Document km33KqeY9xXz9Eq1vbEXm1a40

Jacksonville , Florida July 30, 1948 Kr. K. A. Taylor Mr. E* 0 Jones Dr. Kr. H-r*I. A. *1s Kehoe Locher Hr. IU 4 Ball Gentlemen% Attached hereto is a Tactual report of ay interview with lir* L. u. -Tliiaas of Tank Cleaners, Inc* In this report there is no coraaent as to the writer*s personal opinions, nor shall I attempt to rake any,' I wish to make my. position clear to all concerned* I-ir. F. I* Mercei' was employed by me and Kr. L. Jordan. I consider him one of ray closest personal friends. Both hr. Jordan and I have a high regard for him and his integrity in both an official capacity and personally. He will, undoubtedly, have comment3 to make regarding the attached report . '{Trust that Keoars. Korcer, Taylor, and Baldwin as well as the members of the medical Department will understand that I an acting simply as a reporter and interviewer. The appraisal of trie report attached hereto should be entirely out of'my hands, and i have only an academic interest in it to the extent tlatt I was requested to make it and have made it in accordance with the statements that were given to me by the parties interviewed. If there is any further action required on the part of the personnel of the Southern Region or ne, please advino and v;e shall, of course, cooperate in every way possible. ? KE N 7649 T3UAPMPLEOKLSEHTKAIHRGT-RAECPSOI&RTSHT- WILriIHQTOM. H. 0." cc: Wew .fcork Safety (2| . Dr ii# A# Kehoe (l5 ,; Mr, .!"]* A. Taylor(2) Hr* .U L. Jordan! 1) Southern Region (2) ; . . Cn July 2fith Hr* E, L* Jordan and X interviewed Kr, L# S* Lillians, General Kanager of T*mk Cleaners, Inc, and, in accordance with the questions given us by the-Mew York S&Tcty Cepartraent and by the Ilew York Legal Department, -we received the following informa tion from him# 2ir. williams advised that Joo rdJUer, construction foreran for the rare Oil doni/any, Chicago, called him. ay; roximately two weeks before the tank cleaning to iako arrangements for tho cleaning of those tanks, at that timo hr, Hiller expressed the.o; inion that these ware fuel tanks. Arrangements for the work ocro nudo between mr. Killer and -r* L. K, 'Williams. liuti;.ication cu the cleaning is supf-osed te lieve been sent by Ki% A. Williams, Terminal Superintendent of the Capu Fear' Terminals* The contract between Tank Gleaners, Inc. ana who Jure Gil wonpany v/as signed by ii* K* williams of the Chicago Office uf the ,are oil Jonruny. The Pure Oil Company will pay the bill* Pure Oil Conp-any of Chicago required Tank Cleaners, Inc. to take cut an. owner's protective policy in the name of the rare Oil Company ana the Capo Fear Terminal Company# The premium w&s paid by the Pure Oil Company. The policy was written in the amount of 200,000 and was placed with the" Travelers Insurance Company, The broker handling the policy was Stockton, Whatley, Bavin & Company, Kay ami Laura Streets, Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to this policy, Tank Gleaners, Inc* has a policy with the Coal Operators Casualty Company of uroensburg, rennsylvania . This policy is in the amount of $0,000 for individual and 1100,000 for two or more Individuals# It also was placed through Stockton, 'Whatley, havin' & Company. The local -adjuster -for the Coal Operators Casualty.- Company is Hr# Dwight Gmith,.mager for Crawford & Company, 617 &Q3t Adams 3troot, Jacksonville, Florida* As of the present writing, no claim has- boon filed since all insurance com panion are awaiting the final settlement and accounting of the case before making any payment. 00* K & 0Q06 N 7649.01 Tank Cleaners, Inc. Is a Florida Corporation, incorporated in rlo- iUa March Ik, 1946# Its officer and luaimgetiant ore as follows: J* H* Coppodge, ^resident* Mr. doppudge also owns the k'icsol Corporation, a deep-ooa towing company} cmcl tto J# K* Coppedro Construction Company* Mrs* Anna M. Ooppodge is Vico President* Mr* *;, H* KcCoy is Secretary and Treasurer* Kr* KcGoy is an attorney and acts as the attorney for the cosrqany* his address is 121 Graham Building, Jacksonville, Florida Mr* L, k* ..iXliams Is manager and owns 257 of the stock of the company* ' ' Ovmorsliip of the Capo Fear Terminals, as far as we can ascertain, is 100,Z in the hands of the Hirefiil Company of Chicago, he arc unable to obtain any information regarding the omorship of the Carolina TenrLtiaX but since it is under lease to the Murefel Got> pany this infor.oatior. e-ill undoubtedly bo obtained iron either the puroil bonpony in Chicago or at thn Capo Foar Tcrntn&la in rilnin.yton, H, C# Inquiry was made into the Mc t o r y and tank cleaning esperience of ' " hichols who acted as foreman on the job. Hr* tiiehols went to work for Case * Uotp.