“It is beyond the human pen to describe the spectacle presented, when bodies are brought up from the bowels of the earth whither courageous men day in and day out were wont to toil for the support of their loved ones. Fathers, brothers, husbands and sons, are carried from the slope leading to the fatal regions of the earth. Their bodies are as black as the coal itself. The experienced eye of the undertaker cannot detect their color, whether white or black, until after the bodies have been washed. Even then the mutilation in some cases make it difficult.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 4)
~7:30 pm
At the mines:
“Rain began falling early in the evening and continued almost incessantly throughout the night.” (WED 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Last night they took out two bodies from No.8. Tonight, they will take out many more dead who have already been dug out of the wreckage and are lying along the catacombs ready for removal.” (RP 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“When darkness came tonight a total of sixty-six bodies had been brought to the surface from the two wrecked mines at Monongah.” (DASB 12.10.07 pg. 1) (LODD 12.13.07 pg. 3)
In Fairmont:
The Union Relief Association is formed by local women who were among the first responders to the disaster. Mrs. F. E. Nichols, President & Mrs. R. T. Webb, Secretary hold a meeting at M.P. Temple – “all ladies urged to be present.” “All women interested in the relief work are earnestly requested to be present. Committees will come prepared to report the progress made today.” (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 8)
Walter Zirkle is located safe and alive. He had been employed at the Gaston mines in Fairmont, not the Monongah mines. “The wish of his sister and mother were at once communicated to him and he has no doubt reached his home…” (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 2)
“Over $25,000 was added to the various relief funds during the day.” (BME 12.11.07 pg. 6)
In Monongah:
The General Relief Committee meets in Mayor Moore’s office. The first members are: Mayor Moore of Monongah; Mayor Arnett of Fairmont, chairman; Father Boutlou, Rev. J.C. Broomfield, Rev. H.G. Stoetzer; J.E. Sands, treasurer, and J.M. Jacobs, secretary. “Five responsible men will handle large gifts.” All checks will be payable to J.E. Sands, who will see that the funds are properly distributed. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
Paul Kellogg is talking with the children of a grieving family at their home. One of the oldest daughters tells him of the father they call “Pap” and brother, referred to as “George” who was a machine man:
“…and as we stood there on the door step, the sisters showed me his picture that of a clean cut young fellow, taken with his dog in a field. ‘Many’s the woman was dependent on each day’s wages,’ they said, –‘nothing at all ahead—and now that’s cut off. We’re not that way—not quite. Pap was all we had and he was getting’ old and couldn’t do so much. But George—soon as he’d get through cutting, he’d come help him load and so Pap’d make more. That was the way with George—5 girls, the only brother we had, and he that good to us! And such a good wife.’ One after another, the sisters broke in parts with the story. ‘Pap was singing the morning he left when he went to work—we heard him as far’s it carried. It was Nearer My God to Thee. That’s what he was singing. They worked 3 miles in—Pap and George—r-right under us. Two of the girls broke off there and ran into the house, and a third, who had come out and was combing her hair while we talked, gave it a savage twist that would have brought tears to her eyes if they hadn’t been there already. ‘Oh, we know we’ve got to give him up. We know he’s dead; but if we could only get his body out of the pit.” (Kellogg)
In the morgue:
George Gibbons is very successful in telling who victims are as they are brought in through the night. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
The first money found on any of the victims is found on the 69th body to be taken out, Dan Dominico Jr.* He had $27 on him when found. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
*The paper reports that this is “Dan Domico”. However, body #69 on the Coroner’s List is actually Dan Dominico Jr.—the son of the injured miner who was among the 4 men to escape through a toad hole the morning of the explosion. Despite being seriously injured, his father ran to the mouth of the mine after escaping and wanted to go back inside in an attempt to save his son. Dan Domico did not attend work on Friday and is, in fact, still alive.
At the mines:
“The rescue work, while slow, is progressing smoothly and as rapidly as due precaution for the rescuers would permit. It is believed that close to a hundred dead will be recovered by daylight tomorrow.” (News)
~8:00 pm
In Monongah:
Paul Kellogg visits the Italian Catholic priest, Father D’Andrea. Kellogg writes that, “it was raining heavily and a hearse was ploughing up through the mud when I reached the little Italian church…where last year alone he [D’Andrea] baptized 170 American born children.”
Kellogg describes D’Andrea as “a young, spare man with a quick smile on his dark face. His beard had gone 3 days without shaving and his eyes were hollow for sleep.” D’Andrea has been so consumed with his duties as a priest and to his brother’s family that he has had no time to personally grieve his brother.
“It was only one cry all day until now,” he said and turned his palms out and dropped his shoulders. Then in answer to the door, he directed a driver who for 2 hours had been searching for the right house, and was going back with the body. (Kellogg)
~10:00 pm
C.W. Watson issues statement:
At the mines:
“The heavy rainfall caused a veritable mortar of mud more than shoe top depth in many places through which the workers and the anxious watchers could make their way only with the greatest difficulty.” (WED 12.10.07 pg. 1)
The body of Charles McCain is finally reached. McCain was a well-known man of his city and had many friends here. Despite numerous early accounts of Charles being found “blown to bits”, his body was in good condition. There were no marks on it showing that he was a victim of the after damp. His remains were brought to his home. (FWV 12.10.07 pg.1)
~11:00 pm
At the mines:
“Heavy rain storms make the conditions around the mine worse than any time since the explosion. Only a few stragglers are now keeping the gruesome vigil.” (DASB 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Milder temperatures today resulted in a thaw which converted the soil near the entrance into a sticky, dirty mortar…now almost knee deep in places.” (SLH 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“It dispersed, however, a very large portion of the great, impatient surging crowd that from the first has hovered as near the entries as they could get, a constant handicap to the rescuing forces whose work they retarded.” (WED 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“The rain has also interrupted the makeshift telephone and telegraph communication between the mines this city and the outside world.” (AMJ 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Twelve bodies have been taken from the mines tonight, bringing the total number up to 11 p.m., seventy-eight.” (DASB 12.10.07 pg. 1) (CB 12.10.07 pf 1)
“At a late hour, …the officials of the company said they had reached a point where there were a great many bodies. From this time on the work of bringing out the dead will be done more rapidly.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 1)
At the morgue:
“The rapid recovery of the bodies is making lively work at the morgue and at a late hour…thirty-five more undertakers were telegraphed for besides the several who arrived early in the evening from Grafton and Fairmont. Spring wagons bringing the bodies from the traction station across the river, to which they are conveyed from the mine openings by an ambulance street car, are followed by throngs of men, women and children, who gather around the morgue and remain in the rain until the bodies are placed in the caskets and laid in state in the bank building for viewing and identification.” (CDT 12.10.07 pg. 1)
The utterness of that desolation seemed by sheer force of numbers to overshadow anything else she had to tell—the children of the McFeeleys, “all little ones and not a bite to eat yesterday and him home dead”—(in some cases the women were so broken as to be unable to prepare food for their children, even if they had it)… What the housewives said as they met on the narrow walks or rocked at each other’s door sills was after all close to the pith of the matter…The Italian mother, “where I got the peppers,” with no money and no English and “2 little bits of children”…The Slavish wife who “tore blood out of her face”…The two crazed women on the hill who, rumor had it, had to be tied down to their beds…The young widow of the English machine man who lived just over No 8 mine, “who tore out her beautiful yellow hair in grabs,”… (Kellogg)
~12:00 pm
At the mines:
“Fire which caused a suspension of rescue work yesterday and early today in Mine No. 8 was extinguished, it was said, at noon today.” (News)
At noon the body of Mike Cosic was taken out of Mine No. 8. (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“No identification has been made of the eight unknown men taken out Sunday.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“A pathetic incident of the day occurred at Mine No. 6. A foreign woman whose husband had been killed stood near the mine all day with a half dozen carnations in her hand. The little floral tribute was wrapped with white ribbons. Shortly after noon her husband’s body was recovered in such condition that burial was necessary at once. She followed the wagon to the temporary morgue where the body was placed in a box, and then to the cemetery near by.” (NYTb 12.10.07 pg. 14)
In Monongah:
C.W. Watson gives the following statement:
FWV 12.9.07 pg 1
“Senator J.A. McDermott, of Morgantown, president of the State senate, who was requested by Governor W.M.O Dawson to go to the scene of the mine horror, gave the Telegram representative the following statement at noon today:
‘I consider that the resolution passed by the legislature gives the mine investigating committee the power to investigate all mine horrors that occur during the existence of the committee. The coal company wants a most thorough investigation by that committee or by any other committee. I have been at both mines and looked over the whole situation. I notice a fine organization and a systematic plan of rescue work and everything possible is being done promptly. The number in the mines as given out is considerably overestimated. I am here for no special purpose but it is possible that this disaster might come before the legislature or come up in some other way and therefore desired to be personally informed.’” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“There has been no change in the situation at Monongah today except that it is very probable that the death list is not so large as was first thought. According to a telegram sent to the Governor by Watson the dead number almost a hundred fewer than given out.” (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“When the explosion occurred the town officials ordered the saloons closed…there is no drinking and among the thousands of people who have flocked to Monongah to witness the grave disaster not one disorderly act has been committed…” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 7)
Fairmont West Virginian puts out an extra Noon paper. Bill Sloane is no longer included on the list of the dead.
Chief of Police Shumaker received letter asking him for assistance to locate Walter Zirkle. (FWV.12.10.07 pg. 2)
~2:00 pm
CET 12.10.07 pg 6
“The funeral of Mr. John Herman…whose remains were brought to Eckhart Mine for interment took place on Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the Jr. O.U.A.M. hall, as the church to which the deceased belonged is undergoing repairs.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“The services were conducted by Rev. Edwards, pastor of Methodist Episcopal church, who spoke in a very beautiful and touching manner of the deceased’s past and of his terrible end. At the conclusion of the services the remains were taken to the Allegany cemetery at this place, where they were laid to rest, attended by a large concourse of friends and relatives.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“The deceased was about thirty-eight years of age and is survived by his wife and several children, also his mother and several brothers and sisters residing in this vicinity. The floral offerings were very beautiful.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
~2:30 pm
“Five more bodies were removed from the mines today, making the total 58 up to 2:30 o’clock.” (ETR 12.9.07 pg. 1)
During the Afternoon
“A foreigner who is employed at the Riverdale Mine, ten miles above Monongah, lost a brother and thirteen other relatives in the catastrophe, and he is left alone in this country. Today he came to the offices of the coal company and reported that he wanted to remain at the mines until the bodies were recovered. He asked whether he would get his job back at Riverdale should he stay away from it for several days. He was assured he would not lose his place and became happy in the fact that he could assist in finding the bodies of fourteen loved ones.” (NYTb 12.10.07 pg. 14)
In Monongah:
“General Manager L.L. Malone told the Telegram representative this afternoon that likely all of the bodies, with perhaps the exception of a few in the remote parts of the mines, will be brought out within two or three days.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Fred Cooper’s funeral services held at the home of his uncle, Mr. Boggess, near Monongah. Rev. R.T. Webb of the M.E. Church South, pastor of the deceased, conducted the services, which were largely attended by friends of the deceased. Younger brother, Fay Cooper, also lost his life in the disaster but his body has not yet been found. Fred’s wife who survives him with one child has in the past 2 years lost 2 brothers, Fred Shingleton and an infant brother. Mr. Cooper’s mother, Mrs. Jerome Hobbs, who today mourns the loss of two sons, yesterday received announcement of the death of her husband, but today another message has corrected that statement. Mr. Hobbs is at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on account of rheumatism. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. ?)
“Considerable excitement was caused late this afternoon when rumors were current that a second explosion had occurred in the mines. An investigation made immediately by the company showed the reports had reached this vicinity from the East. There was absolutely no truth in the statement, and it was not necessary for the company to deny the report in this section.” (NYTb 12.10.07 pg. 14)
In Clarksburg:
“The Richard Farmer, whose body was taken out of Mine No. 8, is a cousin of Policeman Farmer, of Clarksburg. His body was buried here this afternoon.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In Fairmont:
The remains of Charles Honaker are brought to the city and buried at Woodlawn cemetery. The funeral was under the direction of the Improved Order of Red Men and the Degree of Pocahontas. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“The work of caring for the widows and orphans has been entrusted to a committee headed by Rt. Rev. P.J. Donahue of the Catholic diocese of Wheeling.” Bishop Donahue estimates over 80% of dead were members of the Polish or Italian parishes. (Wash. Times 12.9.07 pg. 5) (McAteer)
In the cemeteries:
Burials are continual throughout the day. At the Catholic cemetery, there is great concern of bodies being buried in their proper ethnic graveyards; Polish on the Left, Italians on the right.
“Scenes of touching sadness were caused throughout the day by the burial of the recovered dead and the pitiful actions of relatives of the entombed victims.” (LODD 12.13.07 pg. 3)
Following the custom of old country, each family member would throw a handful of earth into the grave and say a final prayer.
Near Grant Town, WV:
The home of Mr. and Mrs. John Collins of Gray’s Flats is destroyed by fire while Mr. Collins is at work in mines and Mrs. Collins is at Monongah on account of the death of relatives caused by the great explosion. The fire was caused by the children knocking a stove leg off. There were 3 children in the house but they escaped. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 8)
At the mines:
“Nine more bodies were brought out of Monongah Mines Nos. 6 and 8 today. There are ten more bodies near the opening of No. 6 and they will be brought out by 5 or 6 o’clock.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
~6:00 pm
Newspapers
Fairmont West Virginian:
Weather predicts more rain tonight; Tuesday, rain or snow; much colder (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Clarksburg Daily Telegram:
“…the Clarksburg Amusement Company has decided to give the net receipts of both the Odeon and Bijou family theatres all of next week to the relief fund for the sufferers. The regular performances with vaudeville specialties will be given and all who wish to lend a little aid to the unfortunate people of Monongah should attend the theatres.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The proceeds of the Dreamland theatre this week will also be for the miner’s relief fund. A National cash register will be placed in the ticket office and all the monies taken in will be put in this register. The key of the register will be given to Chief of Police Richard Scott, who will count the money every morning and announcement will be made in the Telegram of the amount taken in every day. All above, the running expenses will go to the miner’s relief fund.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The Monongah mine horror is still the all-absorbing topic of interest to everyone here, many of our people having relatives or friends who were victims of that awful explosion, the concussion of which was plenty felt here, and telephone messages came from as far away as H.R. McCord’s on Simpson Creek, inquiring if there had been an explosion here. Relief parties were formed here, headed by Superintendent Thomas Jarrett and Mine Foreman E.P. McAlvin and O. Bush, of the local mines and hurried to the scene on a freight train and have been working there since. Superintendent Jarrett was twice very nearly overcome with the gaseous fumes, but each time after recovery he returned to the work of rescue.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 5)
Washington Times, page 5:
The D.C. Evening Star, page 12:
Evening Journal in Deleware:
The Evansville Press:
Evening:
In Fairmont:
Mayor Arnett is strongly considering closing the saloons again tonight. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
The list of 406 dead published on Monday is “not complete”. “Mr. Harry Dawson of Woodsfield, OH was in the office yesterday evening looking over the list for the name of his brother, Fred Dawson, who was employed at Monongah and is known to be lost but his name was not found. Mr. Dawson also says that J.L. Hunsaker was also employed with his brother and his name is not on the list. These were both young unmarried men and were machine men.” (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 7)
“So this proves that the list is not near large enough and how many more instances of this kind will appear will only be known by waiting.” (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 7)
In Monongah:
Jury and court of inquiry adjourn “but will be recalled by the Coroner.” (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“The company issued a statement today in which the claim is made that later developments lead the officials to believe that there were only 260 men in the mine when the explosion occurred. It is insisted by the miners that 406 men were checked off as entering…” (CB 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Over the heartrending protests of the widowed and orphaned, it has been necessary for the authorities to act to preserve the health of the living and orders for immediate burial of the victims has been issued. The only exception will be in cases of bodies that are fully preserved and can be embalmed. These will be taken care of and taken to the morgues for identification. Failing this, all will be buried in the common grave…”
(WT 12.9.07 pg. 5)
~8:00 am
In Fairmont:
Lawrence E Sands sends a message from Wheeling that “citizens of city are planning a relief fund for Monongah…thinks Wheeling will contribute at least $1,000.” (FWV 12.9.07 pg.8)
In Monongah:
“The fourth day was a repetition of its three predecessors in the matter of pathetic scenes. Hundreds of women remained near the mines all day screaming and crying until they almost collapsed. As on former days hot coffee was served at intervals by the company to keep the unfortunate women from falling to the ground from exhaustion.” (News)
Bishop P.J. Donahue arrives by train from Wheeling joined by St. Peter’s of Fairmont priest Father Arsenius Boutou to assist the Monongah priests, Father Joseph Lekston & Father Joseph D’Andrea. Both Lekston and D’Andrea have been working nonstop since Friday and are close to exhaustion.
