Originally published in the BDHS newsletter, October 2010
by Frank Hammock
On Sunday, November 6th, 1910, the night shift Fire Boss, Jack Zan returned to the surface from within the depths of Black Diamond’s Lawson Mine at about 6 a.m. to post his report near the mouth of the slope. On this morning, he would only find gas at 38½ breast but said that all other areas were clear—including the 6th level south and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd levels as well.
He would later tell a jury that “…in his judgment it was absolutely safe.” 2, Note 1
Sec. 113. It shall be the duty of the fire boss to examine carefully not more than three (3) hours before a first shift enters the mine, every working place in his charge in which men have not been employed at the working face within ninety (90) minutes previous to the starting time of such shift all open places adjacent to live workings…. He shall see that the air current is traveling in the proper course…. The fire boss shall examine for all dangers in all portions of the mine under his charge….
Sec. 115. Each fire boss shall, immediately after making his inspection and before the employees are allowed to enter the mine, report on a bulletin board provided for that purpose at the entrance to the mine, a true record of such inspection, designating each place where gas is found, also that all other places are clear…. 3
No one questioned the Fire Boss nor gave any indication that his assessment of the conditions within the mine’s workings were anything less than safe. They trusted him. They had to. He followed the law to the letter because it was a matter of safety. People’s lives were at stake, not to mention the operation of the mine.
For the men, it was the start, or the end, of a routine weekend shift—nothing more. Time for some to hit their beds and rest, while others took over where the previous shift left off. Back in town, the light of a new day was dawning and the regular shift working crews of some 200 miners and support staff lay nestled in their beds until Monday morning when the full work shifts would begin again as they did at the start of each and every week since the Lawson Mine opened in 1895. Those offgoing might attend church services, have a drink at the saloon, or go to a social event with their families. For those oncoming, their families may be attending church or other social event without them. Sundays were meant for social get-togethers. It was a day of rest from an otherwise busy work week. Today was no different than any other Sunday.
But, on this cold day, the morning shift began their descent down the main slope in the man-car at about 6:30 a.m. They consisted mainly of a skeleton maintenance crew of ten or eleven men sent in to shore up support timber, check ventilation and air shafts, remove outstanding water, and clean the tracks from debris; thus completing work that the regular shifts were not able to do during the week. At the same time, the five men ending their night shift on the sixth level some 2,200 feet beneath the surface, waited patiently for the descending car to reach them. They chatted briefly amongst themselves in their native language, with weary anticipation of their restful bliss that awaited them in the blossoming daylight of civilization far overhead.
Both shifts comprised of Timber Packers, Track Cleaners, a Timberman, a Timberman Helper, a Fire Boss, and a Boilerman.
Smiles for Living…
They were also Italian, Polish, Austrian, Belgian, and Finnish. About half of the men had families in the local area or back in the old country (of their origin) and the other half were single. The wage that most of them earned in that era was recorded to be about $3.15 per day, while one, the Timberman, earned $3.80 per day. It was not recorded what the Fire Boss earned but his wage was upwards of $3.50 or more per day as well.
At approximately 6:40 a.m., everything changed.
The initial explosion was so powerful that it could be heard, even felt, for miles, and even before all of the debris had settled from the blast, every person in the town of Black Diamond had arrived at or near the mine’s entrance to validate what they knew must already be true. Every man, woman, and child who lives within or nearby a coal mining community carries within their mind the unthinkable possibility that a loved one may one day never return home. It is as if the earth would have to claim something every once in a while in exchange for goods taken. There, in the semi-moistened depths of perpetual darkness and motion, life has meaning but it lies hidden within the dormant confines of fear whose chaotic nature is held silently in check by packed earth and rock, timber, dampness, obscurity, policy, procedure, and personal experience. Then, one day, without warning, the great sadness arrives whereby fear has its day to escape and be expressed in whatever capacity it wills. Some flee its humbling power, while others do not. Yet everyone must live with its presence like an evil that lurks just beyond the doors of a church.
