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Show TWO DR81N IK LiHiLf fuLOi uuSIir Caught like rats in a trap, two men were drowned in the sump of the Daly West mine at Park City yesterday yester-day morning, when the three-decked cage into which the men hud stepped tQ go off shift was dropped into the sump instead of being raised to the surface. Four men escaped, presumably presum-ably by jumping from the cnge Just as, it began to move. Another also escaped with his life, but is In a precarious pre-carious condition in the Park City j minors' hospital The dead: , W. H. PRIESTLEY. C. It. REGAU Injured: Tom Durkin. Those who escaped: .lames Mooney. Don Izle. Patrick Keough. Robert Cree. The men were coming off shift, having been working on the 2100 level, lev-el, the lowest In the Daly West mine. Usually the cage Is held In the shaft slightly above the tunnel level, so that it has to bo lowered before the mon may board it to come up to , the surface. The rule of the mine is. also, as explained by mine authorities authori-ties in this citj, that the men shall ride only on the upper compartment ot the cage, which is a "three-decker." Yesterday morning, however, as far as can be gathered here and in Park City, the cage stood with Its lower compartment opposite the level. The men climbed on and declare they gave the signal of three bells, which means to hoist. Engineer New Man. The engineer, Clarence Carty. said i to be a new man on the job, says that the signal was two bells, which is to lower, and which would also be the usual slgnnl, according to the interpretation inter-pretation of the rules given at the office here. At any rate the cage began to go down, instead of to go up. The water in the sump at tho bottom of the shaft is from twenty to thirty feet deep, and comes close to the lowest working on the 2100 level. The result re-sult was that as soon aB the cage started to lower tho men were in Immediate Im-mediate danger. Five of the seven men In the cage mannged to get out, though ode of tnem was severelj Injured in doing so. The other two wero unable to do so, and were plunged beneath the surface of the water in the sump and wero drowned. As soon as he was notified Henry Grossman, coroner at Park City, went to the mine and started an Investigation, Investiga-tion, in which he was assisted by City Attorney L. B. Wight. It Is deemed deem-ed probable that an Inquest will be held to get at the exact facts in the case. |