USGS TOPO MAP / DORTON 1954
Esco Railroad Siding and Tipple
ESCO MINE CAR DISASTER
Dec. 5, 1929
2 MEN KILLED, 2 HURT IN MINE
INCLINE CRASH
_______________
HATTON BURKE, SEEKING JOB, IS VICTIM AS CAR
RUNS WILD
_______________
TAN BRANHAM DIES AT HOSPITAL HERE
_______________
OTHERS JUMP TO SAFETY IN
ACCIDENT AT ESCO MINE
_______________
LATE BULLETIN
Tan Branham died at the Methodist Hospital here at one o’clock Wednesday afternoon from the effects of the injuries received in the accident.
An investigation at the mine Tuesday revealed that the accident was caused by a broken bolt in the drum-dog which controlled the car, Joseph Sheader, mine safety director, said.
One man was killed and three others were injured, one of them possibly fatally, late Monday afternoon when an incline car at the Elkhorn-Shelby Creek Coal Company mine at Esco, ran wild from the mouth of the mine and crashed to the bottom of the mountain. All of the injured men were brought to the Methodist Hospital here.
THE DEAD
Hatton Burke, 45 years old, of Robinson Creek.
Tan Branham, 60 years old, of Esco.
THE INJURED
Ballinger Branham, 40 years old, of Esco.
John Billiter, 52 years old, of Esco.
Hatton Burke
Burke, a miner, was not employed by the company, attaches of the company said Tuesday, but had gone to the mine seeking work. He with six other men including the three injured and Dave and Cleve Branham and Allard Casebolt, had boarded the car at the opening of the mine to come to the bottom when the accident occurred. All of the other men jumped from the car before it reached the bottom of the steep hill but Burke was thrown from the carrier by the impact when it struck the bottom or just before, it is said. He lived but forty-five minutes after the crash.
One Man Serious
Tan Branham, sixty years old, of Esco, is in the Methodist Hospital here and his condition is regarded as serious. He suffered injuries to the head and a broken left leg. Ballinger Branham, forty years old, received a cut neck and a gash over the left eye and John Billiter, fifty-two,was injured and brought to the hospital here. Cleve and Dave Branham, sons of Tan Branham and Allard Casebolt, escaped injury when they jumped from the car when it started down the mountainside.
The company did not assign any cause for the accident but one of the injured men stated that the car, used to convey men to and from the mine, had been brought to the flat near the mine opening for use by men going off duty and the brake released. As soon as the seven boarded the carrier he said, it started down the eleven foot incline and the rapidity with which it traveled revealed that it was not under control.
Men Leaped from Car
As soon as this was discovered, he said, Dave and Cleve Branham. Allard Casebolt and John Billiter leaped from the car which was rapidly gaining speed. Approximately seventy-five yards from where these four men jumped Ballinger Branham leaped and fell into some bushes which bounded him back onto the trucks, he said, Mr. Branham also stated that he rolled for approximately thirty yards after being thrown back onto the inline track. Tan Branham was the last man to leave the car, jumping from seventy-five to a hundred yards from the place where the other Branham leaped.
Burke was married and has several children. He lived on the Foundation Branch of Robinson Creek and was formerly employed in the mines in that vicinity.
Funeral services were held Wednesday at Robinson Creek cemetery.