Father Joseph D’Andrea has also lost his brother, Victor D’Andrea, in the disaster. Victor was a father of 3 and his wife is 6 months pregnant. D’Andrea had worked for 3 days and nights, never stopping to sleep or bathe, continuously ministering to the bereaved and guiding coffin carts to correct homes.
The priests did services in the mornings and visited with families in the evenings.
Priests on the scene:
FWV 12.9.07 pg 1
At the mines:
“The work of rescuing bodies was resumed this morning…”
52 bodies have been recovered and the remains of 43 have been identified. (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra)
“Most of the bodies found have been those of foreigners and nearly all have been identified by their pay checks. [Th]ree large fans are pumping air into the mines and a pipe line 2.500 feet long was put in on the advice of Chief State Mine Inspector Paul as a precaution against fires.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 1)
Weekend crowds and sightseers are gone. Only somber groups of men—relief workers, explorers, brothers and men waiting their turn to go in—remained around mines.
At the churches in Monongah:
Church basements became make-shift funeral parlors.
Many came early to the Polish Catholic church, St. Stanislaus, “…a-foot, with bowed heads, sorrowing in low voices, sometimes a woman half held up by her companions, to that basement where the coffin lids closed in on blistered, swollen faces and parts of men.” (Kellogg)
“4 or 5 widows wept compulsively.” (Kellogg)
“An older woman read from a religious book held to the flickering light of a candle at the head of a closed coffin.” (Kellogg)
“A peasant, ugly with her pitted face, but beautiful in her great sorrow, bent often and kissed the lips of her husband.” (Kellogg)
“All of a sudden there was cry more piercing than the others. It was from an older mother who has lost 7—her husband, a son, 2 sons in law, and 3 nephews. She had come upon one of them, and the people with her could scarcely hold her. She threw her head on the casket and spoke to the boy fondly, trying to caress the crumpled face with poor, wrinkled hands. She had moaned all the way that morning from her lonely house to the church door, giving infinite sorrow to those who heard, and here her grief at last found vent.” (Kellogg)
~8:30 am
CDT 12.9.07 pg 3
~9:00 am
The court of inquiry convenes in Monongah. (FWV 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Coroner E.S. Amos, of Fairmont, is personally engaged in looking after the identification of bodies and is having a complete list kept, as well as recording the circumstances of identification and the disposition of the bodies. In this he is ably assisted by the several undertakers of this town, Fairmont and Clarksburg and other places. The jury organized by him will meet in Fairmont this morning at 9 o’clock to begin its work of investigation. Such representative men as W.S. Hamilton, Festus Downs, and W.E. Codray are members of the jury. Their work it is announced will be thorough and complete.”
The jury with Coroner Amos and Prosecuting Att. Scott C. Lowe went to No 8 and then visited No 6.
At the morgue:
“There is no more room in the morgue and the bodies are prepared at the mouth of the mine for burial.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“In the case of complete identification, the bodies, after being viewed by the coroner and jury, are not held, pending further action of the coroner, as it is established, they all came out of the mine and met death by the same cause.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
Widows and family members were permitted “ample time” to view the bodies and attempt to ID them, but the time allotted for the body to be identified has been drastically diminished since the decision of the Marion County Health Board last night.
“After the identification of the bodies and they are claimed by friends, Coroner Amos holds the inquest and permits the relatives to remove them to their homes. The bodies of all Polish miners are being removed to the Polish church just above Monongah as fast as they are identified and are being placed in the basement of that edifice.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
When ID is not possible, the body is taken directly from the mine entrance to the graveyard and buried immediately.
“Work of burying the dead that have been taken from the mines is in progress and because of the many bodies they have to be interred with dispatch and little ceremony.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
In Fairmont:
“All organizations in the city are taking steps to institute relief measures” (FWV 12.9.07 pg.8)
In Clarksburg:
“The body of Patrick McDonough, the miner who was killed in the Monongah disaster, was brought to this city Monday morning on the 9 o’clock interurban car. Funeral services were held at 9:30 o’clock at the Catholic church and interment was made in Holy Cross cemetery. McDonough was a brother-in-law of Pat Connell and Thomas Gill.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
The remains of Patrick McDonough were taken to Clarksburg. Patrick is brother of townsman, Policeman Anthony McDonough. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
At the mines:
Miners linger outside waiting to go into the mines. “The knot of silent mine workers in boots and corduroys and overalls could be made out from the rim of the bluff…; and at its edge sat in heavier silence a group of shawled women, waiting. Behind them ran a little street, thick in mud, with domino shaped stepping stones at the crossways with colorless little houses and propped walks and here and there dove-cotes nailed under the eaves or reared on poles.” (Kellogg)
TES 12.9.07 pg 4
“The body of W.H. Byse will be taken to Roane county Monday for burial there.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
“Quite a number of Clarksburgers attended the funeral of John Howard Preston, at Monongah, Monday. Preston was a victim of the horrible mine disaster which occurred at Monongah Friday.” (TA 12.12.07 pg. 2)
“In the town families were mourning inconsolably the death or absence of a loved one and on all sides were little groups of weeping women and children. Thousands of strangers thronged the streets all day. They came from towns and country within a radius of many miles and by every means of travel.” (RP 12.9.07 pg. 2)
Some 30 – 40 funerals are performed throughout the day. “They were merely repetitions of those of Sunday, the crowds being almost as large and the scenes and incidents just as distressing.” (ES 12.10.07 pg. 1)
A majority of today’s funerals are held in the little Polish Catholic Church located between the two mines. 5 priests directed funerals.
Father Boutlou held short funeral services for the Irish Catholics. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“Services were held over several of the bodies at one time.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The people gathered above, the men on one side and the women on the other, as is the custom in the Polish church. The candles of the little altar lit up the chapel as they had done on other Sundays and the familiar intonations of the mass brought a brooding quiet. Then the priest addressed his people in Polish and with his first words, they began to weep aloud.” (Kellogg)
A service preached by Rev. Father Emil Musine, of St. Ladis Las Church of Wheeling was of “a very effective discourse. Sobs and wails went up from the wives and children of the unfortunate. After Father Emil Musine’s sermon Bishop Donahue of Wheeling spoke words of consolation promising relief to the orphans.” (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In English, Bishop Donahue told the congregants that he empathized with them and how much “the whole world laments” the terrible disaster which “robbed them” of their loved ones. He concluded in assuring that he would do his “utmost” to help the people and if any of them found that they could not support their children that he would see that they “all were sent to orphanages” where they “would be well cared for”. For those who could not understand his words, they were soon told by their fellow congregants that could. Though his words “cheered” them to a degree, there was not a single woman in the church “who would part with a child, no matter how many she had, even if the pangs of starvation tempted her.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 1)
“Outside, an Italian laborer offered his services for carrying the dead to the church yard. He spoke to a Slovak and said that everyone is the brother of the other, no matter what nationality he belongs to. He said it in broken English.” (Kellogg)
“The ministers refrained from making any reference to the catastrophe and the commitment services at the graveyard were as short as possible. There were no carriages and no flowers. The caskets were hauled for the most part in undertakers’ wagons. Large crowds of pedestrians followed and the church was crowded almost to suffocation. Several of the services were interrupted by women fainting, causing momentary excitement, but this was soon dispelled.” (RP 12.9.07 pg. 2)
~10:00 am
“Up to 10 o’clock the list stood at 53.” (OTC 12.10.07 pg. 1)
At the morgue:
The temporary morgue inside the First National Bank is getting overwhelmed; coffins and bodies begin lining the streets in front of the bank.
