Hellraisers Journal: “Fire Adds to Horror of Dawson Explosion-284 Entombed by Blast, 22 Rescued Alive…256 Missing”

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Palos AL Mine Disaster Song by TJ Reid re May 5 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1913
October 22, Dawson, New Mexico
–Near Three Hundred Miners Trapped in Flaming Mine

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of October 23, 1913:

Dawson Mine Disaster, TCN p1, Oct 23, 1913

From Albuquerque Evening Herald of October 23, 1913:

Dawson Mine Disaster, Albuquerque Eve Hld p1, Oct 23, 1913

Thursday October 23, 1913 – Dawson, New Mexico
-Mine Disaster Leaves Nearly 300 Miners Entombed, Hope Fading

These are the latest bulletins from The Anaconda Standard:

Dawson, N. M., Oct.23-Fourteen bodies have been recovered and seven men have been found alive by rescuers early this morning working in shaft No. 2 of the Stag Canyon coal mine, where an explosion occurred yesterday afternoon, entombing the day shift, variously given as numbering 230 to 280 men.

Trinidad, Col., Oct. 22-A special rescue train carrying scores of experienced miners equipped with rescue apparatus left here at 6 o’clock tonight for Dawson, 125 miles from here.

Raton, N. M., Oct. 22-About 100 feet of progress has been made by the rescuers at mine No. 2 of the Stag Canyon Fuel company at Dawson, N. M., in their fight against the debris which has choked the mine entrance. A few mangled bodies have been recovered, and it is believed that the blockades exist for hundreds of feet further into the mine.

Little hope is entertained here for the rescue of the entombed men…

Appeals for aid started scores of experienced miners from Trinidad and the surrounding coal camps, shortly after 6 o’clock, and they were expected to reach Dawson before midnight.

Dawson, N. M., Oct 22-…The rescuers believe they will be able to reach the interior by tomorrow night at the latest. They think no exits exist at present from the mine. So far all rescuing parties have had to enter the mine equipped with oxygen tanks

Women Gather
In the relief camps situated near the entrance to mine No. 2, are gathering the women and children of the entombed miners. Women of the town are in the camp comforting and cheering the wives and children of the miners, whose fate still is a matter of conjecture.

[Emphasis added.]

Among those on the train which left Trinidad last night to join the rescue effort in Dawson were Louie Tikas, leader of the Ludlow Tent Colony; Ed Doyle, Secretary of District 15, and Ed Wallace, editor of the United Mine Workers Journal. They arrived with a thousand dollars in relief for the women and children. The young photographer, Lou Dold, was also reported to have arrived on the train from Trinidad.

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Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Fire Adds to Horror of Dawson Explosion-284 Entombed by Blast, 22 Rescued Alive…256 Missing””

Hellraisers Journal: From Duluth Labor World: Jury Verdict Says Mining Laws Were Broken at Cherry Mine Disaster

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Quote Mother Jones, Wake fr Slumber, AtR p2, Oct 23, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday May 28, 1910
Princeton, Illinois – Jury Reaches Verdict in Great Cherry Mine Disaster

From the Duluth Labor World of May 28, 1910:

Cherry MnDs of Nov 13, 1909, Jury Verdict, LW p1, May 28, 1910

Cherry MnDs Murders by JO Bentall, Orphans, ed ISR p585, Jan 1910

PRINCETON, Ill, May 27.-The coroner’s jury, which began last November to investigate the cause of the Cherry mine disaster, which resulted in the death of 265 miners in the St. Paul Coal company’s mine, has reached an agreement, and 250 separate verdicts have been returned.

The jury says the mining laws were broken with the knowledge and consent of the mine inspector.

The verdicts were in three sets, one set fixing the cause of the death of the twelve men in the rescue party who perished on the cage in the mine shaft, another set for the 187 men who were suffocated in the second vein and the third for the 51 men who were trapped in the third vein and died of exposure and suffocation.

The verdict of the coroner’s jury is a vindication of John Cowley, the engineer who was in charge of the cage on which the twelve rescuers lost their lives. The verdict says the twelve rescuers lost their lives “indirectly by a confusion of signals regulating the movements of the cage.”

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Report Continues from Gertrude Gordon at Marianna Mine Disaster: Story of Lone Survivor

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Quote Fred Elvarna re Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Ptt Prs p2, Nov 30, 1908

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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 3, 1908
Marianna, Pennsylvania – Gertrude Gordon Interviews Lone Survivor

The heart-rending reporting of Gertrude Gordon continues from the scene of the Marianna Mine Disaster.

