Evening star., 1902-03-01
CAUGHT As4OWSL|DE
Fourteen Meaa Il ( nown & to Have
Beerl|lKMed. \
OTHERS ARE 3 MISSING
DISASTER occpEBatD AT MINE
NEAR rn1tuRrDE, COL.
NJ
Terrific Avalanche Swept Down Noun
tain, Carrying Everything Before
It-Followed by Others.

TELLURIDE, Col, March 1.-Fourteen
men are known to have been killed an un-
known number buried under the snow and
twelve badly injured persons are in the
/ hospital, while several other men who were
hurt are at their homes. as the result of
snow slide at Smuggler mountain yester-
day. It Is believed that few, IL any, more
bodies can be recovered, until the snow
melts. The most lucid account of the first
snowslide was given by L. NJ. Umsted who
Is employed in packing ore from crusher
to the tram station. He was in the stable
saddling his animals when he heard a ter
rife crashing and rattiing. The stable grew
suddenly dark and opening the door, he
found the outside total.y dark and the air
| filled with flying snow. Thinking it was a
terrific gust Of wind he slammed the stable
door shut and waited few minutes. He
peered through 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 and could see
no signs of the boarding house and bunk
house Then looking down the hill he saw
boards and timbers sticking out OF the
snow and scattered about.
He then went up to where the ore and
tram house had stood. and, seizing hold OF
what he thought was a piece of overalls,
Found Mutilated Body.
Tearing away the snow and boards. he
pulled out the body Of Gus Kraul. The
body was terribly mutflated the head being
crushed until 1t was no thicker than the
two hands laid fatty together. c. l.. Glenn
mer it is said, was sitting at his desk max
ing out the time Of the employees Of the
mine when the crash came, and all the
Of he recording
of those employed were destroyed. The ex-
act number Of men who were caught In the
slide Is not known, but there were probably
not less than twenty In the bunk house and
boarding house when they were swept
away. Fortunately a large majority OF the
$50 miners employed in the Liberty Bell
mine were either in the mine or absent In
town at the time of the accident. 1t had
been showing for three days, and the snow
and fog were SO dense when the slide came
down that it was impossible for one to see
| ten feet ahead.
| The accident broke the telephone circuit,
| and several hours elapsed before a mes
Senger reached town with tidings Of the
disaster. All the doctors available and
many citizens hurried up the mountain to
lend assistance in digging out the dead and
| injured. Seven bodies 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 1nJur1ng
| a number OF others.
4
This was followed by two more snow
| slides, In which five lives were sacrificed.
AS the storm still continued and the work
| Of rescue could only be carried on under
| the most extreme danger to the living. and
as it was believed that no more Of those
buried under the snow could be alive, 1t
was decided to abandon the search for
| bodies until it can be prosecuted with
| greater safety.
Drs. Allen and Delaney, who went up to
attend the victims Of the first snowslide,
were caught in the second. The former sus-
| tained severe injuries about his lower limbs
and the latter escaped uninjured. Both
| were carried down distance Of more than
| fifty feet. but managed to extricate them
| selves.
| George Rohrer, 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 forty years
4 old.
The damage to the mine property Is esti-
| mated at 5000
| 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 considered
| safe from slides and the building site was
selected on this account
| It is believed there will be more snow
| slides in the district within the next twen-
| ty-four hours.