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Hanna Coal Company
Georgetown No. 12 Strip Mine Liquid Oxygen Explosion

Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio
May 1, 1956
No. Killed - 4

The Daily Reporter News Article  (4.4 Mb)  PDF Format

A liquid oxygen explosion occurred which practically "vaporized" a truck and four men at the Hanna Coal Company strip mine.

Four men and a crew foreman, Andy Jacobs, 30 of Cadiz were preparing to lower a charge of the liquid oxygen into a hole for blasting when the blasting charge exploded, along with a supply of the explosive on the ground and a complete truckload standing nearby.

After the blast, workers could find practically no wreakage of the 5-ton truck and almost nothing of the bodies of the four men.

The deceased:
  • William Stephens, 28
  • Harry Deaton, 49
  • Clarence "Bud" Hawthorne, 34
  • Richard Deloma, 24




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