Amador ledger., 1904-08-26
THREE MEN KILLED
AT THE ARGONAUT
Supposed by Premature Blast Caus-
ed by Defective Fuse.

y
Argonaut mine about II O'Clock Wed
nesday morning. Four men, named
William J. Curnow, A. Scatena, M
Quinn, and William Jewell, were en-,
gagged in sinking operations. 1t is GUS
tOmary TO prepare from Is to % holes,
and charge them; the last duty being
| to light the fuse, each man lighting
one fourth of the fuses. 1t takes not
more than from half to one minute to
do the work. Naturally it is done
quickly. to enable the men to get out
of the way. The fuses are 8 feet in
length, and they are timed to burn
about Al minutes before the blast goes
off. The kind of fuse used on this oc-
casion is called the Insoloid fuse. II
had recently been adopted at the Argo-
naut because of its slowness in burning.
1t had been repeatedly timed, and
found more uniformly slow than other
fuses, and for this reason was used. It
comes in coils, 100 feet to a coil. On
the occasion in question one of the
fuses burned with extraordinary q uick-
ness, the blast going off in fact before
the men had completed the lighting OF
the other fuses. 1T is supposed that
the three men killed, namely, Curnow,
Scatena and Quinn, were so badly
crippled by the premature blast that
they were unable to get out of the way,
and were thus exposed to all the sue
ceeding blasts, nine or ten in mum Der.
They were mangled almost beyond
recognition. William Jewell, althoug h
struck in the side by piece OF rock
the size of walnut, which plowed a
grove in his back for 8iuches, managed
to make good his escape to shelter
after the first premature explosion oc-
CURED. He is not seriously injured.
AS soon after the explosion as pos
sible the remains of the three young
men. who we're SO suddenly called from
life to death. were brought to the sur
face. 1t was sight calculated 10 un-
nerve the stoutest heart TO see the
mutilated remains of those who only d
few minutes before were in the full
vigor of manhond's prime:
The bodies were removed as soon as
possible to the undertaking parlors of
w. E. Kent, to await the cproner's in
quest. Coroner Huberty was away at
the time in the mountaips. He was
sent for, and came down the same night
to conduct an investigation of the awful
disaster.
The particular brand of fuse is the
same that is used in the Kennedy,
Oneida, and other mines AROUND here.
1t had been selected because it was re-
garded as the safest and most uniform.
1t is impossible to deteet imperfections
in fuse from outward appearance.
William Curnow had been the victim
of several accidents in mines. He lost
a portion of his hand by mishap in a
mine at Amador City some years ago.
He had been working at the Argonaut
but short time, when be was caught
by premature blast and laid up for
over two weeks. Upon his recovery
he asked superintendent ]. B. Francis
for surface job, as he bad been so
peculiarly unfortunate in underground
work that he was disinclined to return.
He was told that when opportunity
presented he would be given employ
ment on the surface, and thereupon re-
turned to work in the shaft, for the
first time after his previous accident,
on the fatal morning of Wed nesday.
He leaves wife, who is in poor health,
also three children residing ip sptter
Creek. He was only SO years Of age.
Deceased was brother of Mrs. c. II.
Crocker of Jackson. His body was
not SO mutilated as the 9thers, the
features being distinguishahle.
Amerigo Seatena was young man
of about 18 years, a nephew of M.
Scatena. The remains when recovered
were fearfully mutilated. The head
was completely gone, blackened mass
of flesh and powder marked clothing
around the neck being left. The body
was pitted with wounds where the rock
had been hurled against him. When
the explosion occurred be must have
been in close proximity to and facing
one of the exploding charges, receiving
the full force in his face,
Michael Quinn was ABOUT q years of
age. He leaves wife, II years of age,
who only two weeks ago gave birth to
twin daughters, as announced in these
columns last week. His body from the
shoulders down was sadly mangled.
One foot was blown off, and otherwise
terribly disfgured. The features we're
recog nizable.
INQUEST.
An Inquest was held Thursday by
Coroner Huberty before the following
jurors: G. M. Kelley, G. L. Thomas,
]. H. Langhorst. U S Gregory, Chris
Curilich, L. Glavinovich, Frank Sim
cich, J. Gluckfelt, ". p. Dufrene,
and w. MITCHELL. William Jewell,
the sole survivor, was unable to
leave his bed on ACCOUNT of the
injuries sustained. The jury pro-
ceeded to his residence on Water street
and heard his testimony. He said he
was working in the shaft attending
chuck, his partner being NJ. Quinn.