A 49-year-old Steeleville man was killed early today when he was buried under a wall of clay while blasting at a strip mine near Percy.

      The body of Harry A. Harding was recovered after three hours of digging. The accident was about midnight at the Captain Mine, a main line mine of the Southwestern Coal Co. between Percy and Cutler.

      Mine officials said Harding was part of a crew working on 24-hour duty firing explosives. Harding was a shooter on over-burden.

      Mine officials said one of the charges apparently had created a hollow below the surface of the ground. Harding was buried when he fell through a light clay roof over the hollow.

      Mr. Harding was born February 14, 1915, in Cutler, the son of Hiram and Alice Smith Harding. He was married November 19, 1939, in Perryville, MO; to Melba Smith.

      He leaves his wife; his parents; a son, Louis Clay Harding with the U. S. Navy; a daughter, Mrs. Alice Sue Armstrong of Cutler; and one grandchild.

      Funeral arrangements are pending notification of the son in Navy service. The body is at the Schaack Funeral Home in Steeleville.