On the west side of Monongah:
The National Guard, called in by Governor Dawson, arrives and sets up on the north side of the Italian side of the largest graveyard. (McAteer)
They set up their large white tents in typical military fashion with graves in front, resembling military trenches.
These tents will act as a secondary morgue and will serve the needs of the gravediggers.
“Captain M.M. Neely furnished a big tent that has been pitched near the Catholic church. The tent is being used for the Italian morgue. The bodies are first identified at the morgue proper and are then taken to the tent. So far there has been a change in the name of one man.” (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
On the east side of Monongah:
Paul Kellogg has wandered over to the corner of Main street, where the morgue has begun to lay coffins with prepared bodies out for identification. “At the end of the street were store buildings, and the Italian woman who kept one had let them leave a coffin box on her steps until the right household should be found.” Kellogg talks with this woman at length. “Standing at the head of the street, she pointed out with stretched finger the houses in a row on the bluff where the shawled women sat and waited…and she raised and lowered her arm in a counting of the houses, one after another.” She describes the condition inside several houses where losses have been felt:
Of the man and 7 boarders killed at house No 151— “All married. Old country. No see ‘tall, no see. He can’ find. All burn.”
“Woman cry all time,” she said of another house with three boys killed. (Kellogg)
“A hearse drove up to the corner house and the driver beckoned to me and to a workman who had come up. There was a coffin to be taken away and he needed help lifting it. The women had to be pushed back while he worked at closing the lid. Their cries rose and fell in that half unison of Slavic people which makes almost a ritual sobbing. The wife stood on the porch as they drove off; bare armed, stupid in her loss, her face knotted with two little, open-mouthed children whimpering and plucking at her apron and behind them a grandmother.
“A little red-cheeked Irish boy had poked his way into the Slavic house as they lifted the body out. He was going for the doctor, he said; the baby had been sick all night. ‘Got heem pap yet?’ asked the Italian woman. ‘Nope,’ said the boy.” (Kellogg)
“Across the street the tears were running down the face of the Italian storekeeper and she was giving herself up to the impetuous crying of her race.” (Kellogg)
~11:00 am
In Columbus, Ohio, Governor Andrew Harris has “ordered the chief state mine inspector, Harrison and deputies to Monongah, to make a careful investigation of the circumstance surrounding the explosion there. The information secured will be applied to correcting any shortcoming in Ohio mines. Inspector Harrison left for Monongah today.” (RP 12.9.07 pg. 2)
“It is a low estimate to say that the recovery of the bodies of the victims of the mine explosion will cost the coal company at least $75,000 and possibly a great deal more. But this is an item the company has not even thought of and it will spare no effort or money to recover every body from the mine.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
“The property loss will be very heavy, as the artificial interior work of the two mines was entirely destroyed to the extent of the tracks being torn all to pieces in the mine No. 8 especially where the rails broke and curled themselves up into rings.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
“Not taking the loss of life into consideration and the out lay that may result from that, the company’s loss will reach at least a quarter a million dollars, and, unless No 8 can be saved from fire, the loss will reach many millions.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
“The task of taking out bodies from Nos 6 and 8 mines will not be completed before the end of the week. Sixty-six bodies have been taken out of the mine heading of No. 6 at 11 o’clock. It is still impossible to reach many in the rooms leading off from way headings, owing to afterdamp which continues there.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In Monongah:
“No more touching spectacle could possibly be witnessed by human eyes than to see the bereaved women and children of Monongah walking the streets wringing their hands and crying grief for loved ones…” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 7)
Women wander the streets aimlessly, wailing in the pouring rain. (Scalabrinians)
“Two Slav women, with big boned grief wrenched faces, were walking up and down the street, going nowhere. They wore great shawls, and diagonally across their breasts were the papoose-like bodies of their babies, wrapped in with a knack which is handed down by the mother wit of the old country.” (Kellogg)
“Part way along an angling road, lined with older company houses, I came upon a woman of perhaps 55 and her daughter. They walked spiritlessly as if climbing a long hill. 5 other daughters and a son’s wife were waiting for them in a house beyond, –8 women and 2 men gone. These were West Virginians, I took it; at least they had seen the settlement grow up about the mines and knew its people as only villagers do. What were just door steps and dull windows to me, were individualized to them…the mother counted them off as we went.” (Kellogg)
“Farther on was a little 5-year-old girl, playing by the fence. ‘We’ve got two dead in our house,’ she said, smiling.” (Kellogg)
“At the home of Mrs. John Hearmans, at Monongah, is one more little soul needing the care which the dead father cannot give. Yesterday at about the same time that the body of her husband was brought from the mines Mrs. Hearmans gave birth to a fifth child. Her condition is serious. ‘He shall never be a coal miner,’ she sobs of her little son, as her wet eyes rest upon the casket of her husband.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
~10:00 pm
“It seems that casualties and disasters follow so closely upon each other that events which in former years would have thrilled the country in when they happened now excites only conventional expressions of pity.” (TBS 12.8.07 pg. 4)
“… the city council sent messages for aid and quick response is expected from surrounding towns.” (TES 12.9.07 pg. 4)
At the mines:
“62 bodies have been taken from the mines late tonight. This number will be augmented by at least 30 more by daylight.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
“A young volunteer in a smudged grey sweater, turned out to be the son of a Michigan judge. He had been a mine superintendent at one time and as he had taken a hand in rescue work following 3 explosions they had put him at the head of the exploring work of a party—the most ticklish job of all. ‘These are picked men,’ he explained, ‘at the same time, some hang back when it comes to going into the chambers. If a man goes in there with you, then he’s more than picked. Some like to feel that so we sort of pass the chance around.’ (Kellogg)
“While more headway has been made, the herculean task of recovering scores of the bodies in any recognizable shape has been abandoned, according to the opinion of mine experts on the scene.”
