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Show Park City Disaster. 'pHE NEWS from Park City on Wednesday, that a snowslide had swept away the Quincy sharr house, burying nine miners in cold graves, has been the general topic of conversation since that fatal occurrence. occur-rence. Sympathy for the brave men, whose lives are daily exposed to accidents, acci-dents, was general. Without a moment's mo-ment's warning the deadly avalanche came down from the mountain top, and as it gathered strength and velocity in its downward march, when it reached the ill-fated shaft house it was irresistible. irre-sistible. The building was cleared from its moorings and carried away by the ! force of the thunder bolt of snow; nine I men, who were faithfully performing their day's work, were entombed in a bed of snow, unable to assist themselves. them-selves. Interred in a snowy sepulchre, and realizing to themselves that death would result before aid could reach them, what harrowing and despondent thoughts must have crossed their minds. The wife and babies, who were dprionont im-n v.; j.m . -...v....,. men uctnj earnings, were their first thoughts. Hovering between be-tween life and death, that gloomy spectacle spec-tacle of a future desolate home must be the severest pang to the unfortunate victims, and those, who fortunately escaped, es-caped, if asked for an expression of their thoughts, would doubtless say: "I thought only of my wife and children." chil-dren." The shift boss, Mike Wynn, was the first to extricate himself from the imprisonment By the aid of a shovel, which lay convenient to him, he stoped his way through the snow embankment I to the surface. After rescuing himself, though exhausted, his first thoughts were to relieve his fellow miners. He pointed out where they could be found. The work of saving those who were still buried immediately began, resulting result-ing in saving, five more lives. Suffocating Suffo-cating and unable to move hand or foot, every moment told. Under the direction of Mat Conley, foreman of an adjoining mine, the Little Bell, every available hand in that mine was set to work in shoveling the snow from the places designated by Mr. Wynn. No one in Park City realized the pending danger, and how every minute counted, better than Mr. Conley. who is an old- j time, sturdy miner, with sufficient grit to risk his own life to save others .All that human aid could do was done. Six were saved and three perished, one a married man and two unmarried. May the Lord, In his infinite mercy, comfort and console Mrs. E. J. Colter and her little ones; also the relatives and friends of John Gafney and Charles D. Frenck. |