Individual Details

Death

November 26, 1915
YOUNG BOY KILLED BY LONG FALL
Ira Sykes
Ira L. Sykes, 14 year old son of Mr. and Mrs .James Sykes, of Sand Ridge, fell to his death at mine #208 (?) Sugar Creek yesterday afternoon about 3 o’clock.  Funeral services will be held at Chauncey tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o’clock.
It is stated that young Sykes and his brother-in-law, also a young man, were playing about the mouth of the mine yesterday afternoon before the tragedy occurred.  They were riding a truck down a grade toward the mouth of the shaft and had taken several such rides before the fatal one.  The brother-in-law jumped off the truck before it struck a switch and went on into the mouth of the shaft.  The Sykes boy leaped but too late.  He was moving with such momentum that he could not stop himself and plunged into the mine after the truck.
The boy’s body fell about 150 feet, alighting on the cage which was near the bottom.  He was instantly killed.  The brother-in-law volunteered to go down into the shaft on a rope and in this daring manner, with a block and tackle, the broken and crushed body was retrieved.

Nov 30, 1915
IRA SYKES, CHAUNCEY
The funeral of Ira Sykes, aged 15, who met his death at the Sugar Creek mine and an account of which was given in a recent issue of the Messenger, was held Saturday afternoon in the local First Christian church and burial was made in the Nye Cemetery.  He is survived by his parents Mr. and Mrs. James Sykes and several brothers and sisters who were all present at the funeral.