…Tears for the Dead
The Timberman was not supposed to be working on that day in November, according to one account from a living relative. “My grandfather was not to have been working on that particular Sunday (November 6th) but he did work because a friend of his had asked him to replace him,” writes Catherine Persyn, about her grandfather Julius, in a recent e-mail received by JoAnne Matsumura, Archivist of the Black Diamond Historical Society (BDHS).
Three men of the oncoming day shift were not able to crowd themselves into the man-car and descend to start their work, so they waited topside until the next descent that would follow a few minutes later. One man stood in the hoisting shed near the opening to the main slope and when the explosion occurred, he had been thrown to the floor and sustained lacerations about his head and face. The other two were nearby but were not within the vicinity of the blast that poured forth through the mine opening and into the sky beyond. One newspaper account tells of another man who laid in a town hospital with one side of his face completely unrecognizable from coal dust that was literally blasted into his skin. 1
Outside the mine entrance, local women and children gave comfort to one another in groups that huddled together. Sobbing could be heard in sporadic gasps as they awaited the news—any news—that their loved one was safe. Even the emergence of a body would put closure to the incident, however dreadful such closure could be. Frightened children were taken in by friends and relatives in an effort to protect them from the emotional trauma. Strangers even offered comfort where and when it was needed. Thus, a town had come together in great adoration and support in an effort to ease the burden of tragedy and pain as one collective and empathic experience. Friendships ran deep within a group such as a mining community because of nationality, shared lifestyle, and the dangers involved.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (NAB, John 15:13) On this particular day, it was certainly not by choice. Did it still count in the grand scheme of judgment? Was it mere fate?
How much tolerance existed within such a community during such grief-stricken events while rescue efforts continued and those of the living fought desperately to deal with their own sanctuary of sorrow? A visiting reporter from an area newspaper was at the home of a local woman whose husband was still buried beneath the rubble. After asking for a picture of him to print, he discovered her tolerance when she responded.
“No, no, no!” she screamed, snatching up the cheap cabinet card of a family group, obviously ill at ease before the country photographer’s camera. “No, no,” she croned in broken English, as she pressed photograph and living child to her breast and resumed her monotonous pacing back and forth in the little room. 4
Here is another account of a local woman’s grieving intolerance. Her husband was also buried somewhere within the labyrinth of hell.
In a one-story house a short distance off the main street of the town, Mrs. Fred Setti, a woman still in her twenties, paces the floor, clasping her few-months-old son to her breast, snarling with almost animal ferocity at the kindhearted neighbors who offer to relieve her of her burden. 1
Down at the saloon, the mood was somber and everyone drank to numb the pain that hung in the air like a morning fog. Old men stood at the stove and told stories of close calls from their own past experiences while an occasional new arrival off the street and down from Lawson Hill would tell his own version of what he saw or heard, or even nearly became, and thus would earn a small amount of dignity and standing in this subdued patronage. Yet, even within the smokefilled atmosphere, curiosity sat in anticipation like an expectant father awaiting the arrival of his newborn. Some had to know.
“What’s the latest from Lawson?” asks the bartender as he proffers a drink on the house. 4
Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the mine—
One woman, an anxious wife who has followed her man to the workings, turns silently away into the night, wiping away a tear with the corner of her plaid shawl twined about her head. “Good night, Jen. Go home and sleep,” the man calls awkwardly. She vanishes in silence. 5
One woman, wife of one of those who was about to risk his life on the faint chance of saving another, stood with tears in her eyes aiding her husband prepare for his work, as with trembling fingers she trimmed his safety lamp and watched him depart. In the presence of his fellow workers there was no sentimental farewell. Turning away she curtly bade him good night and told him she would go home and await his return. 5
Both the husbands of these women would quickly join the rescue efforts that continued on throughout the night in the hope of finding the men who had met some undetermined fate beneath them.
Who were the men involved in that accident on that fate-filled morning almost one hundred years ago?
