1907 mine disaster remembrance

 

The coronavirus prevented a public gathering in Monongah of the twin mines explosions that killed 362 miners on December 6, 1907 but the citizens of Molisano muncipality in Italy, which had 87 of its former residents among the dead, had an intense moment of reflection during the Holy Mass in Duronia.

171 Italian-Americans died on that terrible day, including 87 from Molisano: Duronia (36) Frosolone (20), Torella del Sannio (12), Fossalt (8), Pietracatella (7), Bagnoli del Trigno (3) and Vastogirardi (1).

 

The Monongah Cultural Association President is Meffe Gianni, a reverse name of the Johnny Meffe I grew up with in Monongah. Duronia’s mayor is Michelino D’Amico, another surname familiar among Monongah residents.

 

At the end of the mass there was then a moment of gathering, in compliance with the current rules, at the memorial made in memory of the victims in 2007, by artist Fernando Izzi, and at the old cemetery in the village, where already in 1908 A plaque by heart was affixed by the City of Duronia in 1908, the first and only testimony for nearly a century of the greatest tragedy of Italian emigration.

 

There was a prayer for the victims and the deposition of a bouquet of flowers to not forget those who abandoned their homeland in search of a better future but who unfortunately lost their lives in the bowels of the Monongah mines.

 

It remains the deadlyist coal mining tragedy in American history.

 

It is the 11^th worst coal mining calamity in world history.

December 6, 1907 is a day that lives in infamy. It was coal mining’s Pearl Harbor.

362 miners lost their lives when two Monongah mines (Fairmont Coal Company’s #8 and #6 mines) exploded into an unspeakable horror at 10:30 a.m. when coal-car couplings broke loose, sending the cars crashing into a wall, cutting electrical cables that send sparks into a dust cloud from hell and a death trap for hundreds.

That meant that two-thirds of the families in Monongah lost their fathers. That included more than 1,000 children.

There were children in the mines that day, too, some as young as 10, because fathers brought them to work alongside them off the books with the dad credited with the tonnage loaded by the family.

Carl Meredith, a foreman on the Fairmont Mine, recalled:

“I was out on the loaded track and was looking toward the mouth of number 8 and the first thing I knew I saw timbers and everything flying through the air . . . followed by black smoke. It seemed to me the smoke was afire. It seemed to me it was a short distance in the air, maybe 50 or 60 feet.”

Even today the 1907 explosions are responsible for the most victims of any coal mining accident in American history.

Chaos about accurate information reigned in the following days. The Fairmont Times editions reported 400, 406 and 425 at various times. The Pittsburgh Press headline blared out 400. Father Everett Briggs, relying on reports from the gravediggers, put it at 500.

362 became the final, official total.

December 1907 was the deadliest month in American coal mining. Five mining disasters killed more than 700 men and boys in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama and New Mexico.

Catholic miners who instead went to Mass to honor St. Nicholas Day were spared. Ironically, the Roman Catholics of Monongah celebrated St. Nicholas on December 6 but the Greek Orthodox miners celebrated St. Nicholas on December 19, which was the day that 239 miners at the Darr mine in western Pennsylvania died while the Greek miners were spared while in church.

St. Nicholas saved dozens of lives in Monongah and Darr on different days.

The national outrage led to the formation of the U.S. Bureau of Mines on May 16, 1910. The Bureau was closed by Congress in 1996 with some of its functions scattered to other federal agencies. West Virginia’s Senator Jay Rockefeller unsuccessfully tried to reestablish the Bureau of Mines in 2010.

To make sure that those dead fathers were not forgotten, Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton created the first Fathers Day in America, at her Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, on July 5, 1908, because it was close to the birthday of her late father.

The idea didn’t gain traction, though. Spokane, Washington is credited with proclaiming the first Fathers Days, on June 19, 1910. But it wasn’t until 1972 before President Nixon made Fathers Day a national holiday.

The natonality with the most victims was Italian. On Friday, December 6, at 10:30 a.m., the time in which the mining disaster occurred, the town of Molise, Italy which had perhaps a dozen former residents among the 171 Italian-Americans who died in the explosions, will remember the 362 victims. The event wil be hosted by the G.A. Colozza Institute.

