Shultz, William "Bill"

Two miners who gouge pay dirt from "worked out" lead and zinc deposits lived to tell a graphic story today of the mine tragedy near Commerce Oklahoma yesterday which exacted the lives of two Douthat Oklahoma men. From their Miami Baptist hospital beds, John Kenney, 22 year old Douthat hoisterman, and J. W. "Dick" Kelton, 41, also of Douthat Oklahoma, recounted how Fred Rosson, 40 years old, and William"Bill" Shultz, 28, both of Douthat, cascaded to their death in a mine tub.

The hoisterman, severely injured himself, said he thought he had raised his three associates, Kelton, Rosson and Shultz about 60 feet from the bottom of the 240 foot shaft when the derrick collapsed, hurtling Kenney 40 feet away from the cable, from the wire he wrestled with but could not hold. As the "can" completed its death-racing plunge to the bottom, three associate workmen, awaiting their turns to go to the top, rushed to the aid of the victims. Below the ground were Bob Scott, 47, of Commerce Oklahoma; Oliver Kennedy, 45, foreman and father of the hoisterman, and John Teague, 32, both of Douthat.

Rosson, his body horribly crushed, was killed instantly. Shultz, his back bleeding from gaping wounds and suffering from internal injuries, was rendered unconscious. He died at 6:33 pm at the local hospital, more than two hours after the mishap occurred.

Kelton, only survivor of the death plunge, which started about 4:15 pm was helpless to assist in rescue work. He lay seriously injure with a compound fracture of the left leg, a deep laceration to the right hip and cuts about the face. Meanwhile, the tragic accident was noted above ground by a carnival man, whose show was located near the shaft. He saw the hoisterman thrown about 40 feet from the derrick, spinning loose from the cable.

Kenney, rising in a dazed condition, informed the man of the fate of three men below. The latter was told to get rescue workers to the Jim Osborn property, whose shaft on the Old Mispah Mine is located about 600 feet north of the ill-fated mine.

The rescue at once under way, Kenney went to Commerce Oklahoma for treatment at a physician's office. He returned while 16 rescue workers, wearing hard hats, went down to assist Scott, Oliver and Teague in their laborious fight to save at least two of the victims. Later, young Kenney, sitting bravely by the Osborn shaft, refused to leave when spectators noted his serious condition. By constant persuasion, friends finally made the hoisterman relent his vigil, and go to the hospital in an ambulance. "Without the slightest bit of warning, that derrick went over on its side," Kenney related today. "There was no creaking, not even the slightest sound that would give me a chance to do anything.

"I fought with the cable and was jerked from where I was standing. For a while I was waving around, trying to grasp the wire between my legs, then I was thrown loose and I fell about 40 feet east of the derrick." Kenney, refusing to admit he was injured seriously, smoked a cigaret as he told his version of the tragedy. He estimated he had hoisted the trio about 60 feet when the derrick collapsed. Others below said the tub must have been only about 50 feet from the top.

Kelton, whose leg fracture was so serious he had to undergo an operation this morning to have the bone replaced about his foot, told his attending physician, Dr. Wylie Chestnut, of his miraculous escape. Kelton told the physician that he grabbed the cable over the "can" and held desperately to it all the way down. The other men did not clutched the wire. When the tub struck bottom, bounded upward and finally came to a rest, Kelton had saved his life from the terrific impact of the metal tub at the floor of the shaft. The rescue task, an arduous fight against time, started at the Osborn shaft about 5 pm.

Orders were laconic. Volunteers sprang up to aid. Every move seemingly was decorous as Doyle McDonald, Commerce Oklahoma constable and the man who subleased the Old Jones Mine shaft to the accident victims, worked on the top to fulfil orders sent up from below.

Sheriff Walter L. Young, standing at the east side of the shaft, commanded curiosity seeking youths, and many bystanders crunched together, to get back away from these men bent only on rescue, perhaps the saving of a life. Two of the men who saw the can crash to the bottom of the old Jones shaft came up on top with the first official details of the tragic list of one dead, two wounded.

Sixteen men, supervised by Ivan Fisher, district mine inspector, followed a systematic, certain course in the rescue. They crawled, pushed and slid to the death scene. Bill Shultz was named as the first to come up in the can. Rosson was dead, Kelton was less seriously injured, so they decided upon the one whose need for immediate attention was greatest to be hoisted out. A small incline, six feet high, confronted workers near the bottom of the death-marked shaft. They ascended it by means of a ladder, carrying the dying Shultz with them.

