Carnal, Spencer E.

Spencer Carnal, age 54, of Douthat Oklahoma, died in mining accident at the Century Milling Company on Sep 9. He was killed when buried under a chat slide at the tailing mill, two miles south of Picher Oklahoma. He was working in a pit in the chat pile, running a skip' and took a pick and walked up the side of the pit to loosen chat, and a mass of chat broke loose, knocking Carnal into the bottom of the pit, he was covered entirely. Fellow workers rushed to his assistance and had dug him out to his waist with their hands, when another and larger slide occurred covering him again. His rescuers escaped the path of the avalanche. In the meantime shovels had been brought to the site and six men started working violently to unearth the buried man. After seventeen minutes of shoveling, they found him, but he was dead. Todd undertaking company used a Pulmoter on the suffocated man, but to no avail. This was the first fatal accident of this kind in the Picher district for many years. The rescuing party was composed of Earl Hand, James Martin, Charles Howell, Burl Smith, Lloyd McGuirk and Roy Loving. About 25 members of the Ku Klux Klan assembled at the Carnal home and placed a fiery cross upon the casket. Carnal leaves a wife and six daughters and one son. Burial in the G.A.R. cemetery, Miami.

Obituary.

The Century Mining Company was named defendant in a suit for $25,000 damages by Mrs. Della Carnal, widow of Spencer Carnal. The petition alleges that carelessness and negligence on the part of the company was responsible for his death.