“It was reported yesterday that the undertakers have ceased to embalm the bodies but it was stated at the morgue that these men will not shrink from their duty however unpleasant it is. The company is desirous that the bodies be made as presentable as possible but if the board of health decides that the decomposition is in a stage too far advanced for convenience and safety the bodies will be removed from the mines, identified at the mouth so far as possible, then buried immediately. It is quite likely that this will be done so the chances are that the majority of the women who saw their husbands or sons go down into the mines alive and happy Friday morning will never again gaze upon their faces that are now cold in death, battered, many of them into and unrecognizable mass” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“I talked with an Irishman from PA who had ‘come to help.’ Beside him was another Pennsylvanian, a rescue man, who had worked 5 days the week before in Naomi mine, where 36 had been killed.” (Kellogg)
“An old miner, with red cheek bones and dusty wisps of hair at the ears, had carried out two dead men who had been overcome by blackdamp while cementing.” (Kellogg)
“Hope has gone that there can be any living soul in the mines, but there is a burning desire on the part of relatives to obtain possession of the bodies. If this cannot be granted their grief will know no bounds. Thus in gloom and doubt and despair passed the saddest Sunday Fairmont has ever seen.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In Monongah:
“One of the many sad occurrences of the disaster and its consequences was the death Sunday night of Mrs. Lawrence Heinerman, widow of one of the victims of the disaster, whose body was among the first taken out of Mine No. 6. She died of childbirth and doubtless her delicate condition was aggravated by the mine horror.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Mrs. John Hinerman, wife of one of the first victims that was found gives birth and dies in labor. Her death leaves 5 small children without any parent. The child died also. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Stories told of a man working his first day in the mines on the 6th; he was a carpenter who leaves a wife and 6 small kids. Another miner had arranged to move away but decided not to move until Monday. An unknown young man from Cleveland came in a few days ago, saying he wanted to earn some money – family may not know of his whereabouts. (FWV 12.9.07 – pg.8)
Late Evening / ~ 7:00 pm
In Monongah:
Members of the County Board of Health, including Dr. C.O. Henry the county health physician, arrived at Monongah during the evening and held a session in the Curry Hotel and after the meeting this notice was issued:
Inside #8:
“The mines are on fire again tonight and the work of rescuing the bodies of the dead cannot proceed further until the flames have been extinguished.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The flames have been fought by every possible means, including the laying of a water pipe driven far into the mine. This was the second fire since the explosion. The first fire started Saturday morning but caused only a short delay.” (ES 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Outside of the mines:
“Rescue worker talking to crowd, ‘The people who are on the outside of the mines know nothing at all of the conditions in the mines. At one place we found 17 cars piled in a heap and legs of men could be seen but it was impossible to remove them.’ He said in places the rescuers had to crawl through small holes to get back to men.” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg.8)
“The scenes round about the entries to the mines and throughout the town are even more pathetic and heartrending than those that usually attend a mine disaster, because of the larger proportion of citizens, native and naturalized, than is usually found in a purely mining settlement.” (MD 12.11.07 pg. 2)
“Wives and mothers and sweethearts, together with children and members of the stronger sex, moving from place to place, vainly seeking information and making no attempt to conceal the grief that overwhelms them.” (MD 12.11.07 pg. 2)
In Monongah:
“An unknown boy was run over by one of the trolley cars Sunday evening and had a leg cut off. He was rushed to a hospital in Fairmont.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
“John A. Clark, coal operator, was injured in a runaway Sunday evening, but not seriously. He had a shoulder hurt and was badly bruised up.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1)
Nightfall / ~7:30 pm
Relief Committees are named and organized (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 8)
“But 53 bodies had been recovered…when darkness closed over the little town of Monongah Sunday night.” (News)
“Officials of the Fairmont Coal Company issued a statement Sunday night saying that 406 men were listed on the payrolls the day of the disaster, and that of these, so far as is known, 371 were victims of the explosion. Of the total listed on the payrolls, 35 have been accounted for. Two of these were injured, 18 located the day of the explosion and 15 accounted for Sunday. The number of victims according to the first report was placed at 391 men, but 7 men later reported at the company’s offices, swelling the number accounted for to 35 men.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
“It is now believed that the number of dead will not be over 400. A thorough investigation was instituted by the company today and it was discovered that many miners believed to have been entombed escaped because they had not gone to work Friday, after Thursday’s holiday. A score or more of these men reported to the officials during the past 24 hours.” (SLH 12.9.07 pg.1) (SFC 12.9.07 pg. 2)
~8:00 pm
“On account of fire in mine No 8, and imminent danger of an explosion in mine No 6, all rescue work has been suspended for the night.” (News)
Clarksburg Daily Telegram:
“At Monongah it is impossible to get any place to sleep or anything to eat. All the hotels are crowded and running over and most all of the restaurants are out of anything to sell. One is lucky to get a cup of coffee to drink and a chair to sleep in or a board to lie upon is the best that can be obtained. Many of the doctors, undertakers, and newspaper men sleep anywhere or upon any thing when the chance comes to get a wink of sleep.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“It is estimated that fully half of the English-speaking miners were at work in No. 6 and No. 8 when the disaster came.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“The Telegram men stayed at Monongah sending reports to this paper and as soon as they became exhausted, they returned to Clarksburg and were relieved by others from the office, who are now on the scene. Many newspaper men can find no place to sleep save in chairs and on boards and the find their work quite strenuous. Some of them stayed up working for forty hours at a stretch and then after a few hours nap they are up again and hard at it.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
~9:00
“All twelve of the deputy mine inspectors in this State arrived last night and under direction of State Mine Inspector James Paul spent several hours testing the air in the mines. The work of searching and recovering bodies was suspended on that account until morning and the undertakers were all directed at 9 o’clock to retire for the night, but to be ready at 4 o’clock this morning for duty.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 4)
“The coming of the county board of health reveals a troublesome situation.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The bodies recovered are in such an advanced stage of decomposition that they are regarded as dangerous to handle, in addition to being a menace to the community.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
Outside #8:
“Two arc lamps lighted up the manway and the bright tin tags of a new checkboard.” (Kellogg)
“By Sunday night, the crowd of watchers had thinned out, but a fire blazed in the roadway below the ropes, and a nondescript group sat about on kegs in the warmth of it and watched. I remember a middle-aged man with a seamed forehead and a heavy neck. He had big pads of hands and sat with them on his knees, gazing in the flame stolidly.” (Kellogg)
“There was a group of Fairmont boys who were there with the zest with which they would have gotten up to see the circus come in…2 or 3 Negroes with muddied shoes and torn clothes…a spare woman with a shawl over her head, pinched shoulders and the suggestion of approaching motherhood in the set of her figure. When she turned her back to get warm, you saw that she was twisting her thin fingers behind her and she kept it up indefinitely.” (Kellogg)
Italian laborers are piling cots for stretchers and pushing carts of lumber across the trestle for brattices. There was a “flare of torches part way over the trestle across the river, where they were pushing hand cars of lumber for brattices. (Kellogg) (McAteer)
“75 men digging graves on the hillside, a depot platform piled high with pine boxes, a row of coffins in the main street stacked 3 high and nearly a block in length, a corps of undertakers as large as a regiment’s hospital corps, women whose eyes could weep no more, with orphaned children clinging to their skirts—these were some of the evidences that there would be no Christmas in Monongah for another year.” (Forbes)
~ Noon
In Monongah:
“Many newspaper men, including photographers, from all over the country are at Monongah. All of the nearby cities have special reporters on the scene and there are newspaper men from Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Washington and other cities.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“Probably never before on any occasion have the interurban cars carried as many people as they have in the last few days since the mine disaster. All along the line hundreds of anxious people are found at every station eagerly trying to get on a car to go to the scene of the disaster. Many of them are foreigners who had relatives working in the two mines. Sunday the interurban station in this city was crowded all day and many people visited the scene of the disaster. The street cars were run double all day and every one was crowded to its utmost. Many people took advantage of it being Sunday, to go to Monongah.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
Inside the mines:
“The farther into the mines the workers proceed the greater the destruction is found to be. Many side entries and rooms are completely blocked by falls of slate. One room where it was known two of the miners were working was entered but instead of finding the blackened bodies of the two miners tons and tons of slate were found burying them so that it will be several days before their bodies can be recovered. The same condition of affairs is reported at many other points in the mine.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
Outside the mines:
“Finally, a horse came out of the hill and behind it a train of empty mine cars but the last car was loaded and covered with stained canvas and blankets. The coverings were thrown off and one by one the blackened and mutilated bodies of what had once been men were carried to the waiting wagons to be hauled over the bridge into the town and delivered to the undertakers.” (Forbes)
“They all looked as if they had been par-boiled, they were so red. Many of them were mutilated and in several cases the eyeballs had been split by the force of the explosion. The bodies were beginning to decompose.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
~2:00 pm
Col. J. H. McDermott arrives in Fairmont as representative of Gov. Dawson, who was unable to come to the scene of the Monongah disaster. Judge J.W. Mason and Clerk W.T. Black met him at the train station. (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra) (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“I am here to look over the situation,” said Col. McDermott, “and will advise Gov. Dawson from time to time what I learn. I am not here to interfere with any department of the mines, as each representative of every department will adhere strictly to his own work.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“At the last meeting of the State legislature Col. McDermott, in his capacity as President of the Senate, appointed a committee to investigate the mines of West Virginia and the mine disasters. This committee had visited both the mines at which the explosion took place, about two months ago, and pronounced them as being as finely equipped and managed as any they had ever seen. It is quite probable that this same committee will arrive here shortly for another examination of the Monongah mines.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)
At some point during the afternoon
In Fairmont:
“This town has some plucky girls, and it is a question as to whether their equal can be found. …Sunday there were 4 of them walked to Monongah, across the hill, taking all the near cuts and making the distance as short as possible. That’s game, that is.” (FWV 12.16.07 pg. )
“Headed by the churches, relief work was well started yesterday and a general appeal to the public is being made. Many West Virginia towns have already acted and others are ready to do so. The work will be thoroughly organized and systemized.” (ES 12.9.07 pg. 1-2)
“Relief corps were organized by the women of Fairmont today. Already hundreds of dollars are pouring in.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In Morgantown:
Collections from all Morgantown churches are handed over to relief funds. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. ?)
