Shorpy Higgenbottom is a Miner for Life (Albeit a Short Life)
Henry “Shorpy” Higgenbottom was a greaser on the tipple at the Bessie Mine, part of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company in Alabama. Higgenbottom claimed to be fourteen. Hine doubted he was that old, although records show Shorpy was born on November 23, 1896. Shorpy carried heavy buckets of grease, often two at a time, despite constant danger of being run over by coal cars.
Even after becoming a symbol of the child labor movement in the United States, Shorpy’s life continued to throw him into dangerous situations. Shorpy served in the military during World War I, returning to mine service after the war. He married Flora Belle Quinton on November 19, 1927, and quickly started a family. But on January 25, 1928, as Flora Belle was pregnant with their first child, a son, Shorpy was crushed by a rock at the mine and killed.
