Tag: AJ Lee

Did anyone survive the disaster or get out of the mines alive?

Yes!

Several did, in fact, and several testified about it in January of 1908 too. Let’s talk about some of them because, yeah, I know what the Historical Marker in town says. I was born & raised there, remember? I started asking that question when I was, like, ten. So, I know. It’s frustrating. And we can get into why the Markers around the State are the way they are, but that’s for another conversation.

The miners underground were not the only ones injured or killed by the disaster. The above ground workers within certain proximity of the mines were also injured or killed by the force of the disaster. There were also people on the west side of town who were injured in their homes or on the streets by the seismic shock of the blasts from the mines beneath them. There were expecting mothers all over town who would suffer premature labor; some did not survive it, some did. Though they are all a part of the collateral damage, they too must be considered “survivors” of the disaster.

So, for the purpose of this post and the information it aims to provide, “survivor” is going to apply to anyone who was physically injured or impacted by being within certain proximity of the mines, be it inside or outside, at the time of the explosions and lived for many more years after.

I am going to discuss some these survivors briefly by dividing them into 2 groups: those who were “Underground” inside the mines at the time and those who were outside “Aboveground”. As you would be right to assume, there are fewer people in the “Underground” category, so let’s start there.

Underground Survivors

  • Orazio “Crazic” DePetris – crawled out of #8 through a toad hole with 3 other men; will lose his 19-year-old son, Felix, in the disaster; Brother of Angelo DePetris; suffered minor physical injuries.
  • Angelo “Orizio” DePetris – crawled out of #8 through a toad hole with 3 other men; Brother of Orazio DePetris; suffered minor physical injuries.
  • Leonardo Dominico – crawled out of #8 through a toad hole with 3 other men; grown son of Dan Dominico; suffered minor physical injuries.
  • Dan Dominico – crawled out of #8 through a toad hole with 3 other men; father of Leo Dominico; injured his shoulder after being thrown down by the blasts inside the mine.
  • Peter Rosebeig “Urban” – most known survivor, often called the “sole survivor”; was the only one to be *rescued* alive by being pulled out of #8 mine almost six hours after the disaster; will die Oct. 9, 1926 in #8 mine as a result of a roof fall.
Peter Urban, photo used for cover of Goldenseal in 1993

Aboveground Survivors

  • Hyre “Harry” Stalnaker – carpenter for #6; working at #8 shop across the river from #8 mine that morning; thrown across the carpenter shop by blast concussion and rendered unconscious for some time.
  • Will Jenkins – blacksmith at #6; trampled by a horse he was shoeing when it was startled by the blasts.
  • Alonzo Shroyer – carpenter at #6; standing by the portal of #6 mine when explosions happened; blown back by the blast, hit his head, suffered a severe cut to the bone behind his ear along with other injures.
  • J.H Leonard – fan operator for #6; knocked down and bruised up by the concussion; head and scalp covered in some sort of substance from the mine which adhered and would not wash off for over a month.
  • Pat McDonald – working at the #6 trestle; blown back over 100 feet onto the haulage bridge by the explosion and badly burnt; taken to hospital on same interurban car as Joe Newton; released from hospital by mid-December; does not testify at the Coroner’s Inquiry
  • Joe Newton – fan operator at #8; seen right after the disaster by Stalnaker; severe head injuries including globe luxation; taken to hospital on the same interurban car as Pat McDonald; appears in the earliest lists the dead but is not on any final lists of the dead; possibly still in hospital during the inquiry.

I have not included those who were injured and merely survived the initial event, like William Bice or Stan Urban, as they would still die as a result of their injuries soon after the disaster. Below is a contemporary image of a miner standing outside one of the mines with a Wolf Safety Lamp attached to his waist. The image is etched with, “A Survivor of the Monongah Horror”. However, the actual identity of the man in the photograph is not known.

Recommended by Author

Many songs have been written and recorded about the Monongah Disaster. But very few come close to AJ Lee’s “Monongah Mine”. Of all the survivors listed above, one thing is clear: no one returned from mine number 6.

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