-any, & tank cleaning contractor working out of Atlanta in heptesbor 1944* he was employed in the capacity of a tank cleaning laborer and did work insice the tanks* He . did considerable of this work anti was employed, in this capacity for about 1| years* He wasYohen appointed btorc.keeper and ;ur- chasiug Agent and served in tills capacity until JsnUiry 19/46. He severed his connection M t h base & donpany at that time and wont to work with the Otis levator Uom?>any at Dallas, Texas. Be entered the service d! Tank Gleaner a, Inc* about Hay 194# ana appointed as a solicitor for tan-; cleaning contracts* Thu Gape Fear Job was his first as foreman. lie had been work in;: in biluington with Kr* G# II, Smith, an experienced forenoon, and because of his past experience and because of his having worked with hr. Hmith ho was judged capable of handling the job at the Carolina Terminal and was therefore placed in charge* Vihile working with Hr* hulth they had cleaned two 25,000 barrels in May, following which they returned to Jacksonville When the Jape Fear job came up Hichols was sent back to ilmington, in charge* Mr. L. 4. - Gilliams accompanied M u and was with him when ho cleaned, the 40,000 barrel tank, Mr, L* 4* HilXi&ns fools that. 4a*. iohols is quite capable* he has Jtnown Michels since iJeptecd>er 1944 and always found him a reliable employes* K 0 0 0 6 7 01 Following the obtaining of the above statistical data, we went in to some of the details of the actual tank cleaning operation itself* Mr* hm a* Wiliams was acquainted with the contents of Mr# Kercor^o report of June 18, 1948, copies of which are in the hands of all parties to whoa this supplement is addressed* ' F uV Williams denied that any such conversation had taken place end states emphatically that his memory is quite clear on this /-subject* - y.... . ' ; ' ` . . e then proceeded to a discussion of the events in chronological order* Mr* Williams states that in the afternoon of Friday, June ldth, tanks #1 and #2 were pumped out and that at approx imately four p*su Kr*. Mercer told him that from all appearances these were not leaded tanks and that there was no need for him, Mercer, to stay* According to Mr* williams, Mr# Mercer said that ,he would return for the cleaning of the 40,000 barrel tank* At three-thirty p#m* on Friday Mr* Williams stated that th actual cleaning of Tank |1 began and th&t it continued until five-thirty P*m* William Davis was in the tank for two hours, Eay Eousor was in the tank for on hour* Hr* Williams further stated that during these two hours he and Mr# Mercer were together on the fire wall of the tank* Gloves and boots wore used but no masks were used# fir* Williams states that ho arrived a t the scone of the tank cleaning, i#o*, the Carolina Terminal, at 9 a*ta# on Saturday morning* The m n were then in the tank without protective equip ment* Ho Instructed Mr* iqhols to notify Mr* Mercer when the i? 40,000 barrel tank was to bo cleaned* Mr* Williams thon loft* He was later notified by Mr* Nichols that Mr# Mercer arrived about ten a*m* on Saturday# In view of the fact that Tank A was perfectly dry, Mr# Williams bought dust respirators for his men but later learned that these had not been used* Hr# Williasm4ia<l this information# He stated that on Friday while fc,... sludge was being pumped from Tank #1, Mr* Joe Id.Her of Furoil k' * Company suggested using a 3 inch hose Instead of a 2 Inch hose* Upon being advised that Tank Cleaners, Inc. had only 2 inch hose on the job, Mr* Miller offered to lend them 3 lengths of 3 inch hose* A pick-up truck was sent to the Cape Fear Terminal to get these, and upon its return Messrs# Williams, Mercer, and Nichols did the mechanical job of hooking up the hose, using two lengths on the discharge side and one length on the suction side of the tank* From memory, Mr* L* E* Williams gave me the following schedule of the tank cleaning work* Tank Humber One - This was cleaned on Friday with entry beginning between three-thirty and four pm* The crew consisted of * .