 

I have not been made aware of any observance in Monongah, which has a sign about the 1907 tragedy and a Heroine Statue in the center of town. Father Briggs led the campaign for erection of the statue. Father Briggs embraced Monongah’s coal miners, past and present, so passionately that the bridge crossing the West Fork River was renamed The Father Everett Briggs Bridge.

 

1907 has a tremendous impact on me. My father, John W. Olesky, Sr., survived two cave-ins. Rescuers had to dig through more than 4 feet of coal to get to his body both times. A mule that pulled the coal car saved his life the first time.

 

The mines got him in the end, though. He passed away from the Black Lung.

Descendants of the 1907 Monongah mines explosions victims, some from Italy, Wednesday attended the anniversary memorial service in Monongah.

The Memorial Bell in Monongah rang out at 10:20 a.m. in remembrance of the 361 lives lost at almost the same time 110 years ago in Fairmont Coal Company’s No. 6 and No. 8 mines’ twin explosions.

Ann DeMary Eates, Class of 1945, who attended the ceremony, said:

“It’s very touching and very heartbreaking at the same time because there are so many victims. My Mom was only 2 when the explosion happened with my grandfather, so that means a lot” to Ann, who lives at the foot of Bridge Street with husband Joe Eates, also Class of 1945.

Events included a Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, a ceremony at the Mayor’s Office and the playing of the American and Italian national anthems. There were more Italian immigrants among the 1907 victims than any other group.

Some of the descendants spoke in Italian and English.

Soil samples from Italian villages whose former residents died in the 1907 tragedy were dispersed in Mount Calvary Cemetery on Park Avenue, where the victims are buried.

Nicola Trombetti, president of the Federazione delle Associazoni della Compania USA in New York, spread the soil from Italy at the cemetery.

Remembrance Reminder

Wednesday, December 6.

Note from Monongah Town Recorder Patty Steele McCombs.

Patty Steele McCombs:

“Please join us Dec 6th for the Monongah Mine Disaster Remembrance. The agenda will start at 8:30 am at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church then continue on to the Monongah Town Hall. Please see the schedule of events in the photo.

Bluegrass artist AJ Lee has a song out, “Monongah Mine,” about the 1907 twin explosions of #6 and #8 mines that killed 361.

She only mentions #6 mine in the song, though.

But if you want to hear her Prava Sessions rendition of “Monongah Mine,” click on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMWtZHLMYlU&feature=youtu.be

Folks in Monongah will be observing what still is the worst coal mining disaster in American history on Friday, December 6.

The day will begin with an 8:30 a.m. Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in memory of the victims.

There will be a presentation of an urn from Sant’ Erasmo di Formia Church in Italy that contains soil samples from all the Italian towns whose former residents died in the 1907 explosion.

At 10 a.m. State Senator Roman Prezioso, who grew up in Monongah, will be featured at a commemoration ceremony in the Monongah Town Hall and at the Monongah Memorial.

 

There will be a presentation of the Olive Tree to the Town of Monongah and an unveiling of the Tombstone in memory of the mine disaster.

At noon people will gather for prayer at Mount Calvary Cemetery on Park Avenue in memory of the mine victims.

The soil samples in the urn from the Italian towns affected by the tragedy will be dispersed at the cemetery, to mix forever with the victims.

At 1 p.m. there will be a reception at the Monongah Town Hall to wrap up the day’s events for a day which shall live forever in history for everyone in and who has ever lived in Monongah.

The 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster Remembrance will be Wednesday, December 6.

361 coal miners lost their lives that day, still the worst coal mining disaster in American history.

The day will begin with an 8:30 a.m. Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in memory of the victims.

There will be a presentation of an urn from Sant’ Erasmo di Formia Church in Italy that contains soil samples from all the Italian towns whose former residents died in the 1907 explosions of #6 and #8 mines.

At 10 a.m. State Senator Roman Prezioso, who grew up in Monongah, will be featured as a commemoration ceremony in the Monongah Town Hall and at the Monongah Memorial.

There will be a presentation of the Olive Tree to the Town of Monongah and an unveiling of the Tombstone in memory of the mine disaster.

At noon people will gather for prayer at Mount Calvary Cemetery on Park Avenue in memory of the mine victims.

