TWO MEN KILLED BY FALLING ROCK IN DESLOGE MINE
Two employees of St. Joseph Lead Company,
Desloge Division, were instantly killed Tuesday morning when a portion of loose back,
which they were removing, fell and crushed them to death.
Edward Forshee, 60, of near Leadwood, and Otto C. Miller, 47, of near
Desloge, both veteran workmen for the Desloge and St. Joseph Lead Companies, were the men
who lost their lives.
The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m., at No. 3, Desloge, in Stope No.
124, while they were in the act of drilling loose ground to take down and make it safe,
when quite an area of the loose back fell in, breaking over the point where they were
standing. Evidently, they misjudged the size of the loose area, for three or four feet
farther would have put them outside of the dangerous zone.
Joe Hansen, operating a nearby shovel, was the only eye witness to the
accident. An inquest was held at the Boyer Funeral Home in Desloge Tuesday night at seven
o'clock.
The coroner's jury returned the following verdict: We, the jury, find
that Edward Forshee and Otto Miller came to their deaths by rock falling upon them while
employed in their usual occupation at the St. Joseph Lead Company.
Forshee is survived by his widow and an adopted son and Miller leaves a
wife and five children.
LEAD BELT NEWS, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Fri. March 14, 1941