On Tuesday morning of this week while mining coal at the mine of the Astoria Coal & Mining Co.’s shaft, William Dell met with a sudden and untimely death. A shot had been fired and he was at work with his pick mining under the coal so as to loosen it from its moorings, when suddenly without warning to him a great mass of coal suddenly loosened and came crushing down upon his body, catching him in a stooping posture and almost instantly crushing the life out of him with its great weight.
His son who assists him was nearby loading a car and Foreman Thomas Wilson was also not far distant. Aid was at once rendered the unfortunate man, but the great chunk of coal that buried him had to be bursted open before it was possible to remove it and life was extinct.
So far as we can learn no blame is attached to any one for the accident, as it is one likely at any time to happen to any miner.
It was Mr. Dell’s birthday and he was 41 years of age. He leaves a wife and six children to mourn his sudden taking away.
The funeral services were conducted by Rev. W. L. Tyler at the U. B. church on Thursday, March 1, at 9:30 a.m. The Miners Union in their usual spirit of sympathy and practical helpfulness did all in the power of mortals to allay the pain in death’s darkest hour; every detail was carefully looked after by members of that order.
Coroner Bovee arrived Tuesday night and held an inquest. The jury brought in a verdict of accidental killing for which no one was to blame, some ten or eleven witnesses having been examined. The jury was made up of G. W. Horton, A. Brenneman, Michael O’Hern, B. F. Burgard, George Palmer and Dr. T. W. Toler.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus