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There were all sorts of dangers in the mines; dangers which could quickly injure or cause fatalities. Here is but one example.
“Lou Montee, employed at mine No. 8 of the Cherokee and Pittsburg Coal and Mining company, Chicopee, had a narrow escape while working in the mine. He was engaged in jacking up a motor when the pinch bar used was caught in a cog wheel and it was thrown a distance of several fee.
“During its passage through the air like a catapult it struck Mr. Montee a glancing blow on the left side of the head which rendered him unconscious for a couple of hours and for a time it was thought that he was dead.
“Surgical assistance was secured and his injuries treated and at last accounts he was improving nicely.”
Source: The Pittsburg Daily Headlight, Tuesday, 3 August 1909, Vol. XXII, No. 92.
Born in 1944 at the old Mt. Carmel Hospital, Pittsburg, Jerry D. Lomshek has been a lifelong resident of Crawford County and the Chicopee area. The grandson of a Slovene immigrant coal miner, he became interested in history at a young age, and began researching family and local history at the age of 14. This being a lifelong passion, he has amassed a mammoth amount of local historical data over the years. He has lectured and written several manucripts concerning the history of Southeast Kansas. From his service in the Navy, and as a registered nurse, he spent 45 years involved in various aspects of health care. Since retiring, he has devoted his time to further local historical research and various community involvement.