The soil samples in the urn from the Italian towns affected by the tragedy will be dispersed at the cemetery, to mix forever with the victims.

At 1 p.m. there will be a reception at the Monongah Town Hall to wrap up the day’s events for a day which shall live forever in history for everyone in and who has ever lived in Monongah.

 

Ron Manzo, who retired as a coal miner from Consol Energy Bailey Mine, and wife Janice are touring Italy.

In Duronia, where Ron’s grandparents once lived 135 miles east of Rome, they came upon a memorial to Monongah miners who died in the terrible 1907 twin explosions of #6 and #8 mine that killed 362, including many from Italy.

Duronia also is where Claude Domico, who had the hill where cows and pigs roamed in Monongah, was born, according to Phil Colanero.

Duronia is in the province of Campobassa.

Italians killed in the December 6, 1907 Monongah mines explosions included Mike Meffe, John Olivaria, Tony Olivette, John Matakonis, Mike Matakonis and Thomas Matakonis. The spelling of the family names changed for later generations.

So Ron, who lives in Morgantown, came full circle 110 years later. No one can appreciate the 1907 tragedy more than another coal miner, like Ron, who has earned his view from a Rome penthouse of The Holy City during his travels around Italy.

San Giovanni in Fiore, which had some of its former residents killed in the 1907 explosions, erected a memorial in 2003.

In 2007, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the explosions, the Italian region of Molise presented a bell to the town of Monongah,  which sits in the Monongah town square.

In 2009, the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, conferred the honor of "Stella al Merito del Lavoro" (Star of Reward of Work) upon the victims of the disaster.

Monongah will have its memorial services for the 1907 tragedy on Wednesday, December 6. It will begin with an 8:30 a.m. Mass at the Holy Spirit Church followed by ceremonies in the Monongah Town Hall.

In 1910 after nearly 4,000 miners were killed in America in 1907 alone, including the Monongah victims, Congress created the United States Bureau of Mines to set safety standards.


Memorial to 1907 Monongah tragedy victims that Ron and Nancy Manzo visited is more than 100 years old

 

Janet Salvati article on 1907 Monongah tragedy to be published

Janet Sue Salvati, Class of 1960, who lived in Monongah during her high school days and is a Fairmont State professor emerita, has co-authored an article about lives affected by the 1907 Monongah mines explosions that killed 362.

It will appear in a future issue of the Journal of Appalachian Studies.

Janet was born in Monongah. At MHS she was one busy girl: Fashion show, class tournaments, Junior Red Cross, Glee Club, Journalism Club, newspaper staff, yearbook, National Honor Society, Girls State, Social Studies Award, class play business manager, Latin banquet, prom committee, Christmas program, Student Council, North Four Student Council Conference.

The information came from retired George Washington University professor Joseph Tropea, who has done extensive research on the 1907 Monongah tragedy.

Joe’s cousin Rose is a granddaughter of Tony Tropea and wife Rose Loss Tropea, who ran the Tropea Grocery in the building next to the one that housed Julie and Gene Carlot’s restaurant across the street from Monongah High.

Tony Tropea's father was in the military under General Giuseppe Garibaldi in the successful fight to unify Italy in the mid-19^th century.  Tony and Rose left Monongah briefly, moving to Argentina, but Rose didn't care for the Pampas so they returned to live out their days in Monongah.

Tom Salvati is Class of 1958.

The Salvati family has a long history in Monongah.

Raymond Ernest Salvati, who was born in Monongah in 1899, after graduating from WVU before becoming superintendent over five Island Creek Coal Company mines, then vice president of Pond Creek Pocahontas vice president and American Mining Congress president. In 1959 he was named West Virginia Son of the Year.

 

The late Dr. Eugene P. Salvati, who was born in Pursglove in 1923, was a son of Nicholas P. Salvati of Vacri, Italy and Mary Pellegrini Salvati of Monongah.

Most sorrowful ringing today

The bell in the  Monongah’s Miners Memorial at Main and Bridge streets rings daily at 10:20 a.m., but today is even more meaningful.

It’s the 109^th anniversary of the horrific worst coal mining disaster in American history that killed 362 in adjoining No. 6 and No. 8 Monongah mines.

That was December 6, 1907.

Which is why today also is National Miners Day.

