On the evening of Dec. 17, 1924, at 6 pm, an explosion ripped through the Burnett coal mine nearly 1,600 feet below ground. Mine rescue crews, including the Newcastle team pictured above rushed to the scene of the accident. Sadly, six miners perished immediately: Elmer Crippen, age 33; Ernest H. Ridley, age 39; Elmer Landis, age 31; B.H. Washburn, age 50; Charles Kirby, age 28; and E.J. Rush, age 26. A seventh, Henry Humecky, age 24, died later in Providence Hospital as a result of burns, gas inhalation, and shock. Another miner, Rassie Lazarus suffered critical injuries but recovered. Despite an inquest before a Coroner’s Jury conducted by the state mine inspector, William Reese, the definitive cause of the tragedy was never discovered. Three years later the Burnett mine closed down. During 47 years of operations, 70 miners died in the Burnett coal mines making them among the deadliest in Washington State on a per-ton-mined basis.
The Newcastle rescue squad was one of four teams dispatched to Burnett that night to aid rescue efforts. Shown here from left to right are George Augsberger, Sam McNeely, Frank Fitzgerald, George Hashu, and B. F. Snook. This photo appeared in the Dec. 21, 1924, Sunday Daily Times and comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian.
