Peter Urban, contrary to
previous reports, was NOT the only survivor of the 1907 Monongah mines
explosions that killed 362 coal miners.
That’s the conclusion of
Joseph Tropea, a retired George Washington University professor.
Proof: The testimony of
the FIVE survivors in the hearings into what happened. Dead men tell no tales,
but this quintet did … a harrowing story.
Tropea’s interest is understandable. His grandfather, Domenico Tropea, was in Monongah on December 6,
1907, though he quit working in the mines before that time.
Dominco’s brother
was Tony Tropea, who with Rose Loss Tropea owned Tropea Grocery in Moonongah.
Writes Joseph Tropea in his
extensively researched report:
“Peter Urban gave public testimony in the same hearings
as the four other survivors: Orazio DePetris and son, Angelo, and Donato
D’Amico and son, Leonardo. There would have been a sixth survivor, but the
intense smoke and fire exiting the escape hole did not allow Orazio to grasp
his son, Felice.”
Orazio returned to Italy,
married and purchased a house with the money the coal company paid to the
families of the 1907 victims.
Tropea’s work continues:
“The hearings incorrectly
recorded the names of the Italian survivors and muddled their testimony in a
number of different ways; for example, Orazio is identified as “Crazic” and
Donato D’Amico as “Dan Dominico.”
“Other kinds of errors
compounded the confusion over the identification of the survivors; for example,
the hearings record “Crazic” as identifying Donato D’Amico as his “brother,”
and Donato’s son, Leonardo, as “Felix.”
“Also, the hearings credit the testimony of Peter Urban to “Peter Rosebeig.”
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