At the morgue in Monongah:
“R.L. Cunningham, of Fairmont, who is one of the undertakers who have charge of the band of fifteen caring for the bodies brought out of the mines, preparing them for burial and placing them in coffins, met with an accident that has laid him up. While hurrying from the morgue in the First National Bank building on Main street to one of the branch morgues, he slipped and fell, spraining a weak knee joint so badly that he cannot walk. He is confined to his room in the Curry hotel under care of a physician and his work has devolved upon another undertaker. Messrs. W.G. Osborn and Sleppy & Warne, of this city, are still with the undertakers assisting in the work of taking care of the dead.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
At the cemeteries:
“About twenty victims were buried today in the three cemeteries near the town.” (AMJ 12.9.07 pg. 1)
“The bodies of fifteen Italians were buried in Holy Cross cemetery Sunday afternoon. The cemetery is located on the hill over the mines. The bodies of two Polanders were also buried the same afternoon in the Polish cemetery which is on the same hill adjoining Holy Cross cemetery. The bodies of two Polanders are lying in the Polish church where services will be held over them.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
In Monongah:
“Another woman, the mother of five little children, whose husband was killed in mine No. 8, became so distracted at her home that she began throwing household articles about the house and then to tear her clothing from her. She became so violent that friends had to tie her to a chair and stand watch over her until she became quieted.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“The body of Fred Rogers was taken to Fairchance Sunday afternoon and buried there.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
“…3 men who were thought to be victims but escaped are Ross Morka, Marie Bagenealla and Anebra Spaw. The 2 former went to Clarksburg to visit some friends early in the morning of the explosion but did not notify their boarding boss of their intentions. They were given a royal reception when they appeared today. Spaw, one of the men supposed to have been blown into the river at the entrance of No 6 was not at work that fateful morning. When he learned that his friends were mourning him as dead he lost no time in returning from a visit to Grafton.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
At the mines:
“But 3 bodies have been removed from No 8 mine this afternoon, two being those of a motorman and a brakeman found near their car at the first left entry of the north heading near where the third body was found. All were badly burned about the face and hands but friends were able to recognize them at the morgue.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
“A thrilling incident occurred on the bridge on which the mine cars were pulled from mine No. 8 in which an aged Polish woman nearly lost her life. Her only son, and the bread winner of the family, was killed in the awful explosion. She wandered out on the bridge and was climbing on some planks used as a temporary walk and was viewing the workers about the wreckage in front of the mine. Suddenly she staggered and fell. Several men ran to her side and caught her just as she was falling into the river. Friends carried her away in hysterics.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
In McKeesport, PA:
Lester E. Trader and his brother are at their father’s home in McKeesport when General Manager Frank Haas “… called up and said he wants us to get back here. Frank and I couldn’t leave the company that way. I went back and they gave me a job in the auditor’s office in Clairmont.” (McAteer)
Victor told Trader that in return for being given an office and a job in the accounting department, he would be quoted as official spokesperson for company. (McAteer)
In Fairmont:
The Union Relief Association is organized at the Methodist Protestant Temple for the purpose of receiving and distributing aid of all kinds to the stricken families in and about Monongah and is rapidly shaping plans through the various committees, to do the necessary work in a thoroughly business-like way. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. ?)
Collections from the morning’s church services are turned over to Mrs. Thomas W. Fleming, “who will see that it does the most possible good to lessen burdens that the grief-stricken ones are bearing.” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra)
“Donations of money can be handed to any member of the following committee and receipt for the same will be sent to the donor by Mrs. Thomas W Fleming, chairman.”
~2:30 pm
Chief Mine Inspector J.W. Paul goes into #6 to inspect conditions. (McAteer)
“At both mines members of rescuing parties are being taken from the mines weakened and unconscious condition but after being out for a few hours they have fully recovered. None of the rescuers who have been overcome is now in serious condition.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
At the morgue:
“One thing that is considered strange is that few things of value are being found among the effects of the dead. From information received from the company officials Coroner Amos was of opinion that large sums of money would be found in the clothes of the foreign miners and working upon this supposition a careful search was made of every garment removed from the body. It was known to be a custom of the foreigners to carry their money with them, but the most valuable article so far found was a silver watch in the pocket of Peter Alexander, who was removed to the morgue Sunday afternoon.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)
~3:00 pm
At #8:
“All Sunday until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when the searching parties were ordered out so that the mine inspectors make a test and experiment with the new fan at No. 8, there were sixty men engaged in the work of recovering bodies and nearly a score were taken out during the day.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
*For the past 32 hours or so, all of the local mines owned by Fairmont Coal Company have been shut down and those miners have been reporting to Monongah for work. 2 small fans on loan from local smaller mines have been circulating air into #8. With rescue and recovery work now formally systemized under Inspector Paul and the other state inspectors and a plan to regularly change out volunteer crews, Fairmont Coal Company intends to restart regular work in their other local mines tomorrow.
*A replacement fan is currently is on its way from Pittsburg and scheduled to arrive on a special train around 4 pm. One of the fans is to be switched out and sent back to its original mine so that regular work may resume there tomorrow.
*Around 3 pm General Manager Frank Haas, who has been in charge of overseeing work at #8, begins to put their devised plan for switching out the fans into action. A majority but not all miners are ordered out of #8 just before one of the 2 fans is switched off. The outside crews are prepared to begin unmounting the fan from its temporary housing and get it across the trestle to the railroad line.
*Inside #8, small “hot spots” in explored and still unexplored areas of the mine (where coal is smoldering and radiating heat but there is not enough oxygen to ignite flame or smoke) become fully deprived of air. As the coal burns, it continues to release methane gases, but the air circulation is not powerful enough anymore to disperse or dilute these gases. Those who are permitted to remain in the mine during the fan switch are more than likely those who are working near or in the direct path of the 2nd fan which is not turned off.
*At #6, men are also ordered out at this time as the air current from #8 will likely push dangerous gases into the workings of #6.
“The work at No 6 progressed rapidly owing to the conditions of the powerful fan there, until the rescuers were ordered from the mine because of the temporary cessation at No 8.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
“After the men were ordered to cease temporarily from the rescue work at No. 6 the opening was closed and late in the day the big new fan was set to work at No. 8. One reason for the ordering of the men out was the discovery of some gas at the connection of the two mines, and another was that it was the purpose to divert the air-course from No. 8 into No. 6, thus making it dangerous for men to work in No. 6. While this was going on a heavy guard was placed on the city side of the bridge running across the river to the tipple and no one was allowed to cross there, lest there might be a deadly current of air out of No. 6 at any moment.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)
~4:00 pm
In Monongah:
The Company hires 3 Fairmont undertakers to manage the bulk of transporting the dead: Musgrove & Sons, R.I. Cunningham, and Jones & Co.; these 3 hire on 20 more undertakers from Fairmont and surrounding towns. (McAteer)
Unfortunately, the undertaker transport drivers are not very familiar with area of Monongah. Much confusion occurs over the next days in the transport of bodies to the correct homes. Priests will end up helping with most. (McAteer)
“The rapidity with which the remains began to be recovered late this afternoon and evening necessitated the coal company pressing into service a number of transfer wagons. These were filled with straw and the gruesome work of carting the charred remains across the river through the dense crowd began. Scenes that were sublimely pathetic transpired. The weeping of the bereaved ones as they madly chased after the vehicles was heartrending. They overwhelmed the morgue in their clamors for a look at the dead and it was necessary to drive them back by force and draw ropes across the main street. Pickets were stationed and the crowd thus held in check. It would only separate when the carriages of death were forced through to take the bodies to the cemeteries.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)
At #8:
*The anticipated 4 o’clock B&O special train arrives carrying very important materials for the rescue efforts and, more than likely, Paul U. Kellogg and several others who will become key figures over the next few days
“The victims at Monongah were working with open lamps on their caps; it was 2 days after the explosion before a supply of safety lights sufficient even for the exploring parties reached the mine.” (Forbes)
“A big mine fan, with auxiliary machinery arrived here on a special train from Pittsburg this afternoon at 4 o’clock, for use at the opening of Mine No. 8. Machinists and other workmen at once began work on installing it at the mine entrance and as soon as possible the machinery was in operation.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
*When the train arrives, crews load the uninstalled fan onto an empty car or flat bed. The train pulls up slightly and crews unload the new fan and begin to haul it back across #8 trestle. The train continues on southbound to return the old fan to its proper mine in the Shinnston area.
