Esterline, Ben

Oronogo Missouri, May 27--A verdict of accidental death was returned by a coroner's jury at an inquest conducted tonight at the Wetsel garage by Dr. Leroy Simmons of Sarcoxie Missouri, coroner, into the death of Ben Esterline, 39 years old, of Joplin Missouri, in a mine explosion this morning.

The verdict read that "Ben Esterline came to his death in a mine on land just north of Oronogo as the result of the explosion of approximately 40 per cent dynamite, and said explosion was accidental."

It was agreed by witnesses at the inquest that the explosion occurred from Esterline's negligence, as he had placed the dynamite in the same container with a quantity of carbide. Mining companies have rules that the two must be kept separately. It was brought out, Esterline's associates in the project, Orville Wilson, Frank Fogey and Ernest Hensley, all of Joplin, said the accident victim had placed the dynamite in the carbide can. The carbide was in a paper bag, but the bag had broken and the carbide was loose in the can, they said.

It is believed that the fumes from the carbide were ignited by either Esterline's carbide lamp or by him striking a match. It is believed he was standing over the can when the explosion occurred, as his body lay only a few feet from where the can had stood, following the explosion, His head and legs received the full charge of the blast.

Esterline was alone in the drift when the explosion occurred. The accident occurred at about 7:15. The four men had been working the mine several weeks.

Much work has been going on in the mining field near where the fatal explosion occurred, since a large amount of the land had been partially de-watered recently by a small company headed by C. J. Arey.

Others testifying at the inquest tonight were C. W. Hedges, embalmer for the Webb City Missouri undertaking company, who drove an ambulance to the scene of the accident, A. Watson and Bill Leads, both of Oronogo, who assisted in removing Esterline's body from the shaft.

Esterline, who lived at 1320 Missouri avenue, Joplin, is survived by his widow, Mrs. Viola Esterline; three sons, Frank Burton Esterline and James Esterline, all at home; a stepson, Ray McMullen, also at home; seven brothers, Curtis Esterline of Joplin, Ames Esterline of Tipton Ford, Phil Esterline and Eugene Esterline, both of Wichita Kansas, Roy Esterline and Ralph Esterline, both of Joplin Missouri, and Clarence Esterline of Tulsa Oklahoma; his mother, Mrs. Lillie Esterline of Joplin, and two sisters, Miss Margaret Esterline of Joplin and Mrs. Frances White of Kansas City.

Fate played a weird prank on Ben Esterline. When the miner put off his last shot in a prospect hole at Oronogo Missouri night-before-last the shot uncovered a rich lode of lead ore for which Esterline and his three buddies had been angling. The cruel irony of luck had it that the doomed miner was never to know of his good "breaks." It was his haste and eagerness to learn of the strike that sent him to a swift death next morning. The lucky shot had been put off at night, that the air might clear up by morning so the men could go back into the ground. Frank Forgy, one of the surviving partners, tells the Sentinel that the last "lucky" shot opened a body of lead ore four feet high by eight feet wide, and of an extend laterally not yet known.

But Esterline never knew of their luck. In his eagerness he grabbed a cable and clambered down into the mine ahead of his partners. His carbide for hat-lights was in a can in the ground with the dynamite. He took the lid off the can and lit a match to see by. The match fired a stray carbide gas in the can, and the dynamite was set off. The coroner said last night that Esterline came to his death from an accidental explosion of 40 percent dynamite.

Whether its fear, or reverence, or fatalism, or just the common ordinary "jinx" feeling, Forgy declares today that lucky last shot and its wealth of lead ore mean nothing in his precious young life. He doesn't want to go back into that death mine again. What's more he doesn't intend to. And probably his other two surviving partners, Ernest Hensley and Orval Wilson, may feel the same way about it.

In the meantime a rich lode of ore lies exposed, perhaps to be caved in and forgotten till some other prospector, unswayed by sentiment or jinx, comes along.

Esterline's funeral was conducted this afternoon from his home to Fairview cemetery.