Watson, Merle

Treece Kansas--A Columbus Kansas man was buried beneath tons of chat at the Eagle-Picher Bendelari Chat Pile this morning. Trapped by the slide at 10:30 was Merle Watson, 50, Columbus. A fellow-worker narrowly escaped the same fate. Watson and Floyd Spence, 49, of Baxter Springs Kansas were working near the bottom of a recessed area in the mountainous pile of chat, preparing for the setting off of dynamite charges, when the slide occurred on the side of the recess--or "cut"-- opposite them. Watson was covered by hundreds of tons of the material. Spence, who started running from the avalanche, was trapped and all but his hands were covered. J. L. Harrold of Commerce Oklahoma, a truck fireman, witnessed the accident and rushed to the scene and uncovered Spence's face so he could breathe, Harrold, and other workmen then dug Spence free. The Baxter Springs man was taken to Miami for medical attention but was found to be uninjured. The Bendelari pile is located one-half mile northwest of Treece and some three miles from Picher.

Watson, Spence and other workmen had been loading rail cars with chat for use as railway ballast. A huge Eagle-Picher power dragline was being used this afternoon in efforts to recover Watson's body. Company officials were supervising the operation. The Columbus man had worked for Eagle-Picher 12 years. Spence is a 15 year veteran with the company.

Photographs with the article

Columbus Kansas. Funeral services for Merle Watson, 51, who was killed Thursday by a chat slide at Treece Kansas, will be held at 1:30 Sunday in the Melrose Kansas Baptist church, with burial in Union cemetery, east of Sarcoxie Missouri. Officiating ministers will be the Revs. Jack Shipman of Melrose and Robert Sugg of Columbus Kansas. Pallbearers will be Tom Conwell, Bill Dungan, Clayton Ingle, Leroy Jones, Ralph Mitchell, Cecil Mitchell, Verl Sharon and Bum Willoughby. Thomas Funeral home of Picher Oklahoma is in charge of arrangements. Watson, a resident of Picher for many years, moved to Columbus a year ago. He was born in Melrose.

Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Bertha E. Watson of the home; a son Darrell Watson of Fontana California; his mother, Mrs. Chrissie Watson of Columbus; a step-daughter, Mrs. Louis Gee of Russell Missouri, and a sister, Mrs. Pearl Jones of Joplin Missouri. Floyd E. Spence, 48, of Baxter Springs Kansas, narrowly escaped death in the slide at Eagle-Picher's Bendelari pile of lead and Zinc tailings. Fellow workmen, headed by J. L. Harrold of Commerce Oklahoma, rushed to the scene of the slide and saw one of Spence's hands, the only part of the body that was uncovered. His head was uncovered quickly and then he was removed from the chat and rushed to the Miami Clinic for observation. His condition was found to be satisfactory and he was taken to his Baxter Springs Kansas home. On the return from Miami, Spence insisted on returning to the pile so that he could help recover Watson's body. Upon arrival there, officials at the site convinced Spence that he should go home for a rest. "I certainly thought I was at the end of the rope," Spence commented. He has been an Eagle-Picher employee for 15 years. Watson had been with the Company 12 years.

Both were members of the chat-loading department. At the time of the slide they were some 15 feet apart to drill holes preparatory to dynamite blasting in a v-shaped recess near the center of the huge pile. Spence noticed the opposite side of the pile starting to slide and shouted a warning to Watson, who was unable to escape from the hundreds of tons of chat that broke loose from the 60 foot north wall about 10:20 am. The body was removed at 1:30 pm. A big shovel, linked by cables with a nearby powerhouse, was used to move the chat that covered the body. A similar slide from the south wall occurred late Thursday, completely covering the area of the fatal scene. Such a slide during operations preparatory to removal of the body could have trapped eight or 10 men.

The Bendelari pile is a center of operations for processing and loading chat on railway cars for use as ballast on railroad beds.

Picher Oklahoma (Special)--Police Chief Paul Nichols of Picher warned today of the danger involved when children play on chat piles of the area. Such play, he explained, could create slides capable of burying youngsters under tons of chat. Nichols said a particularly dangerous situation existed two weeks ago at a pile adjacent to Third and Netta streets in Picher. "I had to chase children away from that pile several times and then warned chat removal operators to trim down the sides to help eliminate slide hazards," Nichols said. At one time, children from 8 to 10 years of age started the big engine of a chat loader and left it running wide open until the arrival of a peace officer, Nichols said.