*It takes approximately 45 minutes for this very experienced and driven crew to complete this task and get the fan running ventilation through #8 again. As far as Haas and the other onlooking reporters who may have known of this plan in advance, everything is going splendidly. Once ventilation has had some time to work its way through the mine, the state inspectors will perform the first formal fire and air check of #8.
“As soon as the fan was in operation the work of rescue was stopped at both Mine No. 6 and at Mine No. 8 for the purpose of testing the fan and ascertaining the result of the air current it would make.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
*It does not take long for the new burst of air flowing through #8 to begin feeding these small “hot spots” throughout the mine. Smoke begins to fill the galleries and headings of the mine.
“New difficulties and complications have confronted the rescuers on every hand, but with only brief interruptions the work was continued until 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Then the fire drove all from the unexplored regions and the search had to be abandoned for the remainder of the day and for the night.” (TEW 12.9.07 pg. 7)
* = Author’s description of events. There is much conflicting information over the next 24 hours for several reasons and there will be an “Issues” post about this event and this author’s choices in the future. See ‘Dislaimer and Guide’ for more insight on this process.
“bright day – the sky was clear, the smoke and noxious, gaseous fumes that had hovered…since…Friday morning had vanished…” “…a more powerful gloom could be seen to cast its shadows across the doorways of most every residence and miner’s cottage of the thrifty village…” (FWV 12.9.07 pg.8)
~9:00 am
Inside the mines:
Large roof falls are found in every section but one in both mines. “The rescuers say they find great fall of earth from the roof and it is believed that tons and tons of earth, slate, coal and debris will have to be dug out of the main heading before arrangements can be made to operate this mine again.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“All of the young foremen in charge of the shifts and practically all of the volunteers were West Virginia mountain-folk. The mine manager had apparently excluded the aliens. ‘What is the matter with the foreign miners?’ I asked an intelligent young fellow resting in a coal car. ‘They can’t stand it,’ he said. ‘They can handle a pick all right, but when something happens, they lose their heads.’” (Forbes)
The “day of funerals” begins in Monongah and Fairmont
“At least a score of burials took place.” (Wash. Times 12.9.07 pg. 5)
St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Fairmont conducted masses and some Protestant churches in Fairmont and Monongah held services.
Undertaker’s wagon hauling victims in front of St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church
“Many of the victims of the holocaust are members of the Roman Catholic church and a majority of the burials of these will take place in a little church yard on a hillside near the parish house about a half a mile away from the mines in which they met death. Complete arrangements for the funerals have not been made but it is probable that the priests will celebrate the mass for the dead over many of them at one time.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“Funeral processions were in sight in all directions during the entire day.” (News)
“On the way to the cemeteries these solemn little processions were constantly going and passing vehicles coming from the mines laden with victims en route to the morgue, there to be placed in caskets and prepared another series of funerals.” (News)
“About twenty victims were buried today in the three cemeteries near the town. The services were simple and brief and except for the grief of the mourners, which at times became almost frantic, were without special feature.” (News)
“Several of the services were interrupted by women fainting, causing momentary excitement, but this was soon dispelled.” (LAH 12.9.07 pg. 2)
“All the churches offered up petitions for the peaceful repose of the dead, and ministers spoke feelingly of the disaster. But the saddest of the prayers were those of the women, who again gathered near the entrances, and chanted their litanies.” (CET 12.9.07 pg. 1)
In other parts of Monongah:
“Miners and other citizens from all over Central West Virginia are pouring into the Monongah to offer their services in the work of rescue.” (WH 12.8.07 pg. 13)
“The crowd of people that were at Monongah today was the largest that has ever been in the town on any occasion. Hundreds were there from all nearby towns and many from far away. A great number went only for the sole purpose of getting to look at where the mine disaster occurred. In this they were disappointed as nothing but two holes in the ground greet the visitor. It is impossible to go down in the mines and also to get in at the morgue.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“The people of the town are stunned by the catastrophe. They had long regarded these mines as practically immune from the dangers so common to the coal mining industry.” (LAH 12.8.07 pg. 1)
“The stage has been reached where relief for surviving dependents of the victims is necessary, and such progress was made in that direction today. Several organizations have been incorporated and the work is being systemized. Churches are taking the lead in this work. The coal company is showing a liberal spirit and is using money freely to relieve distress.” (LAH 12.9.07 pg. 2)
“Great quantities of food were distributed today.” (LAH 12.9.07 pg. 2)
“An American woman who lost her husband refused to believe he is dead. She has put clean linen on his bed and insists that he will be brought to her. ‘I know he is injured, and nobody can take care of him like I can,’ she said. She prepares his meal regularly, neighbors say, as she has done for years, thinking he may come for them.” (News)
~10:00 am
Inside #8:
“It is hardly possible that all the bodies will be recovered for several days. The men were working in a territory one mile square. It will be days before a thorough search of all of this area can be made. As the searching parties advance, they must clear away the debris.” (LAH 12.8.07 pg. 1)
Rescuers find a headless body sat in the seat of a cutting machine, hands still gripping the handles of the machine. (McAteer)
By 10 am, 1st right had been explored and 1,000 feet of 1st left when all efforts are called to the surface (McAteer).
Smoke is discovered coming out of crop openings south of the pit mouth so threatening it was decided to halt all work on north side until the south fire could be located and extinguished.
“There was a slight fire inside of the slope of No. 8 mine this morning, due to the starting of the fan. It was extinguished after an hour, and the fan, working successfully, greatly facilitated the efforts of the rescuers to get into the mines.” (News)
On the way to Fairmont:
A “prominent minister” tells a representative of the West Virginian while on one of the crowded cars returning from Monongah, “You newspaper men would have a hard time to exaggerate the awfulness of this great catastrophe.”
“And the minister’s remark suggests the thought that newspapers all over the country have been very conservative in their stories, especially as to the number of dead. Most of the papers have underestimated the number rather than overestimated it. Very few sensational stories have gone out when we consider how great the temptation is under the circumstances.” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg.8)
~10:45 am
“Monongah restaurants have been almost ‘eaten out’. In spite of the fact that food supplies are being rushed to the mining town as fast as possible, there is not enough food at public restaurants, hotels and like places to accommodate the people. In the restaurants and hotel where some food can be obtained, the patrons have to take just what is on hand. Coffee is being drunk without milk and sugar and in many instances all that a hungry person can find to satisfy himself with is plain bread. Some of the residents have kindly thrown open their door to the hungry and are giving them what they have on hand to eat.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)
A majority of church services begin in and around the area of Monongah
Several church services and Sunday school lessons focus on the Book of Ruth (aka: The Widow’s Book or ‘The Tale of Two Widows’) today.
