Columbia courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1902-1905, 1904-01-29
MINERS NET AWFUL DEATH
SIXTEEN employees OF THE IN.
DEPENDENCE MINE.

Hoisted to the Surface When the
Engine Refused to Work and Cage
Went Up to the Gallows Frame aud
Cable Broke-Dropped l,5OO Feet.
Victor, Colo, Jan. 27.-As result
of all accident which occurred about 8
O'Clock in the morning at the Stratton
Independence mine, located near the
center of the cit0y. Is men are dead
and several others injnrded.
In the main shaft of the mine l6
men were being hoisted in the cage
from the sixth, seventh and eighth le-
wells. When the cage got to the sur
face in the shaft house the engineer,
for some reason unexplained, was I'M
able to stop the enigne, and the cage
with its load of human freight was
drawn up into the gallows frame,
where it became lodged temporarily.
The strain on the cable caused it to
part, releasing the casge, which went
down the shaft at a terrific momentum.
Two of the occupants of the cage, how
ever, had become entangled with the
timber rods near the top of the gall
lows frame, and one of them, L. P.
jackson, was crushed to death by the
sheave wheel falling on him. The
other, James Bullock, had marvellous
escape from death. but received pain
full injuries. He was rescued from his
perilous position by men in the shaft
house. The shift boss and number OF
miners later went down into the mine
through another compartment of the
shaft and found that all of the IA men
who started with the cage on its wild
flight of LOGO feet to the bottom of the
shaft were dead, their bodies being
scattered at the stations at different
points.
Their arms and bodies were mangled,
their heads crusehd and their clothing
stripped from their bodies. From the
700 foot level to the bottom the shaft
is spattered with blood, with here and
there pieces of flesh clinging the to
projections. At the bottom of the
shaft stands 25 feet of water, and into
this the cage plunged. Some of the
men were carried with the cage into
this stump.
Manager Thomas Cornish was pros.
trated by the news of the accident and
is unable to offer any explanation of
the affair.
A squad of military has taken
charge of the property and citizens
will not be allowed to enter the mine
or shaft house until after a thorough
examination of the machinery has been
made by competent engineers.
Frank Gelesse. the engineer in
charge of the machinery when the ac-
cident occurred, surrendered himself
to the military and was locked up in
the bull pen. He would not express
any opinion as to how the cage got be.
yond control. Gelesse is newcomer
in the district, but is said to have been
strongly recommended as competent
engineer.
Most of the victims were strangers
in the district-from the Occur
d 'Alenes, the Lake Superior mines and
other districts-to take the places of
the strikers in Cripple Creek.
The bodies buried at the bottom of
the stump have not yet been recovered.
Nearly all the men killed leave Wild
ows and children.
Harry Goegen had wife and three
children, who are in Michigan.
w. b. Collins was Baptist minister
and preached on Sundays at Goldfield.
He was 38 years old and came from
Cornwall, England, a few months ago.
Edward Twiggs and Frank Cochrane
were from the Occur d'Alenes.
The accident is believed to have
been due to defect in the hoisting en-
CINE or the brake connections, which
are controlled by air. The engine is a
first motion double reel, and the two
cages work as counterbalances. The
cages each weigh nearly two tons.
In starting the cage from the 900 foot
level this morning with the 900 miners
aboard, steam was used; but after the
cage had gone upward certain dis.
was shut off by engineer Frank Gellese
and the weight of counter balancing of
descending cage n another compart-
ment was allowed to bring the load of
miners to the surface, as is the custom.
When the cage with the 16 miners
arrived at the surface in the shaft
hounse Engineer Gellese told of his
horror when he saw the brakes would
not work. Similar accidents, in
which no lives were lost, have occurred
twice at the Independence with the
same engines. Expert engineers will
be secured to examine the engine and
determine the actual cause, if possible