Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 7, 1954
Crews dig frantically
By Charles Russell
Post-Intelligencer staff writer

He escaped underground death. Roy Coutts gratefully accepts a drink of water from his wife, Ruth, at Enumclaw Hospital where he taken after being rescued from a cave-in at the Landsburg Mine near Ravensdale. Still on his face are black marks from the coal that covered him during the nearly 4 hours he was trapped underground. (Post-Intelligencer photo by Tom Carson.)
RAVENSDALE, Jan. 6. — Rescuers were digging frantically tonight to reach a coal miner buried 500 feet underground, at the nearby Landsburg Mine.
It was not known whether the miner, Harry English, 39, of Black Diamond, was dead or alive.
A second miner trapped in the same cave-in with English was dug out this afternoon, about 4 hours after the accident.
Satisfactory
He is Roy Coutts, 25, of Cumberland, who was reported in satisfactory condition at Enumclaw Hospital.
None of the 35 other employees working in the mine, operated by the Palmer Coking Coal Co. of Maple Valley, were endangered.
Edward Roberts, engineer for the Federal Bureau of Mines, said late tonight that after rescuers had dug the first 10 feet they still had no idea whether they were going in the right direction. (more…)
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