-- 0006702 t $ V* ;`% V 0 who spout approximately two hour In the tank, and spent approximately one hour In the tank* 'non tu^ienquit work at approximately five-thirty there remined about 30 minutes work to be done* On Saturday morning William Davis entered this tank and completed the work in a period estimated to have been between 30 and 43 minutes* .tank Hunbcr, Two - At approximately nine a*ia. on Saturday work shifted to Tank #2 w i t h ^ M | | a n d ^ ^ n e n t e r i n g the tank* Both worked until about lXt3Q~ana t&en cSSSnea up for lunch* At approximately one p*m*^^Jfekalone re-entered the tank and fin ished work at approximately two pn* There was 0 work done on Sunday* ' A - Tank A was cleaned on ilondaywith the men starting activ ities at approximately eight aem* worked in this tank approximately 6 hours,^/^ was in it for 4 hours* hichols spent approximately 30 minutes xn this tank, completing the work* Bichols had previously spent about five minutes each in Tanks 1 and #2 to inspect the work done by the other men* It should be noted that hichols time in Tanks jfl and #2 was very limited but that he-did have 30 minutes of continued exposure in Tank A* The subject of sleeping in a tank or tanks at Fisher* Island, Miami. Florida was discussed* Mr* Williams stated that he had l -questioned J* F* Soya, the tank cleaning foreman on that job* I':. ud Williams, a tank cleaner} and Curtis Kelson, a tank cleaner 4i- who is reported to have made the statement that the men slept in the tanks* All of these toon state that there is a misunderstanding* l They claim that the workers climbed up and slept on the top of tho I tanks and not in them* On Thursday morning 1 personally questioned Curtis nelson who denies having told anyone that he slept in a tank at Fisher*s Island# He states that ho did tell one of our representatives that he, Williams and Davis slept on the top of a tank at Fisher*s Island one night, due to the mosquitoes* There has been no publicity either in Wilmington or in Jackson ville regarding this accident* Ho lawsuit Is expected, the incur once companies have not a s yet made any settlement as they are awaiting the final outcorse of the case and an exact accounting of the dependents involved* On August 10th, 194$ there will be a hearing ter the Florida Indus trial Commission to&termiae the cause of death and to establish the dependents o f * h i s hoarlag will b e held in the Florida Theater Building. Jacksonville, Florida, at 10 a*m* is reported to have a legal wife who d sorted him about six ^ a n r a g o to go with a colored preacher in Atlanta, Georgia* He 4 has a cccaaon law wife in Jacksonville with whoa he was living . at the time of tho accident there ie no record of his having had a divorce from his first wife and there may be acme question as to whether or not he was legally married te her* This will probably i .5* a lac established at the hearing* Uo baa two children - a girl about * 10 years of age and a bay about 15 or 16 years or age* T m girl is reported to have a m i l tirse 50b and to be supporting the boy who occasionally contributes part tlag earnings* H H p also was hospitalised shortly after b&vis and later SToseoJ and w m returned to tl*e hospital about a week or ten days ago* He was released on itonday, July 25th , and will return to light work about the middle of next week or approximtely August 3rd oi' 4th* W *: 'h* Em William m s advised not to use hisi for sojso tiisto in any capacity v/hero ho would be exposed to lead and Mr* Uilllans has a^eed to m u m hist* H H H has a cosxnon law wife with whoa ho is living in Jackson lieville* and has a wife in Atlanta to whom m y or oay not be . legally married* She is reported to bo lying with a cossaon law husband in that city# Ho oleins are expected from any of tho00 quarters* . A duPont representative has boon sticking his nose Into the affair* A Hr* Uurchlelgh contacted Xir* coo fovn* foreman for Tank Cleaners* Inc#* recently* and attempted to pry sosae infora- ation out of him# fit'* $&m told-Mr* Burchlsigh that he knew nothing about m y accident* and referred bin to fcr# 1* a* 'iiliasm* To date.-llr* ffllliaaa has not been contacted by Hr* nurchlelgh* Kr* Williams states that he Jiao no intention whatsoever of holding any discussions at any tine with any duhont representa tives and will confix my discussions of tills case to representa tives of the iithyl Corporation* The above is in accordance with the stateiasnts that 1 made to