Workmen Buried Alive

Article taken from the Portsmouth Daily Times November 12, 1929.

          One man was crushed to death and another seriously injured when a section of the basement wall in the new Harding School, Sciotoville caved in about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. both were employees of the Boone Eason and Wood Contracting company, of Bluefield, W. Va., and were working in the cellar near each other when the accident occurred. The dead man is James Ratliff, 47, of Carlyle, near Star Yards. Edward Wheeler, of Harrison avenue, Sciotoville, was seriously injured. Ratliff who was working directly under the wall which caved in, suffered a fractured skull, crushed chest and practically all the bones in his body were broken. He was covered with more than 3 feet of dirt and took more than twenty minutes for a fellow workmen to move his body from the dirt. He was dead when moved from the cave in.

          In telling of the accident, C. C. Montgomery, foreman, stated that Ratliff and Wheeler were working in the northwest corner of the basement which is being excavated for the new school. Ratliff was working close to the wall and throwing the dirt out of the hole. Fellow workmen  who were in the basement stated that the wall gave way with out warning. Between 20 and 50 yards of dirt fell into the basement burying Ratliff alive. The weight of the cave in struck Wheeler's legs and threw him to the ground. His legs were bruised a few inches above the knees. Close to 30 workmen who witnessed the accident, ran to the assistance (unreadable) summoned Dr. Hutchens was at the scene when Ratliff was moved under the dirt and pronounced him dead. Montgomery, who accompanied Dr. Hutchens to the hospital, stated that the cause of the cave in was unknown. The ground was not wet of soggy and gave no indication that it might give way.

           The basement hole is about ten feet deep but at the point where Ratliff was digging it was 12 feet deep. A flue is to be built at this point of the building and Ratliff was digging at the base of the line. Ratliff, who was a former resident of this city and had lived in this community all of his life, is survived by the widow, Mrs. Ada Ratliff, five children, Daniel, Clarence, Wilbur, Alvens, and Dorothy. all at home. Wheeler is married and is the father of one son. Ansol. who is 14 years of age.