A fall of slate claims the life of William Jukes

Find a Grave photo

I came across an account of William Jukes' death earlier this week while reviewing local news reports in Lucas County newspapers from July of 1880. The reporter was an unidentified correspondent for the neighboring coal mining towns of Lucas and Cleveland and like many other men during the course of the county's coal mining history, Mr. Jukes was killed in the mines by a fall of slate.

It made me happy to discover, via Find a Grave, that he had a tombstone in Fry Hill Cemetery --- recently restored it appears. Like many other miners, William had no family with him in Lucas County when he died. A majority of his family remained in England, but he did have a brother --- most likely a miner, too --- in Illinois and he probably saw to it that the grave was marked.

Here's the report of his death from The Chariton Patriot of July 28, 1880, and I've included the entire news column because it offers a snapshot of what had been a sad week in these small mining boom towns:

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Find a Grave photo

Duty compels me once more to report the death of one of the miners of this place who has fallen a victim to one of many dangers of a coal miner. On Thursday morning, Wm. Jukes was almost instantly killed by a fall of rock from the roof. Deceased was a native of England, was unmarried and was well respected by those who knew him. He had cash notes and government bonds to the amount of seven or eight hundred dollars, all took charge of. His aged father and mother live in England. He had a brother in Illinois who was telegraphed for but did not arrive until after the burial, which by the way was a double funeral, the only child of Jacob Williams being buried at the same time.

On Wednesday last, Mr. Ruben Snigle buried his eldest daughter, Annie, aged near 17 or 18. The complaint being typhoid fever. So you can see last week made a sad record for our vicinity.

We report two births, G.T. Davies and wife a son; J. Usher and wife a son. Both on the 20th inst.

The fast growth of Lucas has had a serious back-set --- The U.C. and M.  Co. having ceased work on the mine in the town, a great many rumors are afloat in regard to the matter. In some of my previous correspondence I depended on rumor, so I have lost faith in such authority and refrain from saying anything about it.

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The son of Jacob Williams who was buried at Fry Hill at the same time as Mr. Jukes undoubtedly was little George E., whose grave also is marked by a recently restored stone.

I couldn't find any record of "Snigle" family in Lucas County, so it's possible that the correspondent hadn't spelled the surname correctly although of course there are many unmarked graves at Fry Hill.