Southwest American
Fort Smith Arkanas
Tuesday Morning May 12, 1942

Five Die In Mine Blast

Two Injured in Explosion at Excelsior

State Inspector Begins inquiry in disaster Monday Night

Five men were killed and two others were injured, one seriously, in an exploion in the Peerless Coal company mine, near Excelsior, Ark about 15 miles south of here early Monday night.
The dead:
George Young, about 33 years old, Greenwood, Ark.
Arthur Daggett 32, Greenwood.
Newt Durhanm 32, Greewood.
Wallace Smith, 45, Greenwood.
A.W. Hanna, 50, Greenwood.
The injured were Harris McAlister of Greenwood, and Tony Farrante, 33 Excelsior who are being treated at Colonial hospital. Attendants said McAlister's condition was serious but not critical, while Partanie? condition was not serious.
Attendants said McAlister received painful burns on his head, hands and arms, and that Farraote? was suffering from shock. Farre???did not suffer burns.
All of the victims were killed instantly by the violent concussion of the explosion and burns according to W.H. Lewis of Greenwood, president to the Peerless company. The two injured men also suffered from shock and concussion.

Another article....
Double Trouble
Cars Collide as Youth Rushes to Disaster Scene

H.B. Smith, 21 years old, Greenwood, Ark was being treated Monday night at Colonial hospital for minor injuries he suffered Monday night in an automobile collision while en route to the Perless coal company mine, where his uncle, Wallace Smith, 45, Greenwood, was killed in an explosion that claimed the lives of four other miners. Young Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wear Smith, suffered a cut over his right eye and a cut on one finger, attendants said. A car being driven by young Smith and occupied by several memebers of his family collided with another machine at a point about half way between Greenwood and Excelsior, attendants said they learned. The name of the driver and occupants of the other machine were not learned, but they were belived to have escaped injury.

--------------------
Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia 1942-05-12

Excelsior, AR Coal Mine Explosion, May 1942
BLAST IN MINE FATAL TO FIVE.

TWO SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ARKANSAS.

Fort Smith, Ark., May 12 (AP)
-- Five miners were killed and two other were seriously injured in an explosion late yesterday at the Peerless Coal Co. mine at Excelsior, 15 miles southwest of here.

Those killed were:
GEORGE YOUNG, 53.
ARTHUR BAGGETT, 32.
NEWT DURHAM, 32.
A. W. HANN, 50, all of Greenwood, Ark.
Seriously burned were:
HARRIS McALLISTER, 30, of Greenwood.
TONY FARRANTE, 35, of Excelsior.

W. H. Lewis of Greenwood, president of the mining company, said the accident apparently was caused by the explosion of gas or dust. He said the five had been killed instantly. The explosion occurred about 1,500 feet underground in this western Arkansas slope mine.