Oscar E. Roberts
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 1 - May 17, 1929
EDWARDS MAN KILLED IN LEADVILLE MINE CAVE-IN. O. E. ROBERTS Caught In cave In Stope--Covered by Several Tons of Dirt and Dead when Dug Out--Buried in Edwards Cemetery Tuesday.
Oscar ROBERTS, 31, son of A. E. ROBERTS of Lake creek, near Edwards, was killed Sunday morning when he was caught in a cave-in while working in a stope of the Pyrenees mine at Leadville, and died of suffocation before rescuers could reach his body. He was pinned to the floor of the stope by two or three tons of dirt, but his body was not crushed and his death is believed to be due to suffocation and shock, says the Leadville Herald Democrat.
James SIFERS, who was working the stope on a contract basis with ROBERTS, had just stepped out of the hole when the cave occurred, continues the Herald's account of the accident. He was apparently uninjured and summoned other miners who dug the body of Roberts from the loose earth.
The accident occurred on the fifth level in stope H5 at 10 o'clock Sunday morning. The body was not brought to the surface until shortly before noon.
Richard MURRAY, deputy state mine inspector from Salida, arrived here Sunday afternoon and made an examination of the stope where the accident occurred. He stated Monday that ROBERTS met death by accident.
Al TONKINS, superintendent of the mine, had visited the stope in which ROBERTS and SIFERS were working just five minutes before the fatal accident but was in another part of the mine when the cave took place.
ROBERTS went to Leadville from Gilman, where he was employed by the Empire Zinc company. He started working for the Leadville Deep Mines company on February 18 of this year. He is survived by his widow, Mr. O. E. ROBERTS, 329 East Sixth street, Leadville, and five children.
Oscar ROBERTS was a son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. ROBERTS of Lake creek, this county. Tuesday morning the body was shipped to Edwards, and at 2 o'clock that afternoon was buried in the Edwards cemetery. The funeral was attended by one of the largest congregations of people ever to attend a funeral in that neighborhood.
