A brief article in the Lykens Standard, December 12, 1924, told the following story:
SHERIDAN MAN KILLED AT EAST BROOKSIDE
A delayed shot which caused the men in No. 5 lift, East Brookside Colliery to stop work Wednesday, exploded while men were at work Thursday morning. The shot exploded while the workmen were drilling another hole close to the delayed shot. When the explosion occurred Harry Ochenreider, aged 30 years, of Sheridan, was instantly killed, and his father James G. Ochenreider, aged 55 years, is probably fatally injured. He sustained severe burns and lacerations of the face and arms and contusions and abrasions about the body.
Harry Ochenrider is survived by his parents, his wife and two small children.
But, an obituary from 1955 would suggest that Harry Ochenreider did not die in the mine explosion. From the Sunbury Daily Item, August 19, 1955:
HARRY E. OCHENRIDER DIES AT CHILLICOTHE
Harry E. Ochenrider, 56, Chillicothe, Ohio, formerly of Elizabethville, and native of Pillow, died of a heart attack at his home. He had operated an Army and Navy store for 15 years. He served during World war I and was the adopted son of the late Mt. and Mrs. James Ochenrider, Elizabethville.
Surviving are his wife, the former Lillie Marie Ogg; a daughter, Mrs. William Weaver, Millersburg, R. D. 1; two sons, Henry Ochenrider and George Ochenrider, Rochester, New York; his mother, Mrs. Gordon Brosius, Mandata; three sisters Misses Daisy Brosius and Mae Brosius, Mandata, and Mrs. Charles Miller, Snydertown; and six brothers, Raymond Brosius and Naldy Brosius, Pillow; Albert Brosius, Williamsport; Lawrence Brosius, Mandata; Herman Brosius, Portsmouth, Ohio; and Robert Brosius, Chillicothe.
____________________________________
At the time of the writing of this blog post, no newspaper article has been located indicating that Harry Ochenreider survived the mine accident, nor has any article been found to indicate that there was a funeral for him. No Pennsylvania Death Certificate has been located. And, no cemetery in the area has a record of his burial.
Evidence that Harry survived, but was severely disabled, might be found in the records of the U. S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, August 23, 1933:
Disabilities When Admitted to Home: Old injury to lumbar spine with resultant partial paralysis of lower extremities. Hypertension arteries.
More research needs to be done to determine for certain that Harry survived the explosion at East Brookside, why there was no newspaper correction made, and what happened to the family that supposedly survived him. The woman named as his wife in the 1955 obituary was not married to him until 1934, ten years after the accident, so this was a subsequent wife (2nd or greater).
_________________________________
News article from Newspapers.com
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.