Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1909-07-17
TRAGIC DEATH
OF YOUNG MEN
AT MANHATTAN

X. EDWARD HOPF.
ROY PARR.
Manhattan was visited Sunday last
by the siren hand of Fate which
cut down three lives in a most tragic
manner. A. j. Elton, X. Edward
Hopf aud Roy Parr, three young
men who were working a lease in
the Pine Tree camp. lie cold in
death, while an entire community
hangs its head in sorrow.
AT precisely 8 o'clock Sunday aft
ernoon the camp of Manhattan was
horror-stricken to learn that three
lives had been snuffed out in the
shaft on the Tyke lease ON the
Charley Boy claim. In the stump at
the bottom of the 50-foot shaft the
l~ifeless bodies Of the victims told
the story of the saddest occurrence
that had ever visited the camp. AS
near as can be learned the facts are
as follows:
A gasoline engine was in the bot
tom of the shaft and was used to
pump water to the surface. 1t is
supposed that the person who last
stopped the engine for got to close
one of the two gasoline ~injectors,
thereby allowing the engine to leak.
Several hours after, an effort was
made by Elton to set the machine in
motion. He was unsuccessful and
came from the bottom of the shaft
to seek his partner, Parr, who was
always called upon to start the en-
CINE when it refused to work.
Parr and Hopf descended the
shaft, while Elton remained on the
surface. The latter remarked that
there was considerable gas at the
bottom. The former had but little
more than reached the lower levels
when the explosion occurred. Elton
went to investigate with the result
that he was overcome by gas and
} fell unconscious into the stump,
which was filled with water to a
) depth of eight feet.
> While the exact cause leading to
l their death will never be known, 1t
is generally believed that the leak
> age from the gasoline engine caused
? the shaft to become filled with gas,
7 It is believed that either Parr OF
Hopf struck a match, which caused
the explosion, rendering them un-
conscious and causing them to fall
4, into the stump where they were un-
, doubtedly drowned. As soon as pos
sible their bodies were removed to
the surface.
Neither of the bodies is badly
> burned, there being but few marks
to tell of the explosion. A coroner's
inquest was held yesterday, but the
facts adduced before that body have
not yet reached this city as up to the
I hour of going to press no verdict
had been arrived at.
2 All three of the young men were
l known in Tonopah. Elton is a mem
e Der of the local lodge of Knights OF
I Pythias. His body will be shipped
from Manhattan this morning and
=. the funeral will be held in this city
y under the Knights of Pythias. The
: body of Parr is now on its way to
ITonopah, from which place 1t will
be shipped to California for inter
ment. Mrs. Parr, mother of the UNI
fortunate young man, is now in
, Reno. The father, John Parr, q
well known mining man, cannot be
9 located. He is somewhere near
: Searchlight looking after mining in
1 %terests. Tom Kendall will take
4 charge of the young mans remains
: when they arrive in this city pend
e ing news as to the young mans
: father. Hopf's father wired yester-
day from San Francisco that he
would start for Manhattan this
{ morning, and to hold the body unit
he reached there when he would