Adolphus JOHNSON, a colored convict from Memphis, was killed in the mine at Coal Creek, on the 28th inst., as we learn from the Knoxville Chronicle. He went in the lead, and his lamp igniting the gas, caused it to rush first towards the back of the mine and then recoil, and then came with terrific force against Johnson, hurling him a distance of about forty feet, causing his death. A white convict was injured slightly.
Source: Blount County democrat. (Maryville, Tenn.), 31 July 1879. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96091617/1879-07-31/ed-1/seq-2/>