The daily Gate City., 1914-03-06
John Bathen, an Einploye Of
the Cereal Works, Was
Dead When Removed
by Workmen.
ACCIDENT WAS FATAL
Was Uninjured When First
Discovered But Was Gov
cred Over by Bad
Cave-in.

4 John Rathen, sixty-fou> years old,
lof SIT South Seventh street, was
lsmothered to death in bulk feed bin
at the Hubinger Brothers plant. where
The was working, at o'clock this
morning, while other employees Of the
jplant worked desperately to remove
him. Bathen was up to his arm pits
in the feed when first discovered, and
lit was at first thought that he could
tbe removed safely. Shortly after the
/, work of rescue began, however, he
was covered to the depth Of two feet
when a wall of the feed 1aved in. 1t
Twas forty minutes before he could be
lextricated by the franaic workmen,
land he was smothered to death before
The could be removed.
i The accident occurred at 800
O'Clock this morning. Bathen, who
Ihas been employed at the cereal works
for six OF seven years. was working
with a number of other MEN in the
lgang of which Arthur VanAusdall
was foreman They were loading a
lcar with bulk feed from large bin.
4 The bin is about sixty feet long, If
lteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high
The sides of the bin are perpendicular,
Except near the bottom where the
sides come close together, making a
long trough through the bottom Of
(which are holes at intervals, which al
low the contents of the bin to feed
down to conveyor which in turn
carries the contents of the bin to the
RAILROAD car outside the building.
Conveyor Below Bln.
a The conyeyor is operated from a
broom below the bin. Four men are
located in the. car to shovel back the
feed as Ii come in pm ths conveyor.
Jon occasions the feed in the bin be-
comes banked along the sides and at
these times itgis necessary to station
la man inside. the bin to keep the feed
running to the conyeyor at the bot
tom.
Bathen was delegated last night to
work in-thes bin. Inside the bin is a
sort of platform, about one foot wide,
and running around the sides of the
bin thats is used by the man working
inside the bin. A railing to protect
the workman from falling from this
platform runs the entire length of the
platform. Bathen with shovel, was
sent to this room by himself, and it
is not known just how he first be-
came buried in the feed. On some
occasions the man inside the bin has
been known to step freln the plat
form to the feed in the bin. 1t is
thought that Bathen must have done
this, and that bank caved in with
him which buried him to his armpits
in the position he was when first
found.
First Discovered Bathen.
The first man to discover Bathen
was John Alberts, an employe of the
plant, who had been working in the
room below Alberts had occasion to
go to the room above, on which
floor the entrance to the bin was To-
Gated When Alberts arrived on the
floor he heard some one shouting. At
first he thought the shouts came from
outside the building and he ran to the
window to look out. Seeing nothing
outside, he returned and again heard
the shouts. This time he could dis
Itinguish the words. Bathen was shout
ing, Throw off the belt" Alberts
ran Immediately to the room below
the bin and threw off the belt which
Operates the conveyor.
He returned then to the bin with
the other workmen. Inside they saw
Bathen almost completely buried in
the feed, only his head and arms re-
naming above the surface. The men
lat once started to shovel back the