In 1907, across America, 3,242 miners died including the 362 in Monongah.

To hear the bell ring and to see video highlights of that horrible day, click on https://www.facebook.com/groups/610173315681838/

#63 & ill-fated #8 are the same Monongah mine

I got this email from Mike Shamrock:

“Hi John,

“You probably don't really know me but I'm one of the Shamrocks. I have been trying to find out just where the No. 8 mine was. I looked it up on Google map and I am still not sure just where it was at. It shows it as if it was by Booths Creek where it comes into the West Fork.

“Can't seem to find anyone that knows. We lived by the old 63 mine; people seem to think that it was around there. Some say that it was down from the old streetcar station.

“Any info would help.

“Thanks, Mike”

As a newspaper editor for 43 years, retired since 1996, I learned that if I didn’t know the answer to find someone who did.

So I called Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, who lives in Sarasota, Florida and Buckeye Lake, Ohio and has been inside mines and his Meredith Brothers company in Ohio has thrived by dealing with coal and utility companies.

Mine #63, Bill says, and #8, which along with #6 exploded in 1907 and killed 362 workers, are the same mine.

 

#63 & #8 are up the streetcar tracks on the west side of the West Fork River in Monongah, and a mile or so south of the streetcar station where Ted McDaniel was the stationmaster.

By the way, Bill says #6 mine was near the Central Shop on Camden Avenue, near where Mascara’s had the store. #5 was by the Prahl family’s house.

As for Booth’s Creek, it might be #2 mine, but I’m not sure about that.

Hope that helps, Mike.

I’m don't know where Mike is on the Shamrock family tree, but the Shamrocks of my childhood in Monongah were Christina Shamrock Hennig, Class of 1967, who lives in Abilene, Texas with her husband, Charlie Hennig, a retired college professor, the youngest of the seven siblings.

The others were John Shamrock, Class of 1947; Joe Shamrock, who attended Monongah High; Cecilia (Cil) Shamrock Eller, Class of 1955; Jim Shamrock, who attended Monongah High; Paul Shamrock, Class of 1962; and Mike Shamrock, Class of 1966.

Five, not just Peter Urban, survived 1907 Monongah tragedy

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.”

If you type

Tropea

into the top left corner of this page, and hit Enter, you'll get every article in this blog with Tropea in it.

Can you imagine a day when one-third the men in town were killed on the same day?

It happened in Monongah on Black Friday, Dec. 6, 1907.

362 officially killed when Mines No. 6 and No. 8 exploded. Father Briggs and the gravediggers put the total at more than 500.

It remains the worst coal mine toll in American history.

Officials had to go door to door to see who was NOT killed because fathers often took their sons, some as young as 10 years old, into the mine with them. The whole family used pick and shovel, but only the dad’s metal check number was hooked onto the coal car to determine payment.

3,242 miners died across the nation in 1907, including 13 days apart in Monongah and Van Meter, Pennsylvania, where 239 were killed. That created such an uproar the U.S. Federal Bureau of Mines was created to try to get some safety requirements forced upon the coal operators, who collected their millions in comfortable mansions nowhere near West Virginia as the body count built up.

While annual coal mining deaths numbered more than 1,000 a year in the early part of the 20th century, they decreased to an average of about 451 annual fatalities in the 1950s and to 141 in the 1970s. By 2009, when there were far fewer miners working, there were 18 recorded coal mining deaths, a record low number.

The United States Department of Labor estimated last year that more than 116,000 Americans work in coal mines. Last year, a record-low 16 people died in mine-related accidents.

December 6 is coal mining’s Day of Infamy, only one day apart on the calendar each year from when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 to draw America into World War II.

It was the worst Christmas in Monongah history.

And it was felt strongly in Italy since many of the dead were immigrants from that country. Residents of Italy contributed to the Monongah Heroines Statue in Monongah, dedicated to the wives and children of the 1907 mine victims. And on Wednesday, December 3 there will be a commemoration of the Monongah Mine Disaster at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome. Speakers will include members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Italian Republic.

The Chamber of Deputies, which is similar to our House of Representatives, has 630 seats. I found it interesting that 12 seats are determined by Italian citizens living abroad. It would be like the USA allowing Americans around the world to name a dozen Congressmen rather than casting absentee ballots for their official state of residence.

