Evans, Gabriel

Two miners were instantly killed, two men and a woman probably fatally injured and another women slightly injured in an explosion of a powder box in the powder house of the Producers' Mine, one mile north of Cardin Oklahoma at the noon hour today. John Eddy, aged 28, and a miner named [Gabrial] Evans of Picher were killed. Both were drill men. Mr. and Mrs. Ira Patterson were two of the seriously injured. The explosion is reported to have been one of the worst in the history of the district. The bodies of the injured were horribly mangled. They were rushed to a Joplin Missouri hospital.
A box and a half of powder, 75 pounds, exploded, and it is thought that it became overheated in the engine room. Hensley was making up shots while F. Simmons was drilling the last sump hole preparatory to making the noon shot in the shaft which was down 190 feet. Simmons was uninjured. Patterson was sharpening steels in the boiler room at the time for use in drilling. Eddy and Evans had run out of water at the drill and had come to the engine room for water. The explosion hurled parts of the boiler room 150 feet from the scene of the accident and tore a tole in the ground two feet deep. Parts of the building were dashed down the shaft where Simmons was working. He was uninjured and was taken out of the ground by workmen who lowered a rope to him.
Seven doctors immediately rushed to the scene of the accident to give all possible medical assistance. Ray Hensley regained consciousness but did not say anything about the accident. Men familiar with powder say the accident was due either to the heating of the powder or the sparks flying from the steels being sharpened, and from striking a cap. Had the sparks struck the powder it would merely have ignited it instead of exploding it. These men also say that the explosion could not have been caused in making up the shots in that event Hensley would have lost both hands, which is not the case...

Killed: John Eddy, 28, Ray Hensley, and unknown miner. [Note: This unknown miner was Gabrial Evans] This makes the total deaths three. Hensley, who was thirty years old, resided at Tar River, and leaves a widow. Hensley died abut 3 o'clock. Edde [2 spellings], who was 28 years old, was also married. He resided in Miami. Edde was instantly killed. The dead and injured were all in the engine house at the new shaft on the Producer Mining Company's lease. The dead men were employed at the Walker Mine, and had gone over to the new shaft to watch the men at their work, when the explosion occurred. One of the injured men, whose name could not be learned, lost a foot, which was blown 75 yards from the mine shaft. The woman, whose name could not be learned, was practically disrobed by the force of the explosion, and so seriously injured it is believed she will die.
The cause of the explosion is unknown. The concussion was terrific, and did a great deal of damage to the surrounding mill property. One miner, who was in the shaft at the time of the great blast, was uninjured, but he had to remain below until the hoist was repaired before he could be taken out. Little could be learned about the details, but it is known a box of dynamite in a powder house near the shaft exploded, and the explosion was one of the worst in the history of the Miami mining district. The bodies of the two dead men were mangled almost beyond recognition. The injured were hurried to Joplin Missouri for treatment while the two bodies were turned over to an undertaker to prepare for burial.

Ira Patterson, a hoisterman in the Producers' Mine at Cardin, died at St. John's hospital in Joplin at 8 o'clock Saturday night, as a result of injuries received in a powder explosion at the mine Thursday. His death makes the fourth victim of the explosion. The others were William Eddy, G. Evans and Ray Hensley, the ground foreman. Mrs. Patterson, although seriously injured, will recover, according to attending physicians.