The recovery of the bodies of two other miners killed in an independent (bootleg) mining operation near Good Spring, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, took place over several more days. News reports on the tragedy are presented here as they appeared in the Pottsville newspaper on three successive days.
From the Pottsville Republican, February 12, 1939:
FAIL TO RECOVER MINERS’ BODIES
Rescue workers at noontime had failed to reach the bodies of the two miners still trapped in a bootleg coal hole near Good Spring.
The body of John Dietrich had been removed Friday morning at 2 o’clock and it was hoped at that time to recover those of Lee Dietrich, his brother, Norwood Howard, all of Gratz, within a few hours. However, rescuers encountered new danger yesterday from falling rocks and as a result were forced to work slowly, timbering ever inch of the way.
It is not known definitely when the two victims will be recovered.
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From the Pottsville Republican, February 13, 1939:
SECOND BODY IS RECOVERED
Rescue Workers Trying to Reach Body of Lee Dietrich, of Gratz, From Bootleg Home
Working in constant peril of a major fall in the bootleg coal on top of the Good Spring Mountain, in which two brothers and a prospective brother-in-law were killed by a fall last Wednesday, rescue workers are attempting to reach the body of the third, Lee Dietrich, 27, of Gratz, R. D., still under a covering of debris in the heading in which he and his two companions were trapped.
The second body, that of Norwood Howard, 18, of Gratz, R. D., was recovered Sunday evening, at 8 o’clock, almost 24 hours after the rescue workers had first sighted it.
A heavy fall imperiled the work and damage had to be repaired and new timbers set before the work could be continues, after the body was first located.
The first body to be recovered was that of John Dietrich, 23, of Gratz, removed Friday morning.
Rescuers uncovered the bodies of Howard and Lee Dietrich Saturday, and were making preparation to move them to the surface when another small slide occurred, partly burying them and making work so perilous that it took all day yesterday to repair the damage and make the operation safe.
Gas masks are being used by the workers and new crews are being pressed into service several times an hour.
Bodies Badly Crushed
When the body of Howard was recovered the skull was found badly crushed, indicating that he had received the full force of the fall. Only a few feet from where he was found lies the body of the elder Dietrich brother, so badly crushed as to be almost unrecognizable.
Miners reconstructing the tragedy say that Lee Dietrich, whose remains they are trying to recover, apparently was the first to be trapped and the fall next caught Howard as he tires to run for the surface. John Dietrich, whose body was recovered first, appeared to have escaped the fall until he reached a mine car, some distance away but here he too was caught before he could get to the surface.
The cold weather over the weekend helped to check the movement of surface earth but with a new thaw it is feared that the danger will again become extreme.
Curious Flock to Scene
Yesterday hundreds of autos visited that section and at one time it was estimated that fully 500 curious people were at the mine, which is almost two miles from a main highway. State Motor Police of Pine Grove were on hand to keep the crowd at a sufficient distance so that the lives of the miners would not be endangered.
The body of Howard was released to Undertaker Hoover, Berrysburg. Funeral plans are being held in abeyance pending the recovery of the third body.
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From the Pottsville Republican, February 14, 1939:
RECOVER THIRD MINE VICTIM
Double Funeral for Lee and John Dietrich; Bury Norwood Howard Tomorrow.
The final chapter in another bootleg mine hole tragedy was written early Tuesday morning, when the crushed body of Lee Dietrich, 26, was removed from the heading in the coal home on Good Spring Mountain, in which he, his younger brother John Dietrich, 22, and a friend, Norwood Howard, 18, all of Gratz, R. D., were crushed to death by a fall of top, last Wednesday noon.
Rescue workers, laboring in constant danger of their own lives being snuffed out by further falls, have worked incessantly since the accident to recover the bodies. At no time was there any hope entertained that any of the three youths would be rescued alive, for the call, not only blocked the slope, but fell inward into the heading.
The body of the younger brother, John Dietrich, was recovered Friday, and that of their neighbor, Norwood Howard, Sunday evening, at 8 o’clock, almost a day after it had been sighted.
Reconstructing the tragedy, the miners in that section, and the father of the Dietrich boys, Edward Dietrich, who narrowly escaped the same fate when he scrambled up the improvised ladder ahead of the fall, believe that Lee was trapped by a minor fall, and that Howard was trying to free him. Answering the call for help, John went to the rescue, when the fall continued covering the two. John Was trapped behind a coal car, and smothered as he tried to fight his way toward the slope and safety.
The farming community of Specktown Road, the locality in which the families of the dead youths live, is preparing now for the funerals.
Howard will be buried from the Hoover Funeral Home in Berrysburg, Wednesday morning, at 10 o’clock. Further services will e held in the Lutheran Church by Rev. R. E. Kramer, and interment will be made in the cemetery adjoining the church. Friends who assisted in recovering his body, will carry him to his last resting place.
The Dietrich family have made no arrangements, as yet. The father and brothers of the two youths toiled with the other rescuers, or kept constant vigil at the coal home and the father has been bedfast since the tragedy.
Funeral plans for John were held in abeyance until the recovery of Lee’s body.
Funeral Director Hoover, Berrysburg, took the broken body of Lee Dietrich to his morgue, Tuesday morning, and will discuss funeral arrangements with the family during the afternoon.
It is definite, however, that a double funeral will be held.
Since shortly after 7 o’clock, Tuesday morning, when the last body was brought to the surface, the area, a bee-hive of activity for the last six days, was deserted, the weary men returning to their homes, and the grief-stricken survivors returning to make funeral arrangements.
Both brothers are graduates from school at Berrysburg, John with the Lykens Valley Vocational the class of 1935, and Lee with the Class of 1931.
Neither was an experienced miner, John having been unemployed, and Lee a former employee at the General Motors Plant, Maryland.
Surviving are their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dietrich, and these sisters and brothers: Mrs. Charles Schoffstall, of Gratz; Miss Laura Dietrich, at home; William Dietrich, Lykens R. D. [Specktown]; Earl Dietrich, Norfolk, Virginia; Harry Dietrich, of Valley View; Marlin Dietrich, of Shamokin; and Lauren Dietrich, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Howard is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Howard, and besides his parents, leaves these brothers and sisters: Richard Howard; Mark Howard; Eugene Howard; Donald Howard; Robert Howard; Loretta Howard; Mary Ellen Howard; Alberta Howard; and Pearl Howard, all at home.
