Floyd Underwood
Floyd Underwood was killed in a mud slide at the
Catherine mines last Thursday night and rescuers were unable to reach his body until
Sunday morning, when it was recovered.
Thursday night while Marion Fortner and Mr. Underwood were at work a
mud slide came from the roof of the drift where they were at work and caught them. Fortner
made a rush through the mud for the mouth of the drift and finally succeeded in working
his way through the mud and slush to a place of safety, but he said his unfortunate
companion climbed up on a high place in the drift and remarked that the end had come and
they would have to die there together, but he was determined that he would not die without
an effort and his efforts were successful. He said that in coming out he noticed a mule
and a cart covered in the mud, and later the mule was found in its stable, and no one
knows how it ever got out of the mud.
In recovering the body the men had had to use a mud boat, and when they
found it it was entirely covered in the mud, except that his feet were sticking out and he
looked as natural as could be without a cut or bruise on him and only suffocation caused
death. --- Fredericktown Tribune.
[Lead Belt News/Flat River, St. Francois County,
Mo./Friday, December 31, 1915]
