JOHN FITZWATER KILLED IN MINE.

     John Fitzwater, a well known operator in the mining district here, was found dead in the drift at No. 12 shaft, Leadwood, Sunday night [April 23, 1916]. Coroner English was notified and went out and held an inquest Monday morning.

    From the evidence adduced at the inquest, it seems that Fitzwater was engaged in doing some draft work; he was a drift contractor; he started to his work Sunday morning about 8 o'clock and when he failed to return home that evening the family became uneasy about him and began an investigation resulting in finding the body within 8 or 8 feet of the bottom of the shaft.

    The body was badly mangled but from the trail of blood it was apparent that the wounded man had crawled some 40 or 50 feet after being injured and before death ensued.

    The deceased was well and favorably known among mining people here, having been in the district about sixteen years. Burial was in the K. of P. cemetery of which order deceased was an honored member.

[The St. Francois County Record, Elvins, Missouri, Friday, April 28, 1916, Page 1]

JOHN FITZWATERS KILLED AT HOFFMAN 
MINES SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

     John Fitzwaters, a drill man employed by the St. Joseph Lead Co., at the Hoffman shaft at Leadwood met death Sunday afternoon alone in the mine.  It is supposed he had attempted to light his charge holes, drilled that day, and in doing so his light had been blown out by the spitting of the fuse and in attempting to again light the lamp had delayed time and was caught in the explosion.  The first blood stain was found eight feet from where he had drilled the holes and the body was about 125 feet from where the first blood was found which was evident that he had crawled the distance as the blood was all along the track.  Mr. Fitzwaters was alone in the mine and the failure of him to return home at his usual time had worried his family and a brother who had come from Bonne Terre on the evening train and who also works in the same place went down in the mine and found him dead.  The left leg and shoulder were shot and crushed, the leg being suspended to the body by only a few tissues, and the shoulder directly under the arm had a rock which had been thrown from the blast almost forced into the heart. 

     An inquest was held Monday and the jury returned a verdict of death by cause of a "faulty fuse."  

     He leaves a wife and four children.  

[The Bonne Terre Register, April 28, 1916]