The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-02-28
AVALANCHE.
Scores of Miners Buried Under
a Snow Slide
Which Swept Down the MOun-
tain Near Telluride.
BELL SHAFT HOUSE
Was Crushed by Onrush of Ice
and Snow.
Estimate of Dead Runs From
10 to 20.
BELL SHAFT HOUSE

Telluride. Col. Feb. 2S-Between sixty
and seventy men are reported dead be-
meath a snow slide which wrecked the
Liberty Bell mine shaft house. The
slide came down at 7:3O this morning.
1t is reported there were between sixty
and seventy men in the bunk house at
the time it was carried down into the
gulch below.
Communication with the mine is shut
off and the names of the victims can
not be ascertained.
Fred Clemmon, boss of the boarding
house, and Charles Hall, a well known
miner, We're killed.
The present storm is the worst since
1895, and slides are expected any min
ute at Ophir and other places.
The mine buildings bunk house of the
Liberty Bell mine were completely
buried under an avalanche of snow and
swept into the gulches, hundreds of feet
below, at 7:30 o'clock this morning.
AT this hour 12 o'clock it is impossi-
bic to ascertain the number of lives lost,
but it is estimated to be from ten to
sixty or seventy. The bunk house,
which was crushed like an eggshell by
the mountain of wet and frozen snow
as it came tearing down the steep noun
tain side was crowded with miners at
the fatal moment.
A few of these, by almost superhuman
efforts, managed to eXtricate themselves
from among the broken tinbers and dig
their way out of the snow Many how
ever, who were not killed outright, were
manned into state of helplessness and
carried down in the awful maelstrom of
debris, snow, earth and ice to a horrible
death in the gulches below.
At II O'Clock courier arrived from
the scene of the accident with
the news that many bodies had al
ready been recovered and were being
carried down the mountain sides upon
the shoulders of those who escaped, to
the morgue at Telluride OF the dead,
two only have been identified. They are:
FRED CLEMMONS, boarding house
keeper.
CHARLES HALL. a well known
miner.
Communication with the mine is en-
tirely cut off and until the messengers
who We're hastily sent to the mine upon
receipt of the first news of the acci-
dent return, the full details of the awful
catastrophe will not be known. The
trail leading to the Liberty Bell mine is
nearly three miles long and is one of
the most difficult to ascend in the entire
San Juan country. Especially hard is
the trail to climb at this season of the
year when the snow is deep and the
weather severely cold.
At 1 o'clock this afternoon a powerful
glass was directed toward the trail
leading up to the Liberty Bell. Squads
of miners carrying bodies of their un-
fortunate fellow laborers could be
seen coming down. 1t required
from two to four men to convey each
body and the descent was necessarily
slow. Every now and then one of the
men assisting in this gruesome task
could be seen to lose his footing, STUN
BILE and fall, carrying those near him
down. The body bearers would pick
themselves up, raise the Hfeless form
and again start down the dangerous
trail. 1t was a scene never to be for
gotten by those who witnessed 1.-THE
risking of life, to bring back to their
desolated homes the bodies of those who
a few hours before had been full of life
and hope.
Several Firms, who were not caught
in the slide, reached the city at noon,
but were too excited and frightened to
give any details. The foreigners are
like that of this morning are preor-
dained and come as a punishment. To-
days catastrophe, following so soon
after the terrible fire at the Smuggler-
Union a few months ago, in which a
number of lives were lost, has un-
nerved them.
The first news of the snowslide reach
ed Telluride shortly after 10 o'clock and
was brought down by a messenger. He
did not wait to learn the full extent of
the damage done, but knew that help
must be summoned.