Oliver Busby

Oliver Busby, 49, mine foreman, saved Coleman Burrell, 25, trackman’s helper, from bleeding and a cave-in in a mine, Birmingham, Alabama, March 28, 1938. When runaway mine cars in a coal-mine collided with standing cars, Burrell was knocked to his knees between the ends of two cars, the cars coming to a stop after one of them had dislodged two roof supports. The roof began slowly to sag above Burrell. Burrell’s leg was caught under a car and was fractured; and an artery was severed, from which blood spurted. Busby crawled under the sagging roof to Burrell. Lying on his side in a confined space on the floor, he pressed the artery, stopping the flow of blood almost entirely. He was thus engaged for 10 minutes, all the time regarding the sagging roof with apprehension. The car was then raised, and Burrell was carried to safety. A very short time later roof timbers came to rest on the car alongside of which Busby had lain; and a large rock slid down on it, followed by a fall of small rock. Burrell’s leg later was amputated.