David H. Jones helped to save John H. Stout from an explosion, Jerome, Arizona, May 4, 1933. Stout, 44; Jones, 39, miner; Benjamin F. Major; and seven other men were igniting fuses attached to charges of dynamite in boulders containing copper ore that lay on a flat area on a hillside. One of the charges exploded prematurely, throwing Stout to the ground beside a large boulder. A piece of rock, three feet in diameter, fell on his legs, pinning him to the ground. He called for help. Jones and Major responded and tried briefly to free Stout, but they were unable to move the rock. The other men hurried away. Jones and Major then began to pull the fuses from the dynamite charges, working frantically. Thirty-five fuses within a radius of 30 feet of Stout had been ignited. At times sticks of dynamite were pulled with the fuses, and the men threw them as far as possible. Each pulled 10 fuses. Knowing he had no time to remove others, Major lay down close to Stout to protect him. Jones ran a few feet to get a bar with which to pry the rock from Stout. An explosion then occurred, and within a half a minute, 15 explosions occurred, throwing rock in all directions. Jones was knocked down by the concussion. For several seconds small fragments of rock fell on the three men. None was injured. Jones sustained slight burns on his hands from handling the fuses. Other men arrived after the explosions, and Stout was freed within 10 minutes.
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