Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 14, 1909
Switchback, West Virginia – Second Disaster in Two Weeks Devastates Hamlet
From The Fairmont West Virginian of January 12, 1909:
WELCH, W. Va., Jan. 12.-One hundred miners were caught to-day in a second explosion in the Lick Branch Collieries. Hardly had the crape been taken from the door of many humble little homes than the explosions which now promises to be more direful than the one two weeks ago in which half a hundred lives were lost occurred and brought additional sorrow. Fathers and brothers of some of those killed in the last explosion are known to have been in the mine at 8:30 this morning when the second explosion occurred. The explosion occurred just half an hour after the full quota of men for the day shift had gone to work. It is known that 250 miners were on duty at the time. The details are meagre.
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[Emphasis added.]
From The Fairmont West Virginian of January 14, 1909:
From The Fairmont West Virginian of January 13, 1909:
SWITCHBACK, W. Va. Jan. 13.-It is now believed that more than one hundred and fifty miners perished yesterday morning in the Lick Branch mine explosion and there will be no surprise if the number of dead reaches a two hundred. The heat has been so terrific all day long in the mine that no rescuing party has yet dared to enter more than a few feet.
Lying near the pit month was the body of John Bowers, the mine foreman. Less than six feet away was another body supposed to be that of Burt Abel, of Huntington. All the clothing had been blown from the bodies and the flesh was so badly burned that recognition of either was almost impossible. No other bodies have yet been found.
It is believed that the mine interior is a total wreck. The investigation so far shows all brattices down and huge timbers were even blown from the pit mouth, one piece twenty feet in length landing two hundred yards down the mountain side.
Although the fans have been kept continually going since the explosion they seem to have little effect on the mine interior. No cause has yet been assigned for this, the second disaster in two weeks, but a rumor is prevalent that pockets of gas abound within the mine and if this be the case a miner entering with a defective lamp an explosion would be the natural result.
Chief Mine Inspector Laing, of Charleston, is now on his way here, but as he and four assistants made a thorough investigation of the mine last week and pronounced it safe and in excellent condition, it is doubtful if their opinion will be changed on a second exploration.
James E. Jones, general superintendent of all the mines of the Pocahontas Consolidated Colliers Company, the Lick Branch mine being one of them, is absolutely at a loss to account for the disaster. Every appliance used about the mine was thoroughly modern and the fans were in perfect working order.
The fact that the explosion of December 18 [29th] in this same mine in which even 49 people were killed had entirely freed the mine of dust, and as the mine had only been operated Monday since the last explosion, the dust theory as a cause for this explosion is not to be considered. Mr. Jones states that the mine was practically free from gas, or at least no trouble from this source had ever been reported to him.
Of the 300 men in the ill-fated Lick Branch mine, 80 per cent. of them were Americans and were above the average class of miners. The remaining 20 per cent, were chiefly Bulgarians and negroes [Afro-Americans]. It is not at all likely that any rescuing party can penetrate this mine for several hours.
The mine authorities want every precaution used to prevent additional loss of human life, as four years ago a rescuing party of 13 people, one of whom was General Superintendent O’Malley, was overcome by gas while searching for victims of the disaster at Baby mines, five miles from here, in which 30 to 40 miners had lost their lives.
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SOURCE & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/6
The Fairmont West Virginian
(Fairmont, West Virginia)
-Jan 12, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1909-01-12/ed-1/seq-1/
-Jan 14, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1909-01-14/ed-1/seq-1/
-Jan 13, 1909
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1909-01-13/ed-1/seq-1/
See also:
Re Lick Branch Mine Disaster #1, Dec 29, 1908-50 killed.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 2, 1909
Switchback, McDowel County, West Virginia – Horror at Lick Branch Mine
From the Charleston Labor Argus of December 31, 1908:
Horror at Switchback, West Virginia; Scores of Miners Meet Death in Lick Branch Mine Explosion
Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company
Lick Branch Mine Explosion
Switchback, McDowell County, West Virginia
January 12, 1909
No. Killed – 67
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/lick_branch_news_only.htm
USBM Final Investigation Report
-with names of the miners killed.
https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/LickBranch_1909.pdf
WV Mine Disasters 1884-Present
http://www.wvminesafety.org/disaster.htm
McDowell County WV, Mine Disasters
-1902-1964
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Dream Of A Miner’s Child – Johnson Mountain Boys