Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1903-02-21
MINE ACCIDENT.
ONE MAN KILLED AND SEVERAL lN-
JURED At DOUGLASS MINE.
Accident the Result Of Carelessly Thaw-
ing Powder In the Mine.

Bluestone mine that an explosion of
powder had taken place in the Doug
lass mine, and that one man had been
killed and several badly injured.
DIR. Cox was sent for Immediately,
and he, accompanied by A. F. Whit
man, and Miss Cora Pursel, as nurse,
departed at once for the scene of the
accident. The Douglass mine is sit
uated about eight miles west of this
place, lying between the Bluestone
on the south and the Ludwig on the
north, and has recently been pur-
chased by company which is to do
considerable development work on
it. When the physician and attend
ants arrived at the mine it was found
that one man, w. J. Vance, had been
killed and Henry Fish, Jim Harris
and Robert Barnes quite badly in
jured, while Julius Reymers was
somewhat scratched up and Dick
Wade and George Rallens had been
nearly asphyxiated by gas. Harris
walked as far as the Bluestone, and
from there was brought to Yering-
ton by his father. The other men
were made g comfortable possible
| at the mine. The accident was caused
by the explosion of gas in the mine,
caused by the burning of about 100
pounds of powder which had acct
dentally been set on fire while being
tina wed. The mine is being worked
through a tunnel which runs in
about 40 feet and then turns slightly
to. the left. In I65 feet a crosscut
runs off to the right short distance,
at right angles and connects with an
air shaft A drift also starts from
| this I65-toot junction and runs off to
the right distance of about IS feet,
at an angle of about as degrees. In
the face of this drift is where the
powder was kept. From the 65-foot
| junction the tunnel extends in to the
lett, at an angle of about 80 degrees,
distance of so feet, where station
has been cut out and Wine started.
Beyond this point it is about 40 feet
to the face of the tunnel. All of the
men were working in beyond the
I65 foot junction, some in the Wine,
others in crosscuts and Harris in the
face. Julius Reymers, carman,
when going into the tunnel little
bet ore four o'clock, discovered, when
reaching the I65-foot junction, that
the powder in the 85-foot drift was
on fire. He gave the alarm and ran
for the mouth of the tunnel. Bob
Ba rnes, it seems, was the only man
who heard the warning. He also
hallowed to the other boys and with
Fish started for open air. The smoke
l,a., hA0 rDl< al
lens, Wade and Harris heard the
ruinbling noise made by the burning
powder and also started for outside.
Vance was in front of Harris, and
when they reached the I65-foot juno
ton they ran into the car left stand
ing there. Their lights were put
ami they were knocked down. Har-
ris managed to get past the car and
con tinue on towards the mouth,
Re vmers, Barnes and Fish reached
this open air, Wade and Rallens took
the drift to the air shaft, and Harris
had almost reached the mouth of the
tunnel when there was a deafen1ng
report and he was hurled up against
the side of the blacksmith shop, 80
feet distant from the mouth of the
tunnel. Barnes, who was about to
re-cnter the tunnel to look after the
men who had not come out, was
thrown over 100 feet into a trestle
on the dump, and Fish, who was on
the same mission as Barnes, was
knocked down and partially covered
with rocks and dirt from the chollar
of the tunnel. Just about this time
Supt. Green arrived at the mine
from Yerington, where he had been
for supplies. He, with Ed Gundry
AMI +. ]. Donohue, the blacksmith,
Immediately started into the mine,
but several times were driven back
by the gas. They finally reached
the drift running out to the air
shaft, where Green found Rallens
and Wade and took them out. They
were nearly overcome with gas, but
otherwise not injured. The next
trip in the body of Vance was found
in the bottom of the 6-toot Wine in
the station and brought out by DON
ohue. The injuries received by the
men are as follows: Fish has lower
right rib broken, bad cut on leg
and minor bruises. Barnes shoulder
and leg are badly bruised by coming
in contact with treStle, and he has
other bruises. These two boys are
resting easily at DR.. Cox's place in
Yerington. Jim Harris had his face
and nose badly bruised and skinned
and his leg injured. He is at home
in Yerington, and not confined to the
house. Julius Reymers, the least
hurt of any, had his face scratched
some by falling down. Dick Wade
and Geo. Rallens have recovered
from their dose of gas, and all of the
above will probably be to work again
inside of couple of weeks. w. J..
Vance, the man who was killed, had