About midway of the Osborn shaft, they encountered a 20 foot stope, "straight up," Fisher said, and the work was made even more laborious. But they made it, carrying Shultz, injured internally, with care. He came up to the top, unconscious, with two workers holding him, at 5:48 pm. Placed in a cot, Shultz was sped to the Miami hospital in an ambulance. At 6:33 o'clock, the physician pronounced him dead.

Second to come to the surface was Kelton, fully conscious, has eyes gleaming with a look of gratitude for the men who had gotten to him. He rolled his eyes wonderingly, over the masses of people who crammed closer to get a view of the rescue. He was raised to the top on a wire stretcher, held fast to ease his injured leg. His left leg was in a splint and his right thigh bound tightly by a tourniquet, fashioned from two handkerchiefs, the mine inspector said, and braced by leather belts belts that workers had given to save him against possible death by loss of blood. Chimes rang at 6:35 pm as the workers below indicated they were ready to come to the top with the last of the victims, the dead Rosson.

A moment later two men appeared with the body enclosed in a canvas bag. Sherman Crewes, hoisterman at the See-Sah Mine No. 1 shaft, had virtually finished his job. A Commerce Oklahoma resident, the volunteer hoisterman had lowered the car-motor hoist 25 times within a period of about one and one-half hours.

County Attorney William E. Potect and Charles"Smoky" Ballard, who had assisted in keeping by- standers clear from the path to the emergency cots, stopped aside. The rescue workers came up, two to a can. Fisher and M. F. Cleveland of North Miami, the last of the 16, reached the surface at 6:52 pm. Immediately the mine inspector ordered the Osborn shaft covered by boards to prevent any sight-seers falling below. This done, the inspector and Osborn made a trip to the Jones land.

Fisher said that the pressure of dirt, piled about 20 feet high, had caused the collapse of the derrick. He said two guy wires were snapped by the strain the dirt and rock made against the retaining wall. The retaining wall of the derrick protected the shaft against the dirt thundering down on the victims. Only a small amount of dirt was found at the bottom, rescue workers said.

A hastily assembled list of the rescue workers failed to include one or two of the men. Those whose names were given to a News Record reporter, in addition to the three miners who were already below, included: Clair Billington, D. E. Dion, Frank Kincannon of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Willard Mayes, Fred Ward, Kenneth Ray, Chick Martin, Horace Mercer, A. L. Knowles, Hadley Huxall, Fisher and Cleveland.

While the rescue work went on, a crowd estimated at 1,800 persons surrounded the 55 foot chat pile about the Osborn shaft, stood below the derrick and clustered around ambulance coaches to watch every movement. The Cooper, Lane, Mitchelson and Todd ambulances were all on hand to help speed victims to the hospital here.

John Kenney retold later today how he held to the hoister as long as he could. He said that when the derrick hit the ground, it threw him loose from his grasp.

From the Osborn shaft to the Jones opening, miners estimated it at 600 feet, but the underground path taken by the rescuers was much longer. The trail to the Jones shaft veered toward the southwest, then back south and on directly to the site. At places, the workmen had to squeeze through narrow openings with their injured. The rescue work was directed methodically. Names of all those assisting in one way or another could not be compiled immediately. All the undertakers, officers and volunteers did a job that only witnesses could fully realize. At the shaft here were heartbreaking episodes in the lives of relatives of the three men who were plummeted to death or injured.

There was Mrs. Rosson, wife of the man killed instantly, standing near the Osborn property when she was given the news first by a reporter that her husband had died she was on the verge of collapse, then rallied to keep her composure, faced this terrific shock only as the wife of a miner could.

At first Marion Teague, 73 year old father of John Teague, who escaped injury, heard his son, with Scott and Oliver Kenney, had been seriously hurt or killed. The grief stricken man fainted. He was revived quickly, however, and took his place again on the watching line. Three years ago, the aged man lost his wife in the Douthat Oklahoma tornado. Tragedy had already dealt hard with him.

Today funeral arrangements were completed for both Rosson and Schultz.

The Rosson rites will be conducted at 10:30 am Wednesday at the Douthat Oklahoma Baptist church. The Rev. Henry Horn will officiate. Burial will be in G.A.R. cemetery at Miami under direction of the Durnil funeral home of Picher. Rosson is survived by his wife, Ruby Rosson; three daughters, Beulah Rosson, June Rosson, Marie Rosson; two sons, James Rosson and Burl Rosson; and two brothers, William Rosson and Joe Rosson, both of Vian Oklahoma.

