Obit: Stacey, Emery ( - 15 Aug 1899)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: STACEY

----Source: Clark County Republican Press (Neillsville, Wis.) 08/24/1899

Stacey, Emery ( - 15 Aug 1899)

The following account of the tragic death of a Colby young man is taken from the Phonograph:

"Emery Stacey was asphyxiated by inhaling irrespirable gases in a well, Tuesday morning. He was assisting in boring a well on the premises of George Eder, Jr., where they were sinking a shaft about eighteen inches in diameter. Monday afternoon the boring machine struck a stone, that became loosened, and it was impossible to get the drill past it and with hopes of getting it out of the way or to one side, a couple of charges of dynamite were fired in it, that enlarged the opening at the bottom, but did not get the stone out of the way. Tuesday morning Mr. Hartl, who owned the drill and was superintending the work, proposed starting another shaft, when Emery, who was of rather slender build, proposed that he go down and endeavor to fasten a chain about the stone so that it might be drawn up. A loop was made in the end of a rope, and placing one foot in the loop, he was let down. Upon reaching the bottom he said that he believed he could get it, but in a minute or two Eder and Hartl noticed that he was breathing hard and laboriously and told him to take hold of the rope and let them pull him up. He did not speak or make an effort to help himself, but his head dropped over on his should. Those above then undertook to get ropes and hooks, and, at the same time, gave an alarm and called for help. The ropes and hooks were secured and after a lapse of twenty or thirty minutes, the body was drawn out with life apparently extinct. Drs. Freeman and Bradley worked over the body little more than an hour, keeping up an artificial respiration, but could get not movement of the heart."