Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1883 — IN A TIGHT FIX. [ARTICLE]

IN A TIGHT FIX.

John Lyons, while at work in the shaft of his mine near Tres Alamos, had just put in a blast and lighted the fuse, when, on reaching the top of the shaft, he beheld four mounted Apaches rapidly approaching. As they saw him emerge they increased their pace, and their fiendish yells relieved Mr. Lyons of all doubts as to their intentions toward himself. For an instant he was paralyzed with terror. Being entirely unarmed, resistance was not to be thought of, while escape by flight was equally impossible. His first impulse was to hurl himself into the shaft and be blown to atoms by the explosion of the blast rather than perish miserably at the hands of the remorseless fiends who had him at their mercy. These reflections occupied only a moment’s time, but the Apaches were almost upon him. Suddenly, with the instinct of despair, Mr. Lyons threw himself behind a pile of rock close at hand, and at the same instant the blast at the bottom of the shaft exploded -with terrific effect, throwing a shower of roek and debris high in the air, which was followed by a dense volume of smoke rolling up from the shaft. The Indians, who were now sure of their victim, halted a moment at the unexpected, and, to them; mysterious eruption, then, with a yell, not of triumph but of rage, mingled with terror, wheeled their horses and galloped off in the direction whence they came. Mr. Lyons could at first scarcely realize that he had escaped almost miraculously from a horrible death, but, as soon as he had recovered from his amazement, departed for Tres Alamos, meeting on the road a party of neighbors going out to search for his remains, they having seen the Indians heading in the direction of the mine, and not doubting but Mr. Lyons had fallen a \ictim of savage ferocity.— Tombstone ( Arizona ) Epitaph.