The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-07
MET A FR|GHTFUL DEATH.
John F. Combellack Fell a Thou
sand Feet.
IN THE ORIGINAL MINE
His Body Was Horribly Mangled- Was
Picked Up in Pieces-Cause OF the
Accident Unkuown-Puttine
in New Column,

John 7. Comballack met a frightful
death in the Original mine yesterday
morning. He fell from a few feet be-
low the surface, into the stump, 100
feet His mangled person was gath
efed up in pieces. What caused the
unfortunate miner to fall away is hard
TO determine. 1t can only be accounted
for by theory
Combellack was a miner and worked
partners with John Caddy on the 11O0-
loot level of the mine. Latterly the
copper water had eaten the water col
umn badly, damaging it to such an ex-
tent that the water had risen till it
was necessary to suspend work on the
HOO level till new water column could
be put in. For this reason Comeback
and his partner Caddy were assigned
as assistants to Pumpman Gardner in
putting in the new column, and it was
while engaged in this work that the
fatal accident occurred.
The shaft at the Original is a two
compartment shaft which is sunk on
an incline of about 70 degrees The
west compartment is the cage shaft
and the east compartment is used Joint
~ as the pump and skip shaft, and has
in addition ladder manway.
The three men had the water column
in place up to so or 60 feet from the
surface at 6 O'Clock yesterday morning,
when the accident occurred At this
time, and at the point mentioned. they
were engaged in boiling the f1anges of
the pipe together Gardner and Caddy
were standing on the skip and had Just
bolted the f1anges together at the coup
ling, while Comeback was 10 or 20
feet above steadying the pipe. AS Gard
ner and Caddy finished making the
coupling they rang the signal to hoist
them to the next coupling. where Com
bellack were standing on the tim
bers.
The skip started and was proceeding
slowly to the point and Gardner and
Caddy, when they last looked up, saw
Comeback standing on the timbers
letting the rope run through his hands
as though waiting to step on the skip
with them at the proper moment. This
was the last they saw and are there
fore unable to state what caused Com
bellack to fall. The first they realized
that he had fallen was when they heard
grating sound as of something being
ground between the skip and the wall
plates and an instant later they heard
the body fall away into the shaft.
liz WV lllcI SdSe lHt dldIIu III
stantly, and on looking for the body,
found it had been forced through into
the adjoining compartment and de-
cending the steep incline had bounded
from wall plate to wall plate, leaving
horrifying spectacle of flesh brains
and blood at every point of contact all
the way down the shaft.
What was left of the poor fellow had
sunk in is feet of water in the stump be-
low the loo level Efforts to recover
the body were Immediately begun by
starting the pumps to pump out the
water, and in the meantime Coroner
Julien and Deputy Mine Inspector
Hunter were notified. These officials
Immediately repaired to the mine, and
after observing the work for some time,
1t occurred to Mr.. Hunter that 1t would
take a long time to recover the body
by the pumping method and he sug-
gested graphing hooks The sugges-
ton was adopted and about 1 o'clock
the terribly mangled form of the miner
was raised and taken to the surface.
After being viewed by Coroner Julien,
it was sent to Richards undertaking
rooms. box full of detached pieces
of the unfortunate mans anatomy was
gathered up by workman from the
wall plates, where they had been torn
away and lodged as he went down in
the awful fall.
Coroner Julien held an inquest at
Richards undertaking rooms last eve-
ming when the accident was thoroughly
inquired into. Pumpman William Gard
ner and John Caddy the other man
who was working in the shaft. related
IN detail the circumstances of the acct
dent as given, but neither could tel.
how Comeback got the first fall which
precipitated him between the skip and
wall plates and how he got there could
only be accounted for by theory ad-
vanced by Inspector Hunter, who said
he thought that Comeback having
hold of the rope, letting it run through
his hands, was probably jerked off the
wall plate, when from his position he
would naturally fall between the skip
and the center piece as he did. As the
evidence all tended to show the accident
to have been wholly unforeseen and the
company in no wise to blame the jury
returned a verdict as follows:
That the deceased came to his death
at Butte, Silver Bow county, Montana
on the 9Th day of May, 1899, by being
crushed to death between the skip and
wall plates in the shaft of the Original
mine and then falling to the bottom of
the Shaft and from the evidence. we,
the jury, find the death of said de-
seen accident, for which the company
operating the mine was in no manner
responsible"
The deceased was So years Of age and
a native of England. He had lived in
Butte y years and had worked in the
Original five years steadily. He was
one of the hardest working and most
reliable miners in the camp and during
the five years he worked in the one
mine he is said to have scarcely lost a
shift. By his industry and frugal hab-
its he had succeeded in laying by what
was to him a moderate fortune He
leaves a wife. one child and a brother,
who are the only relatives residing here,
The funeral will be held Tuesday.