The Chamber of Deputies have met in Palazzo Montecitorio since 1871. Before that, they met in Turin and Florence. The Chamber was abolished by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from 1939-1943.

No more than 60% of the Chamber candidates for what is like our primaries can be from either gender in an attempt to level the playing field for females. Winning candidates are elected for five years each time.

  

1907: Can’t forget it

Adam Michna unearthed a slide show of the 1907 Monongah No. 6 and No. 8 mines’ explosions that killed 362 officially and probably 500 or more according to Father Briggs and the gravediggers.

It still is the worst coal mining tragedy in American history even though more than 3,000 miners died that year in mines across the country.

To see the 1907 photos, which still are chilling, click on

http://www.msha.gov/DISASTER/MONONGAH/MONON11.asp

Hundreds of caskets stacked up for 1907 Monongah twin mines explosions' dead

Saturday is National Miner’s Day. 

It’s no coincidence that the 2009 U.S. Senate resolution picked Dec. 6 for the special day – that’s when 362 (officially; probably more than 500 unofficially) miners died in the twin Monongah mines explosions of No. 6 and No. 8 in 1907.

That still is the worse coal mine tragedy in American history.

3,242 miners died in 1907 alone. 

These numbers decreased to about 140 in the 1970s and to record lows of 35 in 2009 and 2012.

Naturally, Monongah will observe the day.

Chris Martin, Monongah’s No. 1 photographer, heads the "We Remember 1907" ceremonies.

Monongah Mine Disaster Our Bell will ring at 10:30 a.m., the time of the mine explosions. 

Sam Spears and Fairmont State Chamber Choir will perform. Denise Roncone has selected "Amazing Grace" to sing as a memorial for the miners and their families.

Joe Reynolds, Field Representative for United Mine Workers District 31, and Joseph D'Andrea will be the speakers. A reception will follow.

Blessing at the Mount Calvary Cemetery, Park Drive, by Father Daas will take place at 1 p.m. Lunch at Holy Spirit Catholic Church 1:30-3:30. Music by Holy Spirit Church Choir featuring John Morrison on violin. Mass at 4 p.m.

If it rains, the ceremony will be inside the Monongah Town Hall. 

Dec. 6 memorial 107 years later for Monongah mines’ dead

There will be a memorial ceremony Dec. 6 for those who lost their lives in the 1907 Monongah mines explosion.

Chris Martin wrote:

“Saturday, December 6 at 10:30 AM

"We Remember 1907" memorial ceremony will take place at the Heroine Statue and Bell location in Monongah. PACE -- Program Advancing Community Employment -- Monongah is finalizing plans for the event. Everyone is welcome to attend as we honor the miners who lost their lives and their families who chose to call Monongah their home.”

Dec. 6, 1907 two adjoining Monongah mines – No. 6 and No. 8 -- exploded, officially killing 362 but more likely more than 500 miners.

It still is the worse coal mining toll in America’s history.

Monongah is not alone in the staggering deaths caused by mine explosions.

The 1942 Benxhiu, Liaoning mine explosion in what today is China, but then was under Japanese control, killed 1,549, nearly all Chinese labor forced by the Japanese.

In 1906 Courrieres, France 1,009 miners died.

In 1907 13 days after the Monongah mines exploded, 239 died in the Darr mine in Rostraver Township, Pennsylvania. The toll would have been higher but all the Greek miners stayed home because it was a religious holiday.

In 1909 in Cherry, Illinois 259 died.

In 1913 in Senghenydid mine in the United Kingdom 439 died.

In 1913 in Dawson, New Mexico 236 workers died.

In 1956 in Marcinelle, Belgium 262 died.

In 1960 in Coalbrook, Africa 437 died.

The Daton, China explosion in 1960 killed 682.

In 1963 in Omuta, Fukuoka, Japan 458 died.

In 1963 in Jharkhand, India more than 300 died.

In 2014 in Soma, Turkey 301 died.

That’s 3,874 miners killed in just TWELVE explosions!

Our fathers – including mine, John W. Olesky, Sr., who was covered up completely in two cave-ins but survived – put themselves in horrendous danger to put food on the table and clothes on our back.

Never ever forget what we owe them.