“Dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jone Quoting a Mine Manager
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 6, 1907
West Virginia – Another Mine Disaster at Thomas Mine
Yet another mine disaster in West Virginia occurred at the Thomas Mine near Elkins on February 4th. This follows on the deadly heels of two recent disasters in that state, one at the Lorentz Mine at Penco on January 26th, and the other at the Stuart Mine on January 29th. The combined death toll in the coal mines of West Virginia, during this 10-day period, is now over 100.
From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of February 4, 1907:
Elkins, W. Va, Feb. 4.-Twenty-five or thirty miners, the majority of them foreigners, are supposed to be dead in the mine explosion today at mine No. 25 of the Davis Coal and Coke company, at Thomas, near here.
It is not known how large the list of casualties may grow until further investigation as there is no way of determining how many men were in the mine at the time of the explosion. The explosion occurred before all the men had entered the mine. A number standing at the entrance to the shaft were hurled in every direction by the force of the explosion and seriously injured.
Five miners who were just entering the mine when the explosion occurred have been taken out so it is believed all the miners already in the mine have been killed.
From the Mount Carmel Daily News of February 5, 1907:
MANY MINERS KILLED
—–Third Disaster in West Virginia
Within Two Weeks.
—–
25 OR 30 MEN ARE DEAD
—–
Seven Bodies Recovered in Explosion
Near Elkins, and Deadly Gas Drives
Rescuers Away After One Dies
From Suffocation.
