The Colorado statesman., 1908-01-25
RESCUED FROM
LIVING TOMB
THREE NEVADA MINERS ARB
BROUGHT TO THE SURFACE
UNFRAMED.
AFTER FORTY.SIX DAYS
WERE IMPRISONED MORE THAN
ONE THOUSAND FEET UN-
DER GROUND.

Ely, Nev-After having been en-
tombed forty-six days in the Alpha
shaft of the Giroux mine, A. D. Bailey,
been rescued. At $3.50 Saturday night
Bailey was brought out. Fourteen min
utes later Mcdonald came to the sur
face, while ten minutes afterward
Brown was brought up.
Whistles all over the district blew
loudly, while crowds cheered in the
streets of Ely, while every bell in the
town was ringing.
About o'clock the fact that an en-
try to the surface of the debris in the
main way had been effected was tele-
phoned to the men anxiously waiting
on top. The entombed men had been
working several hours in digging their
way to freedom from the 1,00O-foot
level, the rescuers at the same time do
ing all in their power TO remove the
earth that was blocking the mouth OF
the 1,000-foot tunnel.
To the anxious crowd waiting around
the shaft mouth the bell signalled
"One, two, three, hoist away" and
upon realization of this fact, loud
cheer burst from the throng. Sud
denly the bucket rose to the surface
In it was one Of the rescue party sup
porting Bailey.
His first coherent question as he
was being half led, half carried to the
shaft house was about his wife.
Mrs. Bailey was not present, one of
her children being i'll, and she pre-
ferred to meet her husband at their
home, where no throng of curious peo-
pie would be watching. Bailey soon de-
clared himself sufficiently rested to
make the trip, where he went soon
afterward, supported on either side by
a friend.
Another shout of joy echoed when
Fred Mcdonald was brought out and
given to the care of those anxiously
waiting, brother and several friends.
Peter Brown received as great an
ovation from the crowd as either OF the
others.
On the morning of December 4th.
Mcdonald, Brown and Bailey and two
Greeks were working in the bottom of
the three compartment shaft, eighty
five feet below the pump station and
LOSS feet below the surface. The
cave-in occurred at 9 o'clock. The
cable used to haul the cage from the
third compartment of the shaft
snapped and thousands of tons OF
rocks, debris and timbers fell down
into the shaft. From the bottom OF
the compartment in which the men
were working to the pumping station,
a distance of eighty five feet, a series
of rickety ladders offered the only
means of escape.
With falling rocks and timbers
streaming down upon them, the five
men struggled up these ladders. Half
way up falling timbers knocked the
two Greeks from the ladder, killing
them. Bailey, Mcdonald and Brown
managed to reach the pump station.
Its well timbered room withstood
the rock and timber that came down
the shaft, and offered them shelter and
safety. Here for the first day after
the cave-in the men crouched, while
at intervals they could hear the rocks
and timbers crashing above them.
At first it was thought that all the
men had perished, but twenty-four
hours after the cave-in the three men
who occupied the pumping station
magaged to make themselves heard by
tapping upon the siX-inch water pipe
that stretched from the pumping sta
ton to the surface.
1t was this pipe that was the means
of saving the lives of the men. When
communication was once established
with the world above and the men
made known the fact that they were
still alive, food and water were low
cred through the pipe. A large sup
ply was sent down, as it was thought
possible that the pipe communication
might be cut off before the rescuing
party could reach the imprisoned men,
but throughout their long weeks Of i'm
prisonment this pipe has been in daily
use. A portable telephone was low
cred and the men were able to talk
with the people above. This telephone
has been In almost constant use,
friends sending them by it's means the
news of the outside world and mes
sages of cheer.
The work of rescue was most peril
GUS and the men who were engaged in
1t, the pick of the best miners and
timber men in the camp worked in
two-hour shifts. There was constan,
danger that the loose mass through
which they were working would give
way and each man worked with a
rope about his waist, SO that If sud
denly deprived of footing they would
not fall, but could reach the cage and
be drawn up.