Amador ledger., 1907-12-06
DISASTROUS FIRE
In FREMONT MINE
Thirteen Men Descend into the Burning Shaft
Only Two Escape.

dinner, eleven men lost their lives as
the result of a fire which started in
some unaccountable way in the Fire.
mont mine duiing the noon hour,
while two others barely escaped after
three hou.s of wandering through the
come up at about ten minutes to
twelve. After dinner thirteen work
men, which was the first load down,
started down the shaft, having no
idea that the mine was on fire. The
skip contained two Austrians, five
Italians and four Americans, who
we're riding the bail, the others being
in the bottom. Just as they passed
the ten hundred foot level it seems
that those on top smelled the smoke
for the first time, and signaled to the
engineer to stop, which he did By
the time he had stopped the skip was
about thirty feet below the level.
Antoine Penotti, an Italian, and who
was one of the two to escape, says
that the first he knew that an acct
dent had occurred was when the men
above him commenced to fight, and
fell into the skip and onto him.
Beirg III the bottom of the skip he
did not know that there was a fire.
1t is supposed that the heat became
so great that one, OF maybe more of
the men on top the skip stepped out
and started for the ladder, but in the
excitement some one rang the bell to
hoist. According to Penotti the skip
moved only about tour feet, having
run over one man and cutting him
frightfully. The skip then turned
over, so that the only way left to get
out was by climbing to the level
above and going through the drifts to
the Cover shaft, which is about eight
hundred feet away. The two mines
are connected through the seven and
thirteen hundred levels of the Fire.
mont, and the draft at the time the
accident to the skip occurred, was
going down the Fremont shaft and up
through the Cover, so that they had
been lowered almost to the fire before
they knew there was any.
As soon>as the skip became iammed.
Penotti and his partner, &.
Bologne, an Italian, climbed to the
top of the skip. But one OF the men
grabbed the former by the foot and
asked him to help him out. Penotti
told him to let go of his foot until
he could get out his matches to light
a candle, all of which had gone out
during the scuff1e. But he acct
dentally dropped the box, so he call
ed to his partner to follow, and start
ed to climb the ladder to the ten
hundred drift, leaving the others to
their fate. He says that two others
started to follow but when he got to
the level he did not see them and
supposed that they had gone back to
help out the others. AS soon as they
got to the level they broke the only
candle in two that they had and lit
the parts with match Bologne found
in his pocket. Penotti says that he
reached out to pull the bell, but just
as he did so flames shot up from be-
low and the heat was so great that he
could not stand it, so the two ran for
their lives. At this point there are
two drifts, one south and the other
north. 1t is fortunate that the two
men took the north drift, or they
would never have been able to have
reached the surface. Both men were
almost totally ignorant of the work
ings of the mine, having been there
only short time, but they knew
that the mines were connected on
the seven hundred level, so they made
for it. They would try a stope and
lind that it led to nothing, but final
ly they came to the right one, and
climbed 10 the seven hundred level.
As soon as they got into this their
candles were blown out on account of
the strong draft, so they had to crawl
on their hands and knees for about
eight hundred feet to the Cover
shaft. They had reached a place of
safety after more than three hours of
wandering through a mine of which
they knew little about, and not know
ing what minute was to be their last.
When the engineer found that he
couldn't move the skip he notified
larry Osborne that an accident had
occurred. Osborne Immediately
jumped into the other skip and start
, ed down to see what was the matter