“The women around the mine entrance are going crazy with grief and can hardly be handled.” (FWDN 12.6.07 pg. 1)
Crowds are growing to uncontrollable numbers. (News)
Agents for the company begin to prepare for the worst.
~1:00 pm
On the east side of Monongah:
“At one o’clock this afternoon the officials of the Fairmont Coal Co. revised their figures as to the number of men at work in the mines, making it three hundred, instead of five, and they do not believe any have escaped death or injury of a serious nature.” (CET 12.6.07 pg. 1)
Coroner E.S. Amos prepares to set up a temporary morgue inside the unfinished First National Bank of Monongah (a new institution owned by the Watsons and others).
“The First National bank building…has been rigged up for a morgue and the dead will be taken there as soon as recovered.” (FWDN 12.6.07 pg. 1)
E.P. Knight brings the piece of broken coupling pin to Frank Morris in the office of the company store for safe keeping then returns to the relief work. (Inquiry)
~1:30 pm
Outside #6:
Dr. Cook sees first 3 bodies brought out of #6; the 3 men who were found in the shed at the foot of #6 slope. (Inquiry)
~2:00 pm
Outside #6:
8 bodies found near entrance of #6 “and had been taken out, but at that time dense volumes of smoke from a fire in the heart of the mine drove the rescuers to the open air and they have not since been able to return, although every effort is being made to get in.” (Pitt. Press Evening, 12.6.07 – pg.1)
“The fans were all blown out of mine No. 8 and it was the belief of some that the mine was afire.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1)
At the mines:
“Little was done…until after three o’clock when several men were rescued.” (FWV 12.7.07 pg. 1 – noon)
Within the next few days, this event will gradually become entangled in the news coming out of Monongah. With so many people and newspaper reporters in and out of Fairmont, entirely unfamiliar with the area, this is more than likely how various reports begin to spread across the country that the trolley which ran passed #8 coal mine just before the explosion was blown off of its tracks, wrecked, and that a young female passenger was injured in the process. Though there is no information about what happened to the trolley after it passed #8 nor are there personal accounts from any of its passengers, the trolley at Monongah was not thrown from its tracks and wrecked.
At the company offices, “Mr. S.L. Watson was called up by many newspaper men but was unable to accommodate them because of lack of news.” (FWV 12.7.07 pg. 2 – noon)
The Electric Theatre calls the Fairmont newspapers to make the announcement that they will give 5 percent of the entire receipts until further notice for the benefit of Monongah sufferers. (FWV 12.6.07 pg. 5)
FWV 12.6.07 pg 5
Inside the mines of Monongah:
Localized explosions, ignitions, and fires continue consuming the oxygen throughout the mines. Afterdamp has had over hour and half to work through the mines and has already suffocated many. Some miners who survived the initial explosions are putting jackets over their heads or napkins over their mouths to try and prevent breathing in gases. (McAteer, News)
In the town of Monongah:
Monongah is getting positively ambushed with all varieties of people from the area. Train/Trolley loads of volunteers, mourners, amateur photographers and macabre sightseers start pouring in from Fairmont and surrounding areas.
Undertakers begin pouring into town, ”from Fairmont, Shinnston, and Clarksburg among whom are Clifford & Osborn, Sleppy & Warne, of Clarksburg, Harmer of Shinnston, and Musgrave and Bunningham*, of Fairmont, summoned at the instance of the coal company to take charge of the frightful morgue that will present itself when all the bodies are recovered.” (CDT 12.7.07 pg. 1) (*should be “Cunningham”)
Transport wagons and crews are hired. W.S. Thomas Transfer Co. (Fairmont firm) sends all available wagons and teams to Monongah. (News)
Communications within town, let alone outside of town, are extremely limited and reports about the events going on in the area begin to conflict from the very start. (News)
“The bodies of three miners were recovered near the mouth of Mine No. 6 at 12 o’clock.” (CDT 12.6.07 pg. 1)
“Up to noon four bodies had been recovered. These were found at the entrance of the mine.” (CDT 12.6.07 pg. 1)
Inside #6:
“Besides the broken cars that clogged the heading much of the brattice work was demolished and this too added to the delay in bringing bodies out. Many of the brattices were constructed of brick and were supposed to be permanent, thought to be sufficiently strong to withstand any concussion that might arise from an explosion; but these went down and were but a mass of debris.” (FWV 12.7.07 pg. 1 – noon)
The rescue crew headed by Supt. Gaskill continue exploring beyond the shanty at the foot of #6. They find another body, one they assume must belong to the car coupler, Bill Sloane, based on its location. There’s just one little problem; unknown to everyone else, Bill Sloane is at home sick in bed. Fred Shaver will later tell L.M. Davis of the Fairmont West Virginian about the four men he recognized, including Bill, and all four names will be published as the first identified dead. (News)
Not far beyond here, the crew encounters more afterdamp and are forced to turn back until proper ventilation is restored to these areas. They do not take any of the discovered victims with them. (Inquiry)
Outside #8:
Someone coming across #8 trestle finds Joe Newton among the debris “more dead than alive”, gets him up, and rushes him over to the interurban car.
~12:30 pm
Outside #6:
Pat McDonald is found unconscious on the #6 trestle walkway covered with severe burns and lacerations all over his face and torso. The interurban car carrying Joe Newton is stopped just above #6. Pat McDonald is quickly placed aboard and the two are rushed to the Miner’s Hospital in Fairmont.
On the east side of Monongah:
#6 tipple foreman E.P. Knight finds a piece of the coupling pin that broke away from the train of cars and puts it in his pocket.
In Monongah:
“The first dispatches told of women who tore their hair, or clawed their nails into the flesh of their cheeks or threatened to throw their babies into the river. The wife of the Presbyterian minister told me that she saw these things. Such a woman had run back along the railroad tracks tearing at her face and hair. They quieted her. 3 sons, 3 brothers, and a husband—all were in the mines she said.” (Kellogg)
The Monongah Disaster 