The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-28
BURY TOWNS
Mining Vii ages Overwhelmed
by an Avalanche.
Houses and Occupants Under 80
Feet of Snow.
1T CAME IN THE NIGHT
And the Noise Was Heard Five
Miles Away.
The Dead Are Thought to Num-
ber so or 60.
1T CAME IN THE NIGHT

spokane, WaSh., Feb. 2S.-In swift
succession two terrible disasters have
carried death and dismay to the min
ing towns of the rich Coeur D'Alene
district in northern Idaho At 1926
o'clock last night a snow slide swept
down the mountain side, striking the
little town of Mace and burying 25
houses and their sleeping occupants
IN mass of snow, ice and wreck at
the bottom of the canyon. At $50
a. M, another slide rushed down on
the town of Burke, crushing a score
of houses under thousands of tons
of earth and snow. Fourteen bodies
have been recovered already from the
ruins of Mace; 16 dead have been
found at Burke and how many are
still buried can only be guessed at.
1t is feared fifty or sixty lives have
been lost.
There is fear that the number of
dead at Burke may be even larger
than that at Mace. Every man who
can be spared from the rescue work
at Mace has been appealed to. Doc
tors are being rushed from Wallace
and another special train leaves in
an hour.
Thirty Feet Deep.
From the foot of the Anchor mine
plant to the Catholic church, about
half a mile, the slide is 80 feet deep.
When the alarm spread through the
almost wiped out by landslide,
mothers, wives and children of min
ers employed at the Hecla, Hercules,
Anchor and caretakers at the old Tig-
er Poor Man" mine began to seek
places of safety. Wives and families
peals from Mace were unable to
move and these may have been buried
in the snow.
Because of the larger population of
closer together.
Mothers hauled their children to
the side hills; brothers literally drag
ged little sisters to places of safety
and when the slide struck, many of
the homes were deserted by fear
stricken women and children, while
the breadproviders were rescuing in
jured at the stricken sister town.
Old timers in the Coeur d'Alene dis
trict have been sounding daily warn
ings to Mace, Burke and Black Bear
that because of the record depth of the
snow. slides were imminent. For 16
winters these towns have escaped de-
vastating slides and so strong had the
confidence of the miner residents been
in the conviction that their homes and
families were safe that no precautions
had been taken.
The bodies of the following have been
recovered by the 1000 men sent to Mace
from Wallace, the Hecla and Hercules
mines and smaller properties in that
vicinity:
The Dead.
l. H. PASCOE, superintendent of the
Standard mine.
IRA H. PASCOE, son of Standard su-
perintendent
EDDIE PASCOE.
INEZ PASCOE
MRS. GEORGE FERNWELL.
MRS. A. r. LEARD.
JOHN FENNELL.
MRS. ED KITTRELL and two chill
dren.
- THOMPSON, section foreman of
the o. r. & N, buried under car in 10
feet of water in the river.
Rescued Alive.
These have been rescued. some SER
iously injured:
Mr. and Mrs. G. Duncan.
Mr.. and Mrs. Bert Barnett.
Mr.. and Mrs. William Brandt.
Mrs. Abe Kettrell and son.
Mrs. George Hooper.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cohn.
Mrs. I H. Pascoe.
Tom Flanagan.
Mr.. and Mrs. Paul Edwards and four
children.
C. R. Hubben.
Mr.. and Mrs. Albert Champagne.
Leroy Hooper.
Mrs Charles Hooper, reported dead
at first
Thirty-five Italians sleeping in an
outfit car on the Northern Pacific sid
car in the bottom of the canyon, used
the tools in their car to dig themselves
out. At 4 o'clock this morning, all
but one laborer had been accounted
for.
superintendent and Mrs. 1. H.
Pascoe, of the Standard mine, in
which property a large majority of
the male residents of Mace are en-
ployed. were asleep when their home
was crushed like an egg shell, two
sons and a daughter being instantly
killed. Mr.. Pascoe is missing, but his
wife was rescued, slightly injured.
With a bitter wind blowing, every
available man within ten miles of
Mace was rushed at midnight to the
little mining town, where bonfires
were built, torches lighted and the
wood in crushed houses used for fuel
to keep the workers warm.
Shovelers were brought from hard
ware stores in several towns in the
canyon, special trains bringing tools
and food. The scene in and around
Burke following the slide was appal-
ling. The whole village with its 900
Inhabitants was thrown into a panic.
Older heads at once began to seek
places of safety for their wives and
children.
Hundreds of men were awakened by
fire bells from their beds in Wallace
as soon as the extent of the catastro-
phe became known. Special trains
were made up and hurried to Mace
every abled-bodied man in Wallace
started for the scene. Mace lies be-
tween precipitous mountain sides,
struggling line of cottages in the creek
bottoms. bisected by the lines of the
Northern Pacific and oregon Railway
& Navigation companies Its one in
dustry is mining and its big mine is
the Standard.
with scarce dividing line percepti-