Fulton County IL Archives Obituaries.....O'Hallarn, George And James October 14, 1895
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Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1896
October 14, 1895, George and James O’Hallarn, brothers, aged respectively 30 and 
33 years, miners, were killed by falling roof in Canton Coal Company’s mine, one 
mile west of Canton, Fulton county. At the time of the accident they were at 
work taking out the pillar in room 13, N. W. entry. On Saturday, the 12th, the 
foreman, H. C. Solenberger, was in their place, and told them to take no more 
coal off the pillar on which they were working, and apparently they had followed 
his advice, and came further out and fired two shots on the next pillar. On 
returning to work on Monday, they commenced to mine coal off the abandoned 
pillar, and between two and three o’clock James Dalton, another miner, went in 
to visit them. They were mining coal off to a horseback that run through the 
pillar and across the room. Dalton asked them how far they intended to take out 
the coal, to which James O’Hallarn replied they would be finished in about an 
hour. At that time they did not have any props set up under the roof where they 
were working. Some time after that a noise similar to the firing of a shot was 
heard coming from the direction of O’Hallarn’s room, but no notice was taken. 
All the other miners went out at 4:45 p. m. by way of the escape shaft, their 
usual way of going out and into the mine. The O’Hallarn brothers not coming home 
as usual, the wife of James became alarmed, and at 11 p. m. notified Wm. Bell, a 
miner employed in the same mine, and he organized a searching party and went to 
the room where the brothers worked. There they found them buried under the 
fallen roof. The portion falling in measured 21x23 feet in area, and 9 inches in 
depth. The bodies were taken out by one o’clock in the morning. From the 
position under the fall, they had received some warning of their danger, and had 
attempted to escape. James’ death was due to suffocation; George had his neck 
broken and skull fractured. On investigating the area falling in, there was but 
one prop under it. At this mine the roof is tolerably strong and the coal is 
blasted off the solid, and the props are kept as far back from the face as is 
consistent with safety. They were about to discontinue taking coal from that 
pillar, and it is evident that they had been trying to finish it with as few 
props as possible, but on account of the horseback there was a slip in the roof, 
and it gave way without much warning. No company hands were in the mine at the 
time, which accounts for the length of time before deceased were found. James 
left a widow and three children; George, a widow.

Additional Comments:
Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, Coal in Illinois, 
1896, Containing the Thirteenth Annual Reports of the State Inspectors of Mines; 
George A Schilling, Secretary. Springfield, ILL: Phillips Bros., State Printers; 
1897

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