Rites for Schultz will be conducted at 2 pm Wednesday at the First Baptist church in Miami. The Rev. J. Grover Scales of Commerce will officiate. Burial will be under direction of the Cooper funeral home. Pallbearers will be mining associates. Shultz is survived by his wife, Mildred Shultz; two children, Betty Jean Shultz and Billy Wayne Schultz; his mother, Mrs. Lizzle Shultz of Rolla Missouri; two brothers, Everett Shultz of Collinsville Oklahoma, and Leonard Shultz of Rolla Missouri, and three sisters, Mrs. Blanche Cox of Seminole, Mrs. Ethel Graham of Rolla and Mrs. Delphia Shieble of O'Fallon Illinois.

The mine tragedy yesterday was covered for the Associated Press and its 285,000 mile network of teletype lines by the News Record staff and a crew of four camera men. With the sounding of the alarm, a reporter rushed to the scene, sent in a "flash," which was relayed to the Tulsa bureau of the AP by a reporter stationed at the office of the News Record. The second reporter was sent to the shaft by the news editor. Cameramen were rounded up.

The cameraman were stationed at strategic points, where they shot roll after roll of film. Meanwhile the first reporter had gathered in the quick facts of the story. They were given to the second, who phoned them in to the editor.

The telephone line to Miami was kept open, and a line was arranged from Miami to Tulsa Oklahoma. As the story was sent in piecemeat, the facts were assembled into a story by an AP man in Tulsa and sent out to the AP. With the removal of the last victim's body at 6:38 pm and the "clean-up" on the story, the photographers went into action developing their pictures. The four cameramen, Dick Wills, Bob White, Elbert Saunders and Paul Frank, brought in their "rolls" to Russell Younger, who developed them quickly. A few quick prints were made, rushed to the studio of Wills for drying, and left Miami shortly after dark for Tulsa.

With the "rush" prints out, the crew settled down to the grind of turning out 8x10 enlargements. The last print came out of the driers at 1:37 o'clock this morning and they were placed on the train, destined to Kansas city, Chicago and Memphis, at 1:51 am.

The offices received the prints sent them out on the "telephoto" and the mid-morning editions of the metropolitan newspapers carried the cuts and the story.

Newspapers all of the country clamored for pictures of the accident. The story "broke" 40 minutes after the final edition of the News Record was on the streets yesterday. Photo Captions: [center] The derrick, which collapsed on the old Oliver Jones land near Commerce, bring death to two men. [left] J. W. "Dick" Kelton, 42, Douthat Oklahoma miner, shown as he was lifted out of the "can" and placed on an ambulance cot. His leg fractured, Kelton was protected against further injury on the ride to the top by being tied to a wire stretcher. [right] John Kenney was persuaded to return to the hospital as the picture was snapped. [bottom] at the top of the chat pile overlooking the Osborn derrick, hundreds of persons look down 30 feet on the drama.

Funeral services were held today for the two miners who lost their lives Monday afternoon in the mine shaft disaster one mile south of Commerce Oklahoma. Last rites for William Shultz, 28 years old, of Douthat Oklahoma, were conducted at the local first Baptist church. The Rev. J. Grover Scales of Commerce officiated. Burial was in G.A.R. cemetery at Miami under the direction of the Cooper funeral home of Miami. The two were killed when a derrick collapsed at the old Oliver Jones shaft. The hoisterman was thrown from his post, losing control of the can in which three men were coming to the surface.

J. W."Dick" Kelton, 41 years old, of Douthat, the only survivor of the trio in the can, was "in as good condition as can be expected," at Miami Baptist hospital today. Yesterday Kelton underwent an operation on his left leg. The miner suffered a compound fracture of the leg in the 60 foot fall down the shaft.

Kenney, 22 years old, the hoisterman, was showing satisfactory improvement at the local hospital. He suffered from abrasions, and bruises over the body. He may be released later today or tomorrow, it was indicated.

Funeral services were held Wednesday for the two miners who lost their lives in the mine shaft disaster Monday. The last rites for Fred Rosson were held at the First Baptist church in Douthat Oklahoma at 10:30 Wednesday morning. Pallbearers were mine associates. The Rev. Henry Horn officiated. Burial was in G.A.R. cemetery at Miami under direction of Durnil funeral home of Picher Oklahoma. Rites were held for William"Bill" Shultz, 28 years old, of Douthat at the First Baptist church in Miami at 2:00 o'clock Wednesday afternoon. The Rev. J. Grover Scales of Commerce officiated. Burial was in G.A.R. cemetery under direction of Cooper funeral home in Miami.