Clark County NV Archives Obituaries.....SHOEMAKER, Roy October 4 1920 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nv/nvfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Gerry Perry missgerry@cox.net July 12, 2004, 12:46 am Las Vegas Age - 10/16/1920 TWO MINERS KILLED IN MINE NEAR LANFAIR SEARCHLIGHT MAN SACRIFICES HIS LIFE IN VAIN ATTEMPT TO RESCUE OTHERS Jack MARTIN of Searchlight and Roy SCHOEMAKER of Lanfair were killed by the caving in of an old shaft in the Old Hansen mine near Lanfair, California, about 20 miles from Searchlight, MARTIN sacrificing his life in an attempt to rescue SHOEMAKER. On Monday, October 4, Roy SHOEMAKER and his brother were working removing the timbers from the old shaft. Roy went down on the ladder and started to work, when his brother who was at the top of the shaft, heard a noise and found that the shaft had caved. Help was sought at Lanfair, but there being no miners there, word was sent to Searchlight asking for help. Jack MARTIN and Bert MIZER responded to the call. Upon their arrival they went to work with Jack THOMAS and another man from Lanfair. MARTIN and THOMAS went below and started digging for SHOEMAKER's body while the other two began to build a bulkhead in the shaft as a protection against further caving. MARTIN and THOMAS had nearly reached SHOEMAKER's body when a second cave occurred, carrying the bulkhead down and a mass of rocks onto the men below. MARTIN was completely covered and probably lived but a few minutes. THOMAS succeeded in extricating himself in two or three hours, although buried to his waist. He suffered severe lacerations to the legs, arms and hands and was taken to his home in Lanfair where he is recovering. Word was sent to Searchlight for more help and four cars of miners went to the rescue. It was found impossible to do anything until the shaft was retimbered. John R. MENDENHALL of Searchlight took charge of that work, which was pushed with all possible speed. However, it was six days from the time of the first accident and five days from the time MARTIN was entombed until the bodies were recovered. The body of Roy SHOEMAKER was buried at the mine. He had been a resident of Lanfair for about ten years. But little is known of his relatives or his former life. The body of Jack MARTIN was taken to Searchlight for burial. He had been a resident of that camp for a number of years and bore a fine reputation as a man. He was closely associated with C. L. Aug. MAHN He has stated that he had a son in the U. S. Army, but nothing more is known of his relatives. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nv/clark/obits/gob300shoemake.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nvfiles/ File size: 3.0 Kb