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Idaho
Daily Statesman – Boise, Idaho April
9, 1899 IN
AN AVALANCHE – Tragic Death of Jack Roche at Buffalo Hump SWEPT
AWAY IN A SLIDE Found
Dead half an Hour Later a Short Distance from the Point Where He Had Been
Working. The
Grangeville Free Press says that Jack Roche, a well-known Florence miner, was
killed at Buffalo Hump a few days ago by a snow slide.
The news was brought to Grangeville by Ed Adams and J.P. Anderson, who
made the trip from the Hump to Grangeville on snowshoes in two days.
The Free Press tells the story as follows: Deceased
had been working for Frank Brown, the Hump storekeeper for about two months.
On Friday last he had laid off for the purpose of prospecting and making
a snow location if luck favored. Roche
was seen b y several men to descend a steep incline. A great quantity of fresh snow had fallen which overhung the
top of the steep place. Miners
shouted to Roche that he was working in an unsafe place, but he gave no heed to
the warnings, and commenced to dig near Frank Harnett’s cabin. Roche
commenced his work in the morning and at noon stuck his shovel and pick in the
snow and went to dinner. On his
return he found a small slide had buried his implements so that he was forced to
borrow another shovel to dig them out. That
was the last seen of Roche or Harnett’s shack.
Men working on top of the hill heard a muffled roar and saw a moving mass
of snow. The spot where Roche had
commenced working was a small flat or ledge half way down the slope on the north
side of the Hump. Below Harnett’s
shanty the incline became exceedingly precipitous. Those who witnessed the slide, therefore, felt it useless to
search for their unfortunate comrade at any spot short of the bottom of the
steep. It
was but a little time before 10 or 15 men were at work with shovels at the foot
of the baranca, and their efforts were soon rewarded by the discovery of Jack
Roche’s body covered by only two or three feet of snow. In spite of the light weight, however, the unfortunate man
had breathed his last. His lifeless
body lay at a spot 400 yards from the place where he had last been seen working.
Eye-witnesses state that until half-way to the bottom of the hill, Roche
was carried on top of the slide. The
supposition is that death was caused by internal injuries resulting from
deceased being dragged over the packed surface of the old snow with the weight
of many tons of loose snow superimposed. Suffocation
also may have caused death, although it was but a short half hour from the time
the snow ceased to slide until the body was recovered. Jack
Roche was well-known in Florence, no man better, having been identified with
that place ever since the camp existed.
He was formerly a railroad man, and had worked on the Union Pacific.
So far as known he leaves no relatives nor was he a member of any
fraternal order. Messrs. Adams and J.P. Anderson state that at the time they left the Hump, Saturday morning, the intention was to bury Roche near the camp. |
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