Obituary Details

Ray T. Amik

(11/30/-0001 - 01/27/1937)
Courtesy of The Lusk Herald, 01/28/1937

Derrick Man On Well Near Weston and Niobrara Co. Line Instantly Killed in Accident Wednesday a.m.

As four of his fellow workers stood helplessly by, Ray T. Amik, 24, a derrick man, became entangled in a rope which was fastened to the cathead on the Conway well, being drilled by Manning & Martin Co., of Tulsa and Denver, in Weston county about 25 miles south of Newcastle, just north of the Niobrara county line, and was whipped to his death by the powerful machinery. The accident occurred at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The co-workers of Amik, Fred Sopher, Joe Brown, John Gilmore and Guy Baumgartner, stated that Amik, seeing himself becoming enmeshed in the rope, reached for the throw-off lever in a frantic effort to stop the machinery, he slipped throwing his weight on the lever, throwing it on full. The powerful machinery threw him about the derrick with terrific force, breaking his arm, fracturing his skull and severing his left leg from the body.

Amik came here several weeks ago from Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time the new Conway well was started. His wife is confined to a hotel at Newcastle, prostrated by grief.

The victim's remains will probably be shipped to his home in Oklahoma.

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