From the Pittsburg Press of November 30, 1908:

FEARFUL SCENES WERE ENACTED AT PIT MOUTH
[Continued.]
—–

BY GERTRUDE GORDON.
Staff Corespondent of the Press
—–

Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Carry Out Corpse, Ptt Prs p2, Nov 30, 1908

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SOLE SURVIVOR TELLS STORY OF CATASTROPHE
—–

The first body taken out was that of Fred Elvarna who is in all probability, the only man living of all who were in the mine at the time of the explosion. He was badly burned and his leg was wrenched, but he was living. In a talk with him, which, with surprising vitality he was able to give within a few hours of his rescue, he described some of his sensations in the mine. He is a bricklayer and was repairing a wall when the explosion occurred.

[He told me:]

I had just put up a brick, and was putting some mortar on it when I felt the explosion coming. It was just like a cold breath from somewhere, not exactly cold, but there was something awful seemed to come and I knew that terrible danger of some kind was there. Of course the worst danger is fire damp, after any explosion that kills more than fire or the falling timbers, and I just threw myself on the ground and dug a hole with my hands to put my face in, and threw my coat over my head.

Of course I did all that in a second and I didn’t really dig a hole, but just scooped out a handful of earth to lay my face in, so that I could breathe.

After the crash I laid quiet for a little and then when I had to move to breathe I tried to look around. It was pitch dark, of course, and the air was pretty bad, but still I could get enough to keep me going.

COULD NOT MOVE.

I couldn’t move and didn’t know how bad I was hurt, but I started yelling right away so that the boys could tell where I was when they came to hunt us. I could hear the men moaning and crying all around me, but we couldn’t get to one another. The men didn’t seem able to talk, and I cannot tell how long they moaned. I guess it was hours, but one by one they stopped, and I guess they all died.

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Hellraisers Journal: Coal Miners Perish in Explosion at Marianna, Pennsylvania; Brave Rescuers Battle Flames

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

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 1, 1908
Marianna, Pennsylvania – Catastrophe at Rachel and Agnes Mine

From The Pittsburg Press of November 29, 1908:

Marianna PA Mine Disaster, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908

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[Sketch of Stricken Crowds at the Mine]

Marianna PA Mine Disaster Stricken Crowds, Ptt Prs p1, Nov 29, 1908

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BRAVE RESCUERS FIGHT THE UNDERGROUND FIRE
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Crack Mine Is Scene of Terrible Disaster
-Scaffolding Hurled 2,000 Feet in the Air
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WORKED LIKE DEMONS AGAINST GREAT ODDS
—–
BY OWEN A. THOMAS,
Press Staff Correspondent.

Marianna, Pa., November 28 (11 p. m.)-Even worse than was at first reported is the horrible catastrophe here at the Marianna mine, where late this morning 200 miners were killed instantly by a terrible explosion.

Although officials of the Pittsburg-Buffalo Co., owners and operators of the mine, refuse to admit it, flames are baffling the attempts at rescue, and brattice clothe in enormous quantities is being rushed here by trains from Monongahela 21 miles distant.

Rescuing parties, lowered in great iron buckets, have been able to force their way through the mass of tangled wreckage at the bottom of the shaft.

Here, however, they were stopped by the great piles of stone, iron and coal, heaped there by the force of the exploding gas. The cause of the disaster, in all probability, never will be known….

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Hellraisers Journal: December Death Toll for Nation’s Coal Miners Continues Apace with Yolande Explosion in Alabama

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

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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday December 18, 1907
Yolande, Alabama – Many Miners Feared Dead in Mine Explosion

Broken-hearted families now huddle at the scene of yet another mine explosion, the third such this month, this time in Yolande, Alabama. The latest mine disaster has taken the lives of at least 50 husbands, fathers, brothers and sons, leaving behind widows and orphans to weep and mourn. They now face an uncertain, and likely bleak, future without their family breadwinners.

From The Gadsden Daily Times-News of December 16, 1907:

MnDs Yolande AL, Gadsden Dly Tx Ns, Dec 16, 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: MONONGAH: Rescuers Worn Out; Women & Children Wait in Silent Grief in Driving Rain

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday December 12, 1907
Monongah, West Virginia – Grim Work Continues in Driving Rain

From The Pittsburgh Press of December 10, 1907:

Women at Mouth of the Monongah Mine

Monongah MnDs, Women at Mouth of Mine, Ptt Prs, Dec 10, 1907

Rescuers Worn Out

Monongah MnDs, Rescuers Worn Out, Ptt Prs, Dec 10, 1907

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