Granville, NY Sawdust Pile Cave-in, Jan 1939

From The Rutland Herald, Rutland, VT

WOMAN DIES AS SAWDUST PILE CAVES IN

Avalanche at Factory in Granville Fatal to Mrs. Buxton, Middletown Springs

Husband Also Injured

Workers Labor Five Minutes Before Rescuing Woman From Beneath Pile

Granville, NY, Jan. 10 - Mrs. Henry Buxton, 35, of Middletown Springs, VT, dies this noon in the Emma Laing Stevens Hospital here after she had been buried in a sawdust pile for more than fve minutes following a cave-in of sawdust at the Telescope Folding Furniture company plant here.
Dr. John Sumner of Granville, called to the scene of the cave-in to administer first aid to Mrs. Buxton, said her mouth and lungs were filled with fine sawdust which she had been compelled to breathe while caught under the sawdust pile.
She was buried with her husband, a few years her senior, when they were filling bags with sawdust, at about 11:30 o'clock, but he was not covered above his shoulders and suffered only an injury to one ankle.
There was a line of persons and their vehicles, come to cart away the sawdust from a pile 50 feet high and 100 foot across at the base. Just ahead of the Buxtons, a large truck had been backed up to the huge pile and a big load of the granulated wood taken away. A sizeable hole was left in the side of the pile, and the Buxtons moved their small farm truck into that space to pick up loose sawdust.
Mr. and Mrs. Buxton and others in the waiting line of people had been warned by employees of the furniture company that there was constant danger of the pile of sawdust caving in at that point. Suddenly the wall of sawdust broke, engulfing the couple.
Men waiting in line were joined by others from the manufacturing plant in hurried efforts to clear away the sawdust. Mr. Buxton was easily freed, and work was devoted to reaching his wife. It was about five minutes before she could be dug out and rushed to the hospital. Oxygen was administered to her,and after a few minutes she recovered. But after a short time she passed into a coma and died at 12:30 o'clock.
Mr. Buxton was discharged from the hospital after a brief treatment to his injured ankle.
Mr. and Mrs. Buxton had come here to get the sawdust from their home on the Poultney road in Middletown Springs.
Besides her husband, Mrs. Buxton is survived by one son, Robert, 12, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emery McLaughlin, of Middletown Springs.
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