James Mounce (1947)
MOUNCE, DENNIS
Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 4/30/2016 at 15:32:57
Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, August 13, 1947
Page 1DES MOINES MAN ASPHYXIATED HERE
Workman Dies While Cleaning Patterson School’s Septic Tank
James Mounce, aged 35, of Des Moines, died of asphyxiation in the septic tank at the Patterson school building Wednesday afternoon of last week.
Mounce and his brother-in-law, Arthur Dennis, also of Des Moines, were engaged in cleaning out the septic tanks at the school when the fatal accident occurred. They had just finished pumping one out, and Mounce dipped down into it with a shovel to complete the job.
He was no sooner in that he cried out “You’d better get me out of here.” Dennis reached out for his brother-in-law, but before he could get hold of him, Mounce fell forward on his face.
It was 20 minutes before the body could be retrieved. H. L. Foster, Howard Lull, and Earl Dick, all of Patterson, answered Dennis’ call for help. Fearing to enter the tank themselves, they finally looped a rope around Mounce’s leg and pulled him out. Deputy Sheriff Cecil Letz had been called to the scene when the body was recovered also.
Coroner Paul Eggleston of Winterset, who investigated the accident, said that the tank was full of toxic sewer gas, and that Mounce probably died within three minutes after collapsing.
Dennis said that before Mounce entered the tank, it was suggested that perhaps some precautions should be taken, but Mounce had remarked that he had been in a thousand of them and never found them to be dangerous.
Mounce had lived in Des Moines for the last two years. He is survived by his wife; and two small daughters.
Funeral services were held in Des Moines Sunday.
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