Alone in the Tunnel: A Mine Superintendent Is Overcome by Gas and Not Found Until Morning
James Pecola, longtime superintendent of the Edison and Washington-Iowa mines, went back underground after supper to check two misfire holes. The gas got him first, and the crew did not miss him until Sunday.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
INDEX, Feb. 9. — The body of James Pecola, who met death at the Edison mine Saturday night, arrived here late last evening. The unfortunate man had returned to the tunnel after supper to investigate a couple of misfire holes. He was overcome by gas and not missed until Sunday morning by the crew. The trip to Index was made under considerable difficulties, as there is fifteen feet of snow at the mine. Mr. Pecola was a well-known mining man in this district, having been superintendent of the Edison and Washington-Iowa mines for several years, and was heavily interested in other properties here. He is survived by his widow, who resides in Seattle.
“The unfortunate man had returned to the tunnel after supper to investigate a couple of misfire holes. He was overcome by gas and not missed until Sunday morning by the crew.”
A mine superintendent died alone in a Washington tunnel because a routine after-supper check on two misfires was nobody's buddy job — he simply wasn't missed until the next morning. Confined-space and gas hazards still kill workers in this state, and the same questions recur: who counts the crew, who goes in second, and who is responsible when the shift ends. The fifteen feet of snow that slowed the recovery is a reminder that in the Cascades, rescue has always arrived on the weather's schedule.
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