The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-06-10
charges. They yer invariably &C.
quilted, however.
Blown Up by Dynamite.

Blown Up by Dynamite.
Cripple Creek, June S. - Thirteen
men were killed by the explosion of an
internal machine at the railroad sta
ton in independence yesterday. and
seven others were seriously injured
Eleven men were killed outright. and
one died later from his wounds. All
the killed and injured, with the excep-
ton of two men from the Deadwood
mine, were non-union miners EN-.
ployed on the night shift of the Find
ley mine. The men had quit work at
2 a. m. and were waiting to board a
suburban train on the Florence e
Cripple Creek railroad and return to
their homes in Cripple Creek and
Victor, Just after the engineer of the
approaching train blew his whistle as
a signal to the miners, according to
custom,
A Terrific Explosion
occurred underneath the station plat
form, on and nea which twenty-six
men were gathered. The platform a
blown into splinters, the station was
wrecked and a hole twenty feet in cir
conference and about as many feet in
depth was torn in the ground. Frag-
ments OF bodies were hurled through
space for several hundred feet and
later were picked up still ~quivering.
Some of the bodies dropped into the
pit made by the explosion, but heads,
hands. ears, legs. arms and trunks
were strewn about on all sides. Pieces
Of flesh were found on buildings 500
feet away and bloodstained everything
within a radius of fifty feet. The force
of the explosion was felt throughout
the camp and the
Crash Awakened Everybody.
The approaching train was stopped
and the train crew were the first men
to reach the scene of the disaster.
They were Joined in a few minutes by
hundreds of persons and relief work
was begun at once. A special train
was sent from Cripple Creek carrying
physicians. nurses. officers and many
others, but when it reached indie
pendence the injured had already been
placed on board the suburban train
and removed to the hospital in Victor
The mangled bodies of the dead,
pieced together as we'll as possible
were removed to the c%oroner's Office.
Amputation has been geerformed
upon a number Of wounded but it is
almost certain that several Of them
will die. A majority of the dead and
wounded were single men. but several
had families in the district.
How DiaboIicaI Work Was Done.
The internal machine with which
the diabolical work was done consist
ed of a quantity of dynamite. estima-
ted at from 100 to 800 pounds, a
loaded revolver and a long. slender
steel wire attached to the trigger. The
revolver was fastened so that the pull
ing Of the trigger would not draw it
away. The wire ran from under the
station to the cribbing Of the Delmon-
leo property. about four hundred feet
away. where it's end was fastened to
a rung of a chair. The dynamite was
placed close to the muzzle of the re-
volver. which was discharged by pull
ing the wire when the engineer blew
his whistle. The ball from the re-
volver exploded the dynamite.
B~loodhounds on the Trail.
A mar was seen running down the
hill from the Delmonico after the ex-
plosion. The Victor troops, who were
ordered out by Maj. French. were so
stationed as to keep people from pass
ing over the path taken by this man
and bloodhounds were sent from Can
yon city and Trinidad for the purpose
of trailing the assassin.
Without explanation and with a
suddenness that has caused great sur
prise, Sheriff Henry M. Robertson
yesterday afternoon resigned his po-
sition and Edward Bell was named to
succeed him by the county commits
%sioners. Bell is a member of the
citizens alliance.
City Marshal O'Connell of Victor
was suspended by Mayor French and
Maj. H. A. Naylor was appointed pro-
visional marshal. O'Connell yielded,
although he was strongly urged by
union miners to resist.