“The Presbyterian Church has asked the Presbyterian churches of Pittsburg and vicinity to come to the rescue of the widows and orphans.” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra)
FWV 12.7.07 pg 8FWV 12.7.07 pg 8
~11:00 am
“E.C. Vandiver, of Lonaconing, was in Monongah over Sunday and tells a gruesome tale of what he saw and heard there. Van left here Saturday and returned Sunday night.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“Van saw piles of coffins on every corner and the wailing of women and children was heartrending.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“Thousands of strangers were in Monongah and the hotels are crowded.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“Seven families that Van saw had lost every adult male and fifty children in those families are left fatherless. Van saw men working at No. 6 mine but saw nothing doing at No 8 and was told that no one would venture in.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“He saw one woman identify the body of her husband by the nail on the only finger left on his hand. This finger had been injured years ago and the end was gone. This man was an American.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“The bodies were laid out in the bank building used as a morgue and thousands of people gazed upon them. At Fairmont, Sunday, people fought each other to get on the street cars for Monongah. Van returned full of the horror of what he saw.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)
“Nearly 400 coffins reached Monongah today from Pittsburg and from West Virginia cities.” (ES 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Many coffins have arrived and more have been ordered and as fast as identification is made sure the bodies are being taken away by their friends for burial.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
At the mines:
“The galleries are still filled with poisonous gases and it is impossible to open them till the main entries are opened and the fans can clear them.” (TBE 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Working conditions are terrible, owing to gas and the wrecking, shifts can work less than an hour at a time.” (ES 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“While only sixteen bodies have been recovered or brought out of the mine, members of the rescuing parties stated that eighty bodies have been located.” (ES 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Only sixteen of the dead bodies have been removed from the shaft entrance of No. 6, but 100 others are in the first level and are being kept in the mine until the authorities can get the half-crazed people away from the entrance.“ (TBE 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Preparations are being made to bring the bodies from the mines in electric cars, with which the mines were equipped.” (WT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“The rescuers in mine No. 6 report so many bodies that it will take hours to get them all out. In No 8 mine the rescuing parties are just getting started as poisonous gases there were worse than in No 6 mine.” (TEP 12.7.07 pg. 1)
~1:00 pm
At the mines:
“Up to 1 o’clock today but sixteen bodies have been brought to the surface…” (ES 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“A dozen undertakers are also in waiting in one of the buildings near the entrance to take charge of the bodies as soon as they are brought out and make them as presentable as possible.” (WT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“A thousand men are working…” “About 130 corpses had been found in the wrecked Monongah mines here at 1 o’clock this afternoon.” (Pitt. Press. 12.7.07, Sparks)
In Monongah:
The body of Fred Cooper (one of first men found in the shanty of #6 mine) has been fully processed through the morgue and his body is brought into Fairmont on the one o’clock car. He is taken to his father-in-law’s home, Mr. Shingleton, at the corner of Locust Ave and 11th St. (FWV 12-7-07, pg. 1)
~1:30 pm
Clarksburg Daily Telegram puts out a special, extra edition:
The local newspapers are correcting their previously published information on the location of the mines. Though the Clarksburg Daily Telegram puts out far more accurate information now that they have their own reporters on the scene, their original source—the Associated Press—never corrects their original inaccurate information at any point and it continues to circle around the country for the next several weeks.
The results of just some of these inaccurate reports have already made their way back to Monongah. For the next several days, Watson and other officials will struggle with the press. They have little to no experience with mass swarms of reporters nor with managing a catastrophe of such magnitude. They will make several mistakes in their attempt to control the release of information over the next week, including the most devastating mistake of making it obvious to the press that information is being controlled.
Quietly tucked away on page 3 is an update on Sam Furk, reported leader of the local Black Hand, which would have taken front page status had the disaster in Monongah not occurred:
~2:00 -2:30 pm
Inside #6:
Search parties find only 5 men between the bottom of the slope of #6 to the connection of the 2 mines – distance of about ¾ of a mile, over 4,000’. Only the main heading has proper ventilation and cleared wreckage that far back, but not the rest of the mines proper (rooms, hallways, etc.) where most of the victims surely lay. Ventilation systems “will have to be rebuilt throughout the mine” starting “this afternoon”. (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“The resources are being reinforced as men are needed, so that as soon as one man is overcome his place is taken by another.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
Though it is quite clear that the town is teaming with news reporters all day based on the sheer number of events accounted throughout the afternoon, few reporters managed to note the time of when certain events occurred. The best this author can provide at this moment is a list of these events in what is the most likely order in which they occur, trying to keep in mind that some of these may have been occurring simultaneously.
At some point during the afternoon,
“…with hysteria in all its devious forms rampant among the populace.” (RIA 12.7.7 pg. 1)
At the mines:
Several rescuers enter the mines “only to return to the open much more dead than alive.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“The first emergency hospital is crowded with men who have been overcome with the mine gas…” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“The rescuers as they come out report that men to the right and left of them are lying all about the mine…” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“A foreign woman whose husband was in the mine, rushed to the entrance but the gas forced her back. Realizing that she could do nothing toward aiding her husband, she tore the skin off her face with her finger nails and pulled out large twists of hair.” (WT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
At the morgue:
“The following bodies were identified in the morgue today: DOMINICK, who worked for John Preston. MIKE ____, also one of Preston’s men. FRANCISCO LORIA, who is horribly mangled. CARMO ZEVOLA, who was identified after some time by his [whole line of text is missing]. Much doubt existed in the authenticity of her identification but the small tobacco sack which he carried was the means of making the identification sure.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“Another body that has been positively identified is a man who is known as Louis, his other name not being known. Mr. Caldara says he is from Naples.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
In Monongah:
Lorin Wise, brother of Charlie Wise, and Mabel & Edith Wise, his sisters, arrive from Canton, OH. (FWV 12.12.07 pg. 1)
A wagon load of bodies is trying to get from #6 mine across the Iron Bridge and to the morgue. Before it reaches the bridge, the crowd rushes the cart from all angles, pinning in and frightening the horses. The horses panic and bolt, racing through the crowd, overturning the cart, and dumping the bodies onto the ground before running over the embankment. The crazed horses continue down the river bank and run straight into the icy waters of the West Fork River, taking along the driver and his assistant. As the cart hits the water, the driver is violently thrown out and seriously injured. (McAteer)
“As the day advanced, [the widows] became almost crazed through grief and suspense. One pulled out her hair in handfuls at a time and another tore all the skin from both cheeks with her fingernails. Some lay down on the frozen ground and cried themselves asleep, and in this condition, many were carried to homes nearby without awakening.” (RIA 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“The company has provided clothing, food, and supplies for all who are in need and charity on every hand is being observed.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
The body of a young man is brought to his home and placed inside. 2 hours later and one room away, his wife gives birth to their child. (FWV 12.9.07 – pg.8)
At the mines:
“The workers at both pits are being cheered and helped in their heroic task by the presence and good words of their bosses.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“Everything possible has been and is being done to recover the bodies of the dead miners and to take out any who might be alive. The coal company officials have given their best energies to the work and are yet grimly at work sleepless and hungry without thought of rest until all has been done to reach any miner possibly alive and to recover the bodies of the dead ones.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Late today the deadly blackdamp became more pronounced as the more farther recesses of the mines were approached…” (DASB 12.8.07 pg. 1) (LODD 12.12.07 pg. 1)
“One hundred men are working in mine No 8, where the damage was greatest…” (WT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
In Charleston, WV:
Gov. William M.O. Dawson calls out the National Guard: Company H of First Infantry under the direction of Col. M.M. Neely. Despite Watson’s telegram earlier in the day, the Governor is concerned about potential disturbances among immigrant families and the throngs of sightseers. (McAteer)
At #6:
“Some bodies have been brought to the mouth of #6 but have not yet been made known.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
“In No. 6 there are 150 workers. Though the interior of this mine is not so badly damaged as the other, the gas in the tunnels is more troublesome, and it is necessary to come frequently to the surface for fresh air.” (WT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“As the rescuers groping and dazed came from the mouth of the mine they were besieged by anxious ones and bringing no tidings or news of the unfortunate men below there were fresh outbursts of sobbing and cries of grief went up for their loved ones.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“Now and then rescuers came staggering forth, gasping for fresh breath but to hear from the women gathered near the pit renowned cries of distress and sorrow.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“And to add further to the mine horrors the wails and moans of the wives and daughters of the entombed miners were heartrending.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
“In the great crowd one or two women would scream, perhaps faint, and be carried to their homes while the undertakers put the bodies in coffins and followed the bereaved ones to the little miners’ cottages. This scene was repeated again and again all day.” (TEP 12.7.07 pg. 1)
~4:00 pm
All saloons and bars in Marion county are closed by order of the mayors and the Marion county Sheriff and no liquor sales, anywhere, are permitted. “The saloon keepers willingly consented and will not open their places again until Monday.” (FWV 12.7.07 – pg.1)
As the main morgue in the bank overflows, bodies are taken directly from the mouth of mine to tent morgues at the cemetery or to church basements (McAteer)
If no ID has been made on a body within several hours, the dressed body is placed in a coffin and buried in the potter’s field as unknown.
“Foul gases in the No. 8 mine prevented any attempt at rescue until late this afternoon and even now it is impossible to make any headway. At this time the force of the explosion was so great that holes were blown through the side of the hill in several places along the river bank.” (TBE 12.7.07 pg. 1)
~5:00 pm
Newspapers are just beginning to hit the streets and stands. A majority will sell out within the hour.
The Monongah Disaster 