The Black Engineer Who Guarded Franklin Mine—and Was Cleared of Assault
After the mine disaster, Oscar Martin stopped a trespassing engineer with a gun. A justice ruled he was doing his job.
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.
At a preliminary examination before Justice Humphrey yesterday afternoon, Oscar Martin, a Black engineer, charged with assaulting John F. Healy, mining engineer for the Green River Coal and Coke Company, with a deadly weapon at Franklin on Friday, August 31, was discharged and the case dismissed.
Martin is the engineer in charge of the engine that runs the fans at Franklin mine No. 7. Healy, the complaining witness, is an engineer for a company that owns an adjoining mine. Healy said he went down into the Oregon Improvement Company's mine to see if he could locate the vein running through into the Green River mine. This was about a week after the great disaster, and Martin had been instructed to watch strangers closely so that no accident might occur. Notices had also been posted warning trespassers away.
When Martin asked Healy what he was doing, Healy replied that it was none of his damned business. Martin sent his fireman for the mine superintendent and then followed Healy, asking him to stop. Healy paid no attention. When Martin caught up, he hit Healy on the head with a gun and knocked him down. Healy got up and Martin knocked him down again. Martin then marched him into the engine room at the point of a gun and held him until the superintendent came down and ordered his release. Justice Humphrey decided that Martin was justified and had not been guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, and ordered his release.
“Healy replied that it was none of his damned business.”
Franklin was a company coal town, and the mine guard's authority after a disaster was a life-and-death matter. The case also shows a Black worker entrusted with a crucial safety job—and a court accepting his account—in an era when the press often treated Black Washingtonians as suspects rather than professionals.
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