Nick Momot of Leadwood was fatally injured in an accident at the Desloge mine of St. Joseph Lead Company Monday afternoon at two o'clock. He was taken to the Bonne Terre Hospital where he died several hours later.
Funeral services were held at the Greek Catholic Church in Desloge Thursday morning, March 26, 1936, at 9:30 o'clock. Interment was made in the St. Francois cemetery, with arrangements in charge of J. S. Boyer and Son.
An inquest was held at the Boyer Undertaking Parlors in Leadwood Wednesday at 7 p.m. by Coroner Province and Prosecuting Attorney Mathews, and the following facts were made known.
Momot had worked in the mines for over twenty years, and during the last fourteen years as skip loader at the Leadwood mine. He had been transferred temporarily to the Desloge mine while Leadwood mine was down.
On the day of the accident he and three other employees were dumping "poor" rock to make a railroad fill. In order to switch in some loaded cars where they were working, Momot climbed into the cab of the locomotive and backed the train of cars down past the switch. Instead of the train coming to a stop as was the intention, at the switch, the train with Momot in the locomotive continued down the track for a distance of 2100 feet and collided with a string of empty cars. Momot was caught between the wrecked mine cars and the locomotive and both legs were badly crushed. He was immediately removed to the Bonne Terre Hospital, but died as a result of his injuries and shock.
Investigation disclosed that the locomotive was in good mechanical condition. The brakes on the wrecked motor were found to be in good condition but wide open. This suggests the possibility that as the train proceeded down the grade Momot became confused while attempting to halt the train and accidently released the brakes instead of setting them.
Momot was a World War veteran and well respected by all who knew him. He was married and the father of ten children, to whom the News extends sympathy.
The information on this site is provided free for the purpose of researching your genealogy. This material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, for your own research. The information contained in this site may not be copied to any other site without written "snail-mail" permission. If you wish to have a copy of a donor's material, you must have their permission. All information found on these pages is under copyright of Oklahoma Cemeteries. This is to protect any and all information donated. The original submitter or source of the information will retain their copyright. Unless otherwise stated, any donated material is given to MOGenWeb to make it available online.