroner Julien was at once notified
and at $50 o'clock this afternoon the
body had not been recovered.
The engineer, Edward Dunn, was al
most Frustrated when he realized what
had happened. He managed to lower
the cage to a place of safety. None of
the other men We're injured. Dunn then
turned the engine over to another man
and left the place.
Thomas was well known in Butte, hav-
Ing resided here a number of years. He
was made a shift boss at the West Co.
lusa about three weeks ago. He was
about 80 years of age, married, and re-
sided with his family at 512 Kemper
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