Joseph Smitherum
Obituaries
Eagle County Blade page 1 - January 28, 1904
PLUNGED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE INDEPENDENCE MINE.
A brief account of the horrible accident on the Independence mine at Victor early Tuesday morning will be found on the fifth page of this paper. Concerning the accident itself there is little to be added.
On account of Joseph SMITHERUM, one of the victims, having been an old resident here, this community was greatly shocked by the catastrophe. For many years Mr. SMITHERUM and wife resided at Gilman and both have many friends in the county.
The deceased's two brothers, Mayor James SMITHERUM, of Red Cliff, and Thomas SMITHERUM, also of this place, were notified by telegraph. Mrs. SMITHERUM was at Glenwood Springs at the time of the accident, having gone there just a few days previous to be at the bedside of a very near friend, Mrs. M. N. EDWARDS, who is critically ill.
J. F. SQUIRE accompanied Mrs. SMITHERUM as far as Red Cliff, where she was joined by her deceased husband's brothers on train No. 4 Tuesday, and the party hastened to Victor.
Harry COGENE, another among the killed, was also a former resident of Gilman, and was a relative of the TURNBULLs. His family was in Michigan at the time of the accident.
From accounts in the daily papers a thorough investigation of the accident is being made, and Frank GELLESE, the engineer, is in charge of the military. The accident occurred at 2:45 o'clock Tuesday morning.
The accounts say the bodies were all frightfully mangled, fragments of human forms being strewn the entire depth of the shaft. It is very likely some are so horribly mutilated as to be unrecognizable.
