Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 20, 1907
Jacob’s Creek, Pennsylvania – Massive Explosions at Darr Mine
From The Pittsburgh Press of December 19, 1907:
Grief-Stricken Families Gather
SCENES AT DARR MINE ARE AWFUL
—–Connellsville, Pa., Dec. 19.-The force of the Darr mine explosion was felt for miles, and within 30 minutes from the times the smoke from the burning coal reached the exits of the mine, the mouths were surrounded by crowds of agonized members of the families of entombed men.
Some stood shuddering in the cold, with stolid faces, hardly seeming to realize that they were about to become widows, orphans or friendless, while others gave way to uncontrolled grief and uttered heart-piercing shrieks of grief, and wild cries of anguish.
No one made an effort to quiet another grief-stricken spectator. All seemed to feel that the bereavement was inconsolable, and each was busy trying to grasp the situation from a personal standpoint. Some of the women fell prostrate in the dust-covered snow when they full realized that the little community was experiencing the visitation of terrible calamity.
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