The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-03-01
Full Extent Of tae Smuggler
Mountain Disaster
Caused by Four Snow Slides Not
Yet Known.
BURIED UNDER SNOW.
An Unknown Number of Bodies
Still UnrecOvered.
Story of the Catastrophe Told
by an Eye Witness.

Telluride. Colo, March 1.-The num-
Der of lives lost in the four avalanches
that swept down the sides of SmuggleT
mountain yesterday is now estimated
at from 20 to 25. Fourteen men are
known to have been killed, an unknown
number are buried under the snow, and
il badly injured persons are in the hos
pitaI, while several other men who are
hurt are at their homes. 1t is believed
that few, if any, more bodies can be
recovered until the snow melts.
The most lucid account of the first
snowslide which carried away the
boarding and bunk houses and other
buildings of the Liberty Ben mine in
Cornet creek basin, three and a half
miles north of this city, and buried their
occupants in the gulch under masses of
snow and debris was given by l. NJ.
Winstead, who is employed in packing
ore from a erusher to the tram station.
He had Just come from breakfast and
was in the stable saddling his animals
when he heard a terrific crashing and
rattling. The stable grew suddenly
dark. and stepping to the door he
opened it and found the outside totally
dark and the air filed with flying snow.
Thinking it was a terrific gust of wind,
he slammed the stable door shut and
waited a few seconds. He peered
through a crack, and as it grew light
again he opened the door and saw the
tram cable swinging about and buckets
rolling down the hill. AS the snow in
the air settled he stepped out a few feet
and looking up toward the boarding
and bunk house could see no signs of
these buildings. Then looking down the
hill he saw boards and tinlbers sticking
out of the snow and scattered about
SAW PIECE OF OVERALLS.
He then went up to the ore and tram
house, or where it had stood. and saw
what he thought was piece of over
alls. Grasping it and attempting to pull
il out he found he had hold a mans
body. Tearing away the snow ana
boards. he pulled out the body of Gus
Kraul. The body was terribly mangled
and the head crushed till it was no
thicker than the two hands laid flatly
together He then started toward the
boarding house and met his brother,
who told him what had happened. Char
lie UmSted was employed in the board
ing house and escaped by being out at
the time after a bucket of water.
F. c. Clemmer, it is said, was sitting
at his desk making out the time of the
employees of the mine when the crash
came and all the books of the company
recording the names of those employed
were destroyed. The exact number Of
men who were caught in this slide is
not known, but there were. probably not
less than 20 in the bunk house and
boarding house when they were swept
away.
Fortunately a large majority of the
250 miners employed in the Liberty Bell
mine We're either in the mine or alb
sent in town at the time of the acci-
dent 1t had been showing for three
days, and the snow and fog were so
dense when the slide came down that
IL was utterly impossible for one to see
ten feet ahead.
BROKE TELEPHONE CIRCUIT.
The accident broke the telephone cir
cult and several hours elapsed before a
messenger reached town with tidings of
the disaster. All the doctors available
and many citizens hurried up the
mountain to lend assistance in digging
had been recovered and five injured
men brought to town when a second
slide came down in the path of the first
killing two more men and iniurine
number of others. This was followed
by two more snowslides in which five
lives were sacrificed. AS the storm still
continued and the work of rescue could
only be carried on under the most ex-
treme danger to the living, and as il
was believed that no more of those
buried under the snow could still be
alive, it was decided to abandon the
search for bodies until it can be prose-
cuted with greater safety.
Drs. Allen and Delaney who went up
to attend the victims of the first snow
slide were caught in the second. The
former sustained severe injuries about
his lower limbs and the latter escaped
uninjured. Both were carried down a
distance of more than fifty feet but
managed top extricate themselves
George Roherer who was killed in the
fourth slide. had been county clerk and
was one of the most prominent mining
operators in the district. He was about
40 years old.
DAMAGE TO MINE
The damage to the mine property is
estimated at $1,000.
The tramway terminals are gone. with
crushers, etc, and the entire tram and
most of the towers are down. 1t will
be at least four months before work
can be resumed
That locality has always been con-
6idered safe from slides and the build
ing site was selected on this account
Under existing conditions the most Sc
we're storm in the history of the coun-
try since 1895 prevailing, it was inSDir-
ing to see the most prominent citizens
and coal mine managers jump on horses
and rush to the rescue of the unfor-
tunates.
There is no question that there win
be more snow slides in the district with
In the next twenty-four hours.
OTHER SLIDES REPORTED.
Denver. March IA special to the
Times from Telluride. Colo, says:
Today broke bright and clear in the
city but clouds still hang over the
mountains. A large searching party left
this morning to resume the search for
the dead buried under the snow Tele-
phone lines from this city to the mines
and TO Denver are down.
A slide occurred this morning in Mar
shall Basin at the Sheridan mine. John
H Johns, a miner, was killed. He was
43 years old and left wife and one
child. who have only been in this coun-