Dewey J. Beck died assisting in an attempt to save Fred Spencer from suffocation, Waco, Missouri, August 11, 1927. Spencer, 48, driller, was overcome by carbon dioxide in a zinc and lead mine about 20 feet from the bottom of a shaft that was 330 feet deep. He fell from a hoisting bucket to the bottom. Beck, 28, driller’s helper, and another man, who were fellow workmen of Spencer’s and had been warned not to go below the point at which Spencer had been overcome, had themselves lowered in the hoisting bucket to go to Spencer’s assistance. When they were about 10 feet from the bottom of the shaft, Beck was overcome and fell out of the bucket to the bottom of the shaft. His companion fell shortly afterward. All three of the men were dead when brought to the surface 40 minutes later, after the shaft had been ventilated. 27646-2220
27646 – 2220
27646-2220