Hellraisers Journal: Three Horrific Disasters Within Ten Days Claim Lives of More Than 100 West Virginia Miners

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“Dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jone Quoting a Mine Manager

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 6, 1907
West Virginia – Another Mine Disaster at Thomas Mine

Yet another mine disaster in West Virginia occurred at the Thomas Mine near Elkins on February 4th. This follows on the deadly heels of two recent disasters in that state, one at the Lorentz Mine at Penco on January 26th, and the other at the Stuart Mine on January 29th. The combined death toll in the coal mines of West Virginia,  during this 10-day period, is now over 100.

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of February 4, 1907:

Thomas (WV) Mine Disaster, Ft Wayne Sentinel, Feb 4, 1907

Elkins, W. Va, Feb. 4.-Twenty-five or thirty miners, the majority of them foreigners, are supposed to be dead in the mine explosion today at mine No. 25 of the Davis Coal and Coke company, at Thomas, near here.

It is not known how large the list of casualties may grow until further investigation as there is no way of determining how many men were in the mine at the time of the explosion. The explosion occurred before all the men had entered the mine. A number standing at the entrance to the shaft were hurled in every direction by the force of the explosion and seriously injured.

Five miners who were just entering the mine when the explosion occurred have been taken out so it is believed all the miners already in the mine have been killed.

From the Mount Carmel Daily News of February 5, 1907:

MANY MINERS KILLED
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Third Disaster in West Virginia
Within Two Weeks.
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25 OR 30 MEN ARE DEAD
—–


Seven Bodies Recovered in Explosion
Near Elkins, and Deadly Gas Drives
Rescuers Away After One Dies
From Suffocation.

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Hellraisers Journal: Pennsylvania Report Shows Grim Record of Death on the Job for Anthracite Coal Miners

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Pray for the dead and fight
like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones

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Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 29, 1916
Anthracite Coalfields, Pennsylvania – 333 Miners Killed in 9 Months

From the December 28th edition of the Northwest Worker:

333 MINERS MEET DEATH
IN 9 MONTHS
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PENNSYLVANIA REPORT SHOWS THAT
THE WAGE AVERAGE OF VICTIMS
WAS ONLY $13.80 A WEEK.
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PN Miners Killed on Job, Mt Carmel Item, Jan 11, 1916

HARRISBURG, Pa.-working for an average weekly wage of only $13.80, 333 anthracite coal miners in this State were killed and 6,958 disabled for periods greater than two weeks during the first nine months of 1916. These are official figures of the State Department of Labor and Industry.

There were 233 married men among those killed, and they left 481 fatherless children behind. If it were not for the workmen’s compensation act these men’s families would be left to starve, for, in the vast majority of cases, the miners had not been able to save a cent of their wages. As it is 181 of the fatal cases have been adjusted, the payments to be about $2,505 for each man killed, or a total of $453,499.80 for all cases.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Pennsylvania Report Shows Grim Record of Death on the Job for Anthracite Coal Miners”