Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-01
DEATH N SNONaL|D[
Further Particulars OF the Ava
lanche Which Killed Miners
Near Telluride.
Boarding Houses Filled With the
Unfortunate Men Hurled
Down Hillside.
The Number Of Dead Not Yet
Known, But May Reach One
Hundred.

Telluride, Col, March line NINE
buildings and bunk house of the LIB
| erty Bell mine We're completely buriec
under the avalanche of snow tha'
swept into the gulches hundreds of feel
| below Friday morning. 1t is Impossible
| to ascertain the number of lives lost
hut II Is estimated to be anywhere from
ten to thirty.
The bunk house, which was crushed
like an egg-shell by the mountain OF
wet and frozen snow as it came tearing
down the steep mountain side. was
crowded with miners at the fatal mo-
ment. A few of these, by almost SUI
| perhuman efforts, managed to extricate
/ themselves from among the broken
| timbers and dig their way out of the
snow. Many however, who We're not
killed outright were manned and car
ried down into the awful maelstrom of
debris, snow and earth to horrible
death in the gulches below.
| AT noon a courier arrived from the
scene of the accident with the news
| that many bodies had already been re-
| covered and were being carried down
the mountain sides upon the shoulders
| of those who escaped to the morgue at
Telluride. Communication with the
mine is entirely cut off. and until the
messengers who We're hastily sent to
the mine upon receipt of the first news
of the accident return, the details OF the
awful catastrophe will not be hsown.
The trail leading to the Liberty Bell
mine is fully three miles long and is
one of the most difficult to ascend in
the entire San Juan country. Especial
ly hard is the trail to climb at this
season of the year, when the snow fs
deep and the weather severely cold. AT
o'clock yesterday afternoon power
full glass was directed toward the trail
leading up to the Liberty Bell. Squads
of miners carrying bodies of their I'M
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 task could be seen to lose his
footing, stumble and fall carrying
those near him down. The body bear
ers would pick themselves up. raise the
lifeless form, and again start down the
dangerous trail.
Another snow slide occurred on
Smuggler mountain yesterday after
noon. burying about forty men who
were engaged in rescuing the men
buried in the first slide.
Several persons (mostly IVinns)
reached the city at noon. but were-coo
excited and frightened to give any de-
tails. The foreigners are superstitfous
and believe that accidents like that of
yesterday morning are preordained and
come as punishment. Yesterdays
catastrophe following so soon after the
terrible fire at the Smuggler-U Union
Ia few months ago, in which a number
of lives We're lost has unnerved them.
Following is a list of the dead whose
bodies have been recovered: S. F.
Clemmer, timekeeper at the Liberty
Bell mine; John Marshall Henry Bau-
er. s. C. Lenner, Charles Ummerland,
Gus Swanson, James Conley Joseph
Hennessey and Harry Trowbridge
Charles Hall, who was reported TO nave
been killed, was rescued alive. 1t rs be-
lieyed that the loss of life in the first
slide will not exceed thirty.
The Liberty Bell mine is one OF the
three largest mines in the district, the
Smuggler-Union and the Tom Boy be-
ing the other two. 1t is owned by
Kansas City people, the name OF the
company being the Liberty Bell Gold
Mining and Milling Company. Mr..
WinsIow. of San Miguel county, is the
manager. The Liberty Bell is located
about mile and three quarters north
of Telluride, and has an altitude or
about 1900 feet at the mouth OF the
tunnel More than 200 men are en-
ployed in the mine, and both day and
night shifts are worked. The build
incs of the mine occupy ledge on the
mountain side, and We're erected in
location that was supposed to be pro-
tected from snow slides by ridge that
was thought would divert the course
of any avalanche that might be start
ed The vast accumulation OF snow
within the past two weeks, however,
gave the slide yesterday such volume
that nothing could stay its progress
until it reached the bottom of the can
yon.
Leadville, Col. March 1.-The most
terrible snowslide ever known in Colo
RADIO. which caused the death of from
sixty to seyenty-five men, occurred at
Liberty Bell mine on Smuggler noun
tain yesterday. Altho the scene of the
disaster is scarcely two miles from this
town, information is difficult to obtain.
owing to the precipitous character of
the roads and the vast amount of snow.
Nearly all the buildings of the Liberty
Bell mine were carried down by the
slide. all the books which show the
number and names of the men being
lost, so that the death list can hardly
be known for many hours, possibly not
until the rescuers have removed the
immense quantity of snow rocks and
logs from the canyon in which the VIC
Tins lie buried.
1t seems that two slides occurred
practically in the same place, the sec
ond burying those who We're trying to
rescue the victims of the first. The
first slide occurred at 1880 o'clock in
the morning, while the men of the day
shift were preparing for their days
work About 200 men are employed in
the mines and mills of the Liberty Bell
Company, and less than half these were
at work at the time of the accident.
The others were in the boarding house
or in the clubhouse near by. Both
these buildings We're carried down the
mountain side a distance of 1000 feet
o,,d cruchad IN kipdjipg wood nv tons