The following are the names of the men as they appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on November 7th, 1910 5, while rescue efforts were yet underway:
The Probable Dead
Bael, Oscar (widow and one child)
Bael, Ceazar; single
Beagi, C. (widow in Italy)
Capiatti, Julius (widow in Italy)
Fanstiria, Maetili (widow and three children)
Fontana, Albert; single
Gardina, Frank; single
Gardini, Isadore; single
Gregory, Domini; single
Kumenberg, Joseph; single
London, Dave; single
Mars, Cyril; single
Puyson, Julius (widow and one child)
Setti, Fred (widow and one child)
Vergan, Franz; single
The following table was printed in the State Inspector of Coal Mines report showing additional data about each person as well as one additional name:
List of Men Killed in Lawson Mine Disaster November 6, 1910
Name | Occupation | Age | Nation | M | W | O | Family at – | Body re’cd |
Julius Persyn | Timberman | 30 | Belgian | Yes | 1 | 1 | Lawson | No |
Fred Setti | ” Helper | 29 | Italian | Yes | 1 | 1 | BD | No |
Cezar Bael | Track cleaner | — | Belgian | Yes | 1 | 1 | Lawson | No |
Joe Kronenberg | Timber Pk’r | 30 | Polish | Yes | 1 | 1 | Old country | Yes |
Maetili Fanstina | Timber Pk’r | 33 | Italian | Yes | 1 | 3 | BD | Yes |
C. Biagi | Timber Pk’r | 28 | Italian | Yes | 1 | Old country | Yes | |
Julius Cappiati | Timber Pk’r | 30 | Italian | Yes | 1 | Old country | Yes | |
Frank Gardini | Timber Pk’r | 24 | Italian | No | Yes | |||
Isadore Gardini | Timber Pk’r | 22 | Italian | No | Yes | |||
Dom. Gregois | Timber Pk’r | 24 | Italian | No | Yes | |||
Albert Fontana | Timber Pk’r | 25 | Italian | No | Yes | |||
Frank Vergan | Timber Pk’r | 23 | Italian | No | Yes | |||
Mat Galope | Timber Pk’r | 19 | Austrian | No | Yes | |||
Dave Lunden | Fire boss | 34 | Finn | No | Yes | |||
Oscar Bael | Track cleaner | — | Belgian | No | No | |||
Girili Maes | Boiler man | 33 | Belgian | No | No |
The Injured
Kruntz, Louis
Marino, Louis
Martina, Arvila
Recapitulation – Sixteen men killed: eleven bodies recovered; five bodies still in mine. Seven married men; four widows and six children at Black Diamond and Lawson; three widows and at least one child supposed to be in their native country. Italians 9, Belgians 4, Finn 1, Pole 1, Austrian 1. Adults 13; minor 1; unknown 2. 2
Of those who perished, the off-going night shift consisted of: 5
- Julius Persyn, Fred Setti, Oscar Bael, Ceazar Bael, and Cyril Mars
Of those who perished, the on-coming day shift consisted of: 5
- Frank Gardini, Isadore Gardini, Joe Kumenberg, Dave London, C. Biagi, Mactili Franstina, Domini Gregory, Albert Fontana, Frank Vergan, and Julius Cappiati.
Various documents and newspaper accounts gave different spellings of the men who were involved in the tragic explosion. The spelling differences were probably due to the phonetic accountability of the men and their names often only heard spoken within an accent or in their native language, without any written records available to go by for accuracy. Some noteworthy variations were as follows:
Julius Puyson – a.k.a. Julius Persyn
Oscar Bael – a.k.a. Oscar Baile
Ceasar Bael – a.k.a. Ceasar/Ceazar Baile
Civili Maes – a.k.a. Girili Maes/Cyril Mars
Frank Gardini – a.k.a. Ferdinando Godini
Isadore Gardini – a.k.a. Isadore/Isadora Godini
Joe Kumenberg – a.k.a. Joe Kronenberg
Maetili Fanstina – a.k.a. Mactili Fanstina, Martelli Faustina & Metelli Fonstina
Frank Vergan – a.k.a. Francesco Vergai, Frank Bergan & Frank Vergai
Dave Lunden – a.k.a. Davit Albein Lunden/London
Dominick Gregois – a.k.a. Dominick Gregorio & Domini Gregory
Mat Galope – a.k.a. Matt Golob
Julla Kapai – a.k.a. Julius Cappiati
Louis Kruntz – a.k.a. Louis Kranc
C. Biagi – a.k.a. Chesera Biaga
Little is known about each of the miners who lost their lives on that tragic day. Some information has been found, but details remain sketchy. For example, according to information obtained by JoAnne Matsumura, of the BDHS, family members for Matt Golob are buried at the Krain cemetery as found in Enumclaw Cemetery Index. They lived in Cumberland (Albin Golob & John & Mary Golob). Matt was living with Louis Golob in BD (Black Diamond). Matt Golob Jr. was the son of Matt Golob in Leadville, Colorado, as found on the 1900 Census. Matt may have come to Washington for a better job and he had relatives in the BD area to help him.
