Paul Darrell COHENOUR

  General Notes:

The Charleston Gazette, 3 May 1973

4 Electrocuted At Construction Site in McDowell

By Leslie H. Milam

JENKINJONES ? Four construction workers were apparently electrocuted and three others were seriously injured near this McDowell County community Wednesday afternoon, state police at Welch reported.

Troopers said the men, employes of the Deering Brothers Construction Co. of Prosperity in Raleigh County, were stringing telephone cable when they got into a power line.

THE DEAD were identified as Paul Darrell Cohenour of Rainelle, Harold Thomas Vaughn of Rupert, Larry Wayne Cornett of Havaco, McDowell County, and Doug Parker of Gary. Their ages weren't known.

Listed in good condition at Stevens Clinic Hospital in Welch was Harold G. Pyle, 21, of Havaco, David H. Brown, 33, of Gauley Bridge, and James F. Lockhart, 30, of Beckley. Hospital attendants said the four men suffered burns but that they were doing well.

AMBULANCES from the Fanning Funeral Home in Welch and the Welch Rescue Squad took the three injured men to the hospital. One ambulance attendant said it appeared as though the seven men were using their hands to pull the heavy cable when it came in contact with a power line.

Troopers said the accident occurred on a steep mountain near Jenkinjones. Trooper D. J. Meadows said he didn't know how the three surviving member of the construction crew escaped death.

"I have talked with electricians and they have told me a lot of things could have contributed to their surviving. It could have been the kind of gloves they were wearing, their shoes or even the condition of the ground," Meadows said.

He added, "Miners from the White Horse Mine near Jenkinjones shut the mine down and came out to help when they heard what had happened. They went down to where the accident occurred and tried to revive the four men. The miners couldn't revive any of the four so they brought the injured to the mine where they were picked up by ambulances."

Meadows said his investigation indicates that the men were doing contract work for General Telephone Co. when the accident occurred.

They were working near the power lines and they somehow same in contact with the electricity, Meadows said.

He pointed out that the ground where the men were working was probably damp because of recent rain. McDowell County Coroner Dr. J. H. Murray pronounced the four men dead at the scene.

The Charleston Gazette, 4 May 1973

RUPERT - Service for Paul Darrell Cohenour, 24, of Rupert, Greenbrier County, will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. in Wallace and Wallace Funeral Home, Rainelle, with Elder Hubert Morgan officiating. Burial will be in Wallace Memorial Cemetery at Clintonville.

The family will receive friends today from 7 to 9 p.m. at the funeral home.

Mr. Cohenour was electrocuted Wednesday when he came in contact with power lines while
stringing telephone cable in McDowell County.

He was a member of the Army Reserve in Rainelle and was a linesman for Bearing Brothers Construction Co.

Surviving: parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Cohenour of Rupert; sister, Mrs. Juanita Baldwin of Charleston; brothers, Eugene, and Charles of Fairfax, Va.