A 44-year-old rural Patoka man was killed in a backhoe accident on a Fayette County Road five miles north of St. Elmo. Fayette County Coroner Bruce Bowen says John Cade, Junior was pronounced dead on the scene at 11:43 Friday morning. Bowen reports Cade lost control of the backhoe as it was traveling down a gravel road and overturned in the roadside ditch. Bowen says Cade was an employee of an oil field service equipment company and was in the process of transferring material from one site to another. No one else was in the backhoe when the accident occurred on Fayette County Road 200 E a half mile south of 2450 N. Bowen reports more information will be released on a cause of death following an autopsy that is expected to take place Saturday afternoon at St. Anthony's Hospital in Effingham. Since the accident occurred while Cade was working, OSHA is also involved in the investigation. full story
