5/30/2009 7:18:00 PM
Days Past: Mine explosion - A two-fold tragedy for one family
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Sharlot Hall Museum/Courtesy photo
Buried in the Calvary Cemetery in Douglas, Ariz., is Fred J. Haas (1868-1912), though his birth name is Johann Friedrick Haas. The place of death of Minnie Maud Miller Haas (1874-1935) is unknown. |
| Days Past is a weekly feature in the Courier, supplied by Sharlot Hall Museum volunteers, chronicling historic events in Prescott.
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By CAROL POWELL
Special to the Courier
Fred Haas (aka Johann Friedrick Haas) and Minnie Miller were married on Jan. 15, 1896. Prescott's Sheriff George C. Ruffner signed their marriage certificate as a witness. They were model citizens, living first in Prescott, then Jerome, and finally the Bisbee/Douglas area. But accidents or tragedy can reduce model citizens to degradation. This is the story of Fred and Minnie.
Minnie Maud Miller Haas may not have desired to own and operate her own business, but she wasn't given much choice. Another bad year for mine explosions was 1905, with 13 in the U.S. alone, claiming 300 lives and injuring many others. That year, a mine explosion left her husband, Fred, blind, with responsibility to support them falling on her shoulders. Minnie opened a cafe in Douglas, Ariz., served the public and created enough profit that they would not have to depend upon others. She cooked, pushed brooms, washed dishes, waited tables and did whatever it took. The café she opened offered the miners and city merchants delicious food at affordable prices and she gave them the best service so they would want to return many times. This was a first for many women in the early 1900s, as a woman's "place" was in the home in those days.
If women weren't committed to family and household chores, they were selling themselves as prostitutes. Minnie's only sister, Florence Miller, was a sporting woman and a madam in Holbrook, Ariz. The family disowned Florence for a time and she lived with the Indians on a reservation. Minnie may have had thoughts of being a soiled dove like her sister but she decided to make a decent living with a proper business of her own.
Before Statehood in 1912, the Arizona Territory had no requirement to report mining accidents. Therefore, finding records of Fred's accident in 1905 is impossible. There is a slight chance that Fred was injured along with O.M. King in an accident at the Portage Lake & Bisbee Mining Company property, but there is no article or report that has survived except that O.M. King was blinded in a mining accident. On one occasion, King said another man was seriously injured; perhaps this was Fred Haas. King sued, but the docket said the case was dismissed. O.M. King was much talked about for being a popular bar owner and then, after his accident, a beggar.
Begging wasn't an option for Minnie Haas; backbreaking work was the choice she made.
Minnie's family came from Texas to Arizona near the dawn of the 20th century, chasing work to survive. Minnie's father, Louis Miller, was a German immigrant whose work involved following the Buffalo Soldiers from Texas in pursuit of Geronimo and the Apache Indians. Hardships were a way of life for Minnie; she was only 10 when Apaches killed her father. He died before the family ever reached Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Minnie's mother, Clara, was a single mom before the term was coined - a legacy that would be passed down to Minnie and her daughter, Audrey, who was born the year of her father's accident.
Unexpected death and injuries at work were commonplace in the early 1900s, with life expectancy about 43 years. Fred was 44 years old when he died in March of 1912 of kidney failure due to alcoholism.
In October of 1913, word was received from Spokane, Wash., that one of Minnie's brothers, Baldwin "Tobe" Miller, 39, a railroad engineer, met his death in a train accident.
Minnie was still reeling from the death of Baldwin when she received a telegraph early Thanksgiving morning that another brother, Louis Clair Miller, was injured in a mine explosion at the Daly Judge Mine in Park City, Utah. He was so badly injured he wasn't expected to live, but Minnie went to Utah and helped to cheer and care for him. Louis, too, was left blind and had lost his right arm in the explosion. He had been a notorious character in the history of Prescott before his accident. Search the Days Past articles for details on his story at sharlot.org as well as many other interesting historical accounts of the people who lived in and around Prescott.
Carol Powell is an historian for the Olmstead/Miller families.
Your stories and experiences are important. The public is welcome to submit articles for Days Past consideration. Please contact Scott Anderson at Sharlot Hall Museum Archives at 445-3122 for information.
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Posted: Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Article comment by:
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I think that what you are doing is a wonderful gift for all Americans, your families first, of course.over the past 50-60 years our history have lost so much truth; that it is only you and others like you with a desire to preserve our history. I salute and thank you.
H.Naegele
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