From the 3rd floor
of the Webb City Public Library
February 14, 2024
A WCAGS member researching her ancestry ran across a newspaper article about a fatal accident at Osceola Mine No. 2 and remembered that she has a photo of that mine.
Here is the article, minus the graphic detail (which you can read in the copy of the newspaper if you want):
Man Killed by Falling Tramway
February 22, 1906
About 9 o’clock this morning a new tramway under construction at the Osceola Mine No. 2, located orth of the city limits, was blown down by high winds, instantly killing George Armour and injuring Ezra Davis.
The tramway was 200 feet long, leading from Osceola No. 2 south to a new shaft across the Missouri Pacific train track. The men were at work on it and George Armour was just climbing up when a strong gust of wind came and the tramway went down with a crash its full length. He recently came from Arkansas where he leaves a wife and a family of four children. He was boarding with his niece, Mrs. Rosa Hodkin, who keeps the boarding house at the “Old Red Plant.”
Ezra Davis had his jaw bone broken, his lips badly cut and back injured. His condition was serious and there was little hope for his recovery.
Armour had just started working at the Osceola the day before but had stated that he was afraid to work in the mine because he could be killed.
His nephew agreed to change places with him and Armour took his place on the tramway.
The Webb City Sentinel isn’t a newspaper – but it used to be, serving Webb City, Missouri, in print from 1879-2020. This “newspaper” seeks to carry on that tradition as a nonprofit corporation.
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