Cave-In

Cave-In

Suzanne Marsh

“Are You There God? It’s me, God, your humble servant Frank. I sure could use a little help

Here God, a “bump” occurred this morning, explosions that rocked the entire coal mine.”

August 26, 1926

Jack Toliver strode into” first north” off the main tunnel; abruptly, there was an explosion that blew the large doors of the mainway and airway, a mile and a half away from where he stood. He was dazed from the explosion; his teammate Mac Donaldson had been right behind him.

“Mac, Mac, can you hear me? What happened?” Jack turned around, and there was Mac:

“We gotta get outta here, Jack NOW! This whole shaft is gonna give way any minute.”

They began to move cautiously, but when the second explosion caused timbers to loosen, they had to get out of the mainway or be killed by the rocks and debris. The two men could hear the frantic screams from the miners trapped below them. What could they do? How could they help? The best thing they decided was to get out and sound the alarm. Mrs. Ruth Calhoun was the first to report the blast; she noted flames and coal dust spewing from the mine. She evacuated her home, grabbed a blue sweater, she then ran toward the mine office:

“Harold, did you hear the explosions? Can I stay here? All the windows are broken out; there was a lot of damage. Harold Springer, manager of the Clymer Mine No.1, gazed at Ruth, dumbfounded. He could not grasp what she was saying between her hysterics and screams. Finally, she calmed down enough to explain that there had been two explosions; the were flames and fire shooting up into the air. He rushed outside and sounded the safety alarms. He knew there were fifty-seven men in the mine working; he wondered how many would make it out; he prayed it would be all of them, but statistically, he knew some of them would die.

Jack and Mac could see a shaft of light at the end of the tunnel; they made their way toward the light. The small shaft of light was a slight opening; Jack was the smaller of the two men; he went through the small opening first, and Mac followed. Once they were out of mine, they raced to get pickaxes. The alarms were sounding, sending for help to get the other miners out. Jack began to swing his pickaxe, praying silently. Rescue teams began to arrive, one of the first was Father Frank Toliver, Jack’s brother. Frank grabbed a shovel, as the brothers worked ceaselessly into the evening, hoping to find at least one man still alive: Frank Toliver Senior, their father.

Mac suddenly realized that Zane Marshall was not accounted for. Mac ran over to Jack:

“Zane is missing Jack. I thought he was right behind me when the bump began. We have

to find him, Jack. He is only seventeen, and he was working here to earn enough money to go

to college. He has a girlfriend he was seeing; her name is Elizabeth Rush. It will break

her heart to know that Zane did not make it out of the mine.”

Frank, the sweat pouring down his face:

“Let’s say a prayer that we find both Zane and our dad alive. I know the chances are negligible

we are all doing the best that we can. I understand there are miners from almost every

mine on their way here to help.” Mac glared at Frank for a moment:

“I am sorry, I thought your father made it out before the second explosion.” Frank and Jack nodded:

“You had no way of knowing, Mac, so don’t blame yourself.”

The brothers strode back toward the cave-in; the huge wooden door that was blown off was secure on the other side of the slide. Smoke filled the air as the men worked on. More miners and supervisors arrived in cars to aid in the search. Frank and Jack watched as they juryrigged a pulley and began to remove more of the rocks that had fallen on the entrance to the mine, making it more time-consuming to move, only to discover that the huge wooden door was directly on the other side of the rockfall.

Before they could even begin to rescue any survivors, they had to move all the rocks. Pickaxes flew up and down as the men moved the rocks as quickly as they could. Time was not on their side; cave-ins were difficult with gases and explosions, and the main worry was another explosion. Finally, one of the miners was able to wriggle through; he could hear cries for help. That was the first good sign there had been since one o’clock in the afternoon. Several of the miners pulled the man back through the small space; he was stuck on his back.

Jack Toliver was a smaller man; he volunteered to enter the space through the mine entrance. Frank was not enthusiastic but understood that Jack wanted to make the effort. Family always came first in the Toliver family. Jack was not sure exactly where his father had been working; gases were building up, so he had to be quick. He crawled on his belly down toward the first shaft. He could hear nothing, just silence. Jack already feared the worst; he wondered if Zane and his father might be in one of those rooms that might still have an air pocket. An air pocket would buy the rescuers the time they needed to get the men out. The odds were already stacked against the miners who were still precariously clinging to their lives.

Jack, as he moved toward the frantic yells, thought he heard Zane and his father; he continued to move toward the sounds. Jack heard the yells, and he frantically moved toward the entrance he had come in. He clambered out of the tunnel toward the stream of light; once he was out of the mine, he told Frank and Mac what he had heard:

“I don’t know how many men are on the other side of the pillar into that small room, but they are

alive.”

“Jack, where exactly are they located? Do you think they have enough air down there?”

“Frank, I don’t know, I hope so. No matter, we must get them out of there!” Jack was beginning to feel the panic he had been attempting to quell all day. Frank organized two search parties. One would go in with Jack, the other search party would go to the side where the cave-in began.

August 26th, 1926, only thirteen men survived of the fifty-seven who were working that day.