Arthur Fields, 30-year-old Elvins man, who was employed as locomotive operator at No. 12 mine, Elvins, met instant death in an underground accident Wednesday evening, February 10, at 7:15 o'clock.
The tragic accident happened shortly after the men had started to work, and Fields was operating a gathering locomotive, waiting for his helper, Harvey Montgomery, when his motor was struck by a string of loaded cars which had become uncoupled from the train which was pulling it. The train of sixteen loaded cars was going into No. 17 mine dump, and when about one-fourth of a mile from No. 12, the coupling link broke and the disconnected cars started back down grade on the track and crashed into the motor on which Fields was sitting.
The body of Fields, which was horribly mangled, was removed to the Sparks Funeral Home in Flat River, where an inquest will be held this morning at ten o'clock by Coroner Berl J. Miller. Funeral services will be held at eleven o'clock, Saturday morning, February 19, at the Assembly of God Church in Elvins, conducted by the Rev. Odis Cooper. Burial will be in the cemetery at Boss, Mo.
Fields, who was a veteran of World War II, had been employed by St. Joseph Lead Co. for seven years. He is survived by his wife, the former Miss Amie Brooks of Boss, Mo., and three children, Lebert, Daphne, and Carolyn Sue; also his mother, Mrs. Fannie Fields of Elvins. His father, Orville Fields, preceded him in death two years.