Glaze Biography: James David Glaze

James David Glaze

Born: April 20, 1891 Died: February 28, 1929

Compiled and written by

Jeffrey Lee Glaze

Married to Violet Ramsden. Their children:

James David Glaze was born April 20, 1891 in Walton County, Georgia, the third child, and second son of Thomas Washington Glaze and his wife Nancy Bethena Johnson. He was married to Violet Ramsden who was born November 13, 1891 in Buford, Gwinnett County, Georgia and died July 29, 1986 in DeKalb County, Georgia. Their children were:

James David Glaze was killed in an accident at the Stone Mountain quarry February 28, 1929. (The complete text of the Atlanta Constitution article detailing the accident is included below.) He and his wife are buried at the Walnut Grove Methodist Church Cemetery in Walnut Grove, Walton County, Georgia.

Newspaper article from the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, March 1, 1929. James David Glaze.

Following is a verbatim transcription from the Friday Morning edition of the March 1, 1929 Atlanta Constitution.

Explosion Comes at Timekeeper's Office as Men Are Checking Off After a Day's Work.

Two of Victims Came to Atlanta Originally To Work on Memorial; Sorrow Shrouds Town.

Seven men are dead and six are injured, three seriously, as the result of the explosion of a compressed air tank at the quarry of the Stone Mountain Granite corporation, at 3:30 o'clock Thursday afternoon.

The blast, which demolished the timekeeper's office, came just as the workers were checking out for the day. Debris from the smashed office and human bodies were hurled through the air for 20, 30, and 50 feet, according to eye-witnesses.

Of the seven dead, three are white men, including the superintendent of the quarry, and four are negroes.

Of the injured, John Swain and Morris Brown, white, and Carl Sewell, colored, are the more seriously hurt, although physicians Thursday night, expected all three to recover. Others suffering comparatively minor hurts included Eugene Shinn, white; John Manly Clark and Jim Bennefield, colored.

The tank, which exploded, was about 20 feet from the timekeeper's office at the quarry, more than a mile from the site of the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, and close by the foot of the mountain north of the memorial. It is located on private property of the granite corporation and is reached by a rarely used dirt road.

The dead and injured were placed upon a work train immediately after the accident and rushed to the town of Stone Mountain, three miles away. There they were met by doctors, nurses and ambulances from Atlanta and Decatur. Cowan was killed instantly, while Davis and Glaze were carried to Wesley Memorial hospital, but died within a few minutes after reaching the operating room. All four of the negroes died instantly, or before reaching Stone Mountain.

Drs. Cheston King, James Wells and William McCurdy, of Stone Mountain rendered first aid to the injured, with Atlanta and Decatur doctors aiding as fast as they could reach the scene.

The dead, with the exception of Davis and Glaze, who died after reaching the hospital, were removed to the parlors of the Bridges Undertaking company, of Stone Mountain, where funeral arrangements were incomplete Thursday night, though is was expected that services would be sometime today.

Every resource of the little Georgia town was devoted Thursday night to helping and comforting the bereaved families. Headed by Sheriff Jake Hall, of Dekalb county, officials of the town and county rushed immediately to the scene of the disaster and promptly placed every facility at the disposal of the families of the dead men.

According to George Weiblen, secretary-treasurer of the Stone Mountain Granite corporation, there was no forewarning of the blast. Mr. Weiblen was about 100 feet away from the timekeeper's office when the tank exploded.

"I had seen Davis enter the office a moment before and was going over to talk with him about several business matters," said Mr. Weiblen, "when the concussion suddenly rent the quiet surroundings. There wasn't a particularly loud explosion, more a sort of exaggerated pop, something like a big tire casing blowing out. Then the air was full of flying boards and men. There wasn't much dust and I didn't have time to take special notice of anything."

The exact cause of the tragedy probably never will be known. The men had just finished work for the day and had turned the petcocks on the compressed air hose with which they work their drills before going to the time keeper's office to punch the time clock. There was no automatic safety device on the tank itself, which rested on wooden blocks about 20 feet away from the little office. The air pump is at the main plant of the quarry about a quarter of a mile away, and air is carried to the tank by piping.

