TranscriptOBITUARY. Mr. Thomas Turnball was born September 30, 1826, at Washington Staith, on the bank of the River Wear, near Sunderland, in the Parish of Washington, County of Durham, England. He emigrated to the United States in the spring of 1851, with his wife and one child (which died Feb'y. 14, 1877) and settled in the Kanawha Valley, near Charleston, W. Va. In the fall of the same year he moved to Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio. In January, 1852, he moved to Sheffield, now Middleport, and has lived in the vicinity ever since that time, until January 24, 1884, when he lost his life in the Diamond coal bank by a fall of coal, which broke his neck and back, beside making other heavy bruises about his head. His age was 57 years, 3 months and 24 days. He leaves the partner of his joys and sorrows and six children - two sons and four daughters - to mourn his untimely death.DetailMeigs County Tribune, Page 5Other informationMiddleport, Ohio, Friday, January 25, 1884. Fatally Crushed! _______ Thomas Turnbull Instantly killed, while at in the Diamond Coal Bank. _______ The body badly bruised, being caught under one corner of a several ton lump of coal. _______ The community was thrown into a high state of excitement yesterday afternoon, by an accident which occurred at the Diamond Coal bank, operated by the Dyke Bros. The bank is situated in the First Ward of this city, and was owned and worked by the Pomeroy Coal Company, previous to being leased to the Dyke Bros. The bank is considered as safe as any mine in the vicinity, and the fatal accident which occurred yesterday was in no measure due to the negligence of anyone in charge of the works. The mishap was purely accidental. Thomas Turnbull a miner in the above named bank was at his usual work, had just completed filling several wagons to send out to the dump at the mouth of the bank, and was standing near the north side of the room. Mr. Wm. Snowdon was the only person in the room with Mr. Turnbull at the time. His story is as follows: "We had just finished our dinners and had began work, it was then a little after one o'clock, I was standing not over four or five yards from Mr. Turnbull. All of a sudden I heard a terrible crash, and at once beheld my fellow workman under one edge of an immense lump of coal that would weigh several tons. I gave the alarm and we at once began to remove the coal. It was ten or fifteen minutes before we got the body out. He breathed several times after we got him out. The mass of coal was not broken a particle by the fall. He was caught midway between the shoulder and the hip. The side, back, and head were terribly bruised, otherwise the body was very slightly injured. The remains were taken home in one of the coal delivery wagons. The deceased was a brother of Mr. Edward Turnbull, of Pomeroy, He was about sixty years of age. He leaves a wife and five children, Mrs Marta Castoe, of this place, Mrs. W. T. Campbell, of Sherman, Texas. Ms. Viola, unmarried, Jacob Turnbull, of Portsmouth, O., and John Turnbull, who is somewhere in the West. Mr. Turnbull was in every respect an honorable and upright man, his loss will be universally regretted.