At 1:45 a.m., Tuesday, September 18th, E. J. LaRose, employed as a shoveler by the St. Louis Smelting & Refining Works of the National Lead Company at their number seven shaft, Pimville, was struck by a falling rock and injured so severely that he died before he could be gotten to the company hospital at St. Francois. Every effort was made to get the injured man to the hospital for treatment but death followed the accident in thirty minutes or slightly less and the frantic efforts of his fellow workmen to get him there were unavailing.
At the point where the accident occurred the roof is approximately fifteen feet high and had been thoroughly inspected for loose and dangerous rock before the men were allowed to enter the heading for their night labors. However, about 1:45 a.m. a piece of rock approximately five or six feet in length, three feet in width and eight inches in thickness, broke from the roof without warning and fell upon LaRose, who was working directly beneath it. Sam Mead, who is a contract driller, and was working within a few feet of LaRose at the time of the accident, testified that there was no warning sound whatever when the heavy rock came loose from the roof, and that his first knowledge of the accident was when he saw his fellow workman caught between the falling mass and the rock upon which he was working. Marvin Call, shift boss, was called and the injured man was taken from under the rock, rushed to the top of the shaft and placed in an automobile to be taken to the hospital. He died in the arms of his foreman a few moments before the hospital was reached. An inquest was held at the undertaking parlors of H. Rinke, at Flat River, Tuesday morning.
E. J. LaRose was twenty years of age and lived at the home of his mother in Seventown. His father was John LaRose and he had two younger brothers, Paul and Orville, who, with his parents, survive him. He was unmarried.
Funeral services were held at the Free Will Baptist Church, East Flat River, at 2 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, September 19th, conducted by Rev. Mann and Rev. Ferguson, after which interment was made in Parkview Cemetery.
It is worth more than passing mention to state that this is the first serious accident which has occurred in No. 7 shaft, the deepest shaft in the Lead Belt, which has been in operation for several months. Also it is the first fatal accident in any of the National workings for a period of two years, the last one having been on Sept. 23, 1921.