Ely Lester Nowland and Santa Lopez
Paris Post, Thursday, 11 February 1909,
page 1
By a powder explosion at Dingle last Monday, Lester Nowland of that town and a Mexican named Santa Lopez were blown almost into atoms. Nowland died an hour after the accident and Lopez was instantly killed.
The two victims, with Arthur Nowland and Samuel Humphreys Jr. were getting some dynamite ready to blast the dirt loose in front of the big dredger. They had about fifty pounds of the explosive in a covered sleigh which they were thawing out over a gasoline stove, when one of the sticks caught fire. They knew that an explosion was almost certain to occur, and all hurriedly moved away. There were four horses tied to the sides of the sleigh and the boys determined to try and save the animals.
They untied two of the horses and led them away in safety. Lester and Lopez untied the remaining two but the sleigh exploded with such fearful force speading wreckage and debris in all directions. Lester was torn and cut and bruised all over his body. A hugh wound was cut in his side, a piece of the sleigh box was driven in to his thigh several inces, his left arm was torn to shreds and he was otherwise torn, maimed and burned. He died an hour later.
Lopez was blown almost to shreds. From his waist down he was unrecognizable. Nothing but a few shreds remained of his limbs. He died instantly. One of the horses was killed and the other badly mangled. The sleigh was literally blown to atoms. None of it could be gathered up to use again. The rod of the endgate was picked up in bent condition a hundred yards away. Where the sleigh stood a deep hole was blown in the ground.
Dr. Ashley was telephoned for and arrived as soon as possible, but nothing could e done to save the injured men. Coroner Henry Nowland, father of the dead boy, ordered the premises be left as they were, except the bodies that the bodies were removed. An inquest was held yesterday. The explosion was felt all over the valley. The houses in Paris were shaken as by an earthquake. The detonation was heard twenty miles.
This is the second explosion to occur at the dredger within two weeks. In the first accident, Henry Nowland, a brother of the deceased, was painfully burned. Lester Nowland was aged 21 years, was a native of this valley and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. His sudden and terrible death was a profound shock to his relatives and friends.
Lopez was a native of Mexico and worked for the Telluride company in his native land, where he acted as an intepreter. He came here some time ago to work for the company at Dingle. Both were unmarried. The funeral service as held at Dingle Wednesday afternoon at which time both bodies were conferred to their last resting place in the Dingle cemetery.
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The Montpelier Examiner, Thursday,
11 February
1910 (clearly the wrong date)
EXPLOSION OF DYNAMITE KILLS TOW MEN AT DINGLE
Lester Nowland and Sandy Lopez, two workmen on the Telluride Power Company's plant near Dingle, were killed last Monday afternoon by the explosion of 30 lbs. of dynamite. The particulars as near as we can learn them are as follows.
The dynamite was being thawed out by means of an oil stove in a bobsled, over which there was a canvas cover. The sled was standing about 100 feet from the dredge, on which Nowland and Lopaz, together with several other men were working. Five head of horses were tied around the shed.
Shortly after three o'clock that afternoon, one of the men on the dredge saw that the cover on the shed was afire. Three or four of the men hurried to the sled to get the horses away before the dynamite exploded. They were cautioned of the danger by those on the dredge, but believing that they had ample time to save the horses, Nowland and Lopez proceeded on the perilous mission which cost them their lives.