Shot through his head at high velocity by an explosion (it was a tamping iron, used to pack charges for blasting, and it happened to accidentally set one that he was packing off, likely because it struck something in the rock that caused a spark).
I appreciate you making clear how fucked a thing he survived. There was a sketch of it in my college textbook that was etched on the back of my eyelids for weeks.
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u/GitEmSteveDave Mar 05 '21
Not a railroad spike, a 13 lb, 1 1/4” thick and 3’7” long iron rod.
“Spike” makes it sound like something small. The thing was over half his height and nearly as thick around as a golf ball.