At the main plant there is a battery of similar tanks connected by pipes and with cutoff valves between each tank. It is presumed that the cutoff valve leading to the distant tank was not turned off when the men quit work and with no air being used, the pressure simply became too strong for the heavy steel and burst the end out.

The tank is of inch thick steel and is about 18 feet long and about six feet across. the cylindrical end was blown off as neatly as though it had been cut all around the edge with a saw. The tank itself was hurled 50 feet away from its original position, while the blown-out head was several hundred feet away across the quarry when it finally came to rest.

It was this circular steel head that smashed into the little timekeeper's office, crowded with men, and completely wrecked the building, hurling the men to death against the walls or near-by rocks and leaving a writhing, screaming mass of dead and injured on the surrounding ground.

One negro was standing on top of the tank when it exploded. He was hurled about 20 feet into the air, but landed on the ground on his feet and suffered nothing worse than a sprained ankle.

W. J. Wade, blacksmith, was several hundred feet from the tank when it exploded. He said that when he first heard the blast he thought it was an automobile backfiring, although from his position the noise was hardly sharp enough for that. He then saw Weiblen running, noticed that the timekeeper's office had disappeared and hurried to the scene of the tragedy.

C. G. Davis, the superintendent who was killed, lived in Stone Mountain and is survived by his widow, a daughter and a young son. He formerly lived in Macon, moving to Stone Mountain about five years ago to work on the Confederate memorial under Gutzon Borglum, the first sculptor.

O. Z. Cowan, another of the three white men who died is a native of Gastonia, N. C. He moved to Stone Mountain less than two years ago, also going there first to work on the monument, but joining the granite corporation forces when work on the memorial was stopped some months ago. He married in Stone Mountain and is survived by his widow.

J. D. Glaze, the third white man to die, was about 50 years of age and lived in the country some distance from the town of Stone Mountain. He is survived by his widow and several children. One of his sons also worked at the granite quarry, but was in a different part of the workings Thursday.

The corporation normally employs about two hundred men, although the force at present has been reduced to little more than half that number, it was stated Thursday. Had the full force been employed it is probable that the list of dead and injured would have been longer.

The little town of Stone Mountain is shrouded in sorrow, today, preparing sadly to bury her dead and resume the quiet tenor of life. Headed by Mayor Spence for the city, and Sheriff Jake Hall for the county, everything possible will be done for the bereaved families. Funerals are expected to be conducted separately, though there was some mention of a public service at which the fellow citizens of the dead could express their sorrow and evidence their sympathy. Families of the dead, however, indicated that they would prefer to arrange quiet rites individually. Sympathetic neighbors quietly acceded to their wishes and silently offered the only help they had to extend, sympathy and respectful condolences.

Following is a verbatim transcription of a follow up news article on the Stone Mountain air tank explosion form the Saturday, March 2nd edition of the Atlanta Constitution.

While Solicitor General Claude E. Smith, of DeKalb county, indicated following an investigation, that his department found nothing to warrant grand jury action, officials of the Stone Mountain Granite Corporation and insurance inspectors late Friday continued their searching probe of the air tank explosion which Thursday killed seven workers and injured as many more.

Solicitor Smith stated Friday afternoon, after personally investigating the scene of the blast, that as nearly as he could determine the affair was a lamentable accident. He explained however, that should the company's probe bring to light any criminal negligence or any other contributing criminal cause his department and the grand jury will deal with it.

George Weiblen, secretary-treasurer of the company, with a number of insurance inspectors from the firm of Adams, Holmes & Eckford, were on the scene of the explosion early Friday and through the day went over the ground and inspected several other tanks. They also questioned a number of employees, but Friday night declined to make public their findings pending the completion of the investigation.

It was explained by company officials that the air which collected in the exploding tank, had passed safely (...ILLEGIBLE...) functioning properly in those tanks. There also are three or four tanks beyond the exploding one.

It was decided Friday that no formal inquest over the bodies would be held, but an informal inquest under the direction of Coroner J. S. Thomas may be held later, it was stated.

While funeral arrangements had not yet been completed for the victims, three of the more seriously injured were reported to be improving. Morris Brown, a driller, was improving rapidly at his home in Stone Mountain, Friday afternoon, while John Swain and Eugene Shinn, also were reported to be virtually out of danger at a local hospital.

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