From a 65-page probate record obtained by JoAnne Matsumura (BDHS), filed January 14th, 1911, under the name of Davit Albein Lunden, shows that he was age 35, marital status – single, was a member of the United Finnish Brotherhood of the World and a resident of BD. His father, David Sylvester Lunden, lived in Lakalshdi, Grand Duchy of Finland, Empire of Russia, and his mother was deceased. He had one brother who was a seafaring man sailing from out of New York. David A. Lunden was a rich man for the 1910 time frame and his estate, nearly $6,000, was in the form of cash at four different banks with additional monies due from the UMWofA (United Mine Workers of America) accident insurance ($100.00), wages from the Pacific Coast Coal Co. of $122.70 and other smaller amounts from different sources. He left no Last Will and appeared to have no debts.
For the Gardini brothers (Frank and Isadore), their only living heir was their father, Eugenio Godini, age 65 (at the time) and mother Pierino Godini, also age 65, both living in Villa Sorano, Carrara, in northwestern Italy. By 1911, their estate was valued between $200.00 and $400.00.
According to information also obtained from JoAnne Matsumura, after the 1910 Lawson Mine disaster, many local children were admitted to the Washington (Seattle) Children’s Home in Seattle. This was a time of hardship for those who experienced this tragedy and such admittance was a sign of that hardship. Children were often admitted either under permanent conditions because of the loss of a family member whereby no other living relatives remained in the area, or perhaps due to a temporary condition while the family came to terms with the loss, both emotionally and financially.
On November 14th, just eight days after the explosion, a funeral procession slowly paraded north on Railroad Avenue, then down the hill and into Morganville where the cemetery lay in quiet slumber, perpetually gathering its faithful brood by default. An article from the Seattle Star described it this way:
Nearly all of BD and the surrounding territory turned out to pay tribute to the memory of eight of the miners killed in the recent explosion in the Lawson coal mine. Fully 1,500 persons participated in the funeral ceremonies. The last rites were conducted in the Catholic Church. The only hearse in BD was brought into service, Miners acted as pallbearers, carrying coffins to the cemetery, three-quarters of a mile distant. The procession of sympathizers extended almost the entire distance from the church to the cemetery. The funeral was held under the auspices of the Miners’ union. All eight of the bodies were buried in one large grave. The bodies were identified as Isadore Gardini, 21; Ferdinand Gardini, 23; Martelli Faustina, 26; Joe Fronenberg, 28; Chesera Biaga, 35; Julla Kapai, 41; Frank Vergain, 22 and Albert Fontana, 23. 6
In the end, these men and families will be forever remembered in history, despite the unforeseen tragedy that came upon them on that fateful day, for their contribution to Black Diamond and the community we live and work in today. With honor and respect, we humbly thank them in meek resignation for their untimely sacrifice.
A note to our readers—while every effort was made to obtain as much information as possible about the miners and their families and lives, we regret to say that what information we could obtain was quite small since records of that time were not as well kept as they are today. We apologize for any misspellings and misinformation and would sincerely welcome any details that you, our faithful readers, may have so that subsequent addendums to this article can be printed to help maintain a standard level of accuracy that we have always strived to keep in the interest of history and for future generations.
References:
- 1910, Nov. 8, title of article – Smiles For Living: Tears For the Dead, Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper; Seattle, WA.
- State of Washington, Report of the State Inspector of Coal Mines, for the Biennial Period Ending December 31, 1910 [includes 1909], Pgs. 75-78, D.C. Botting, Inspector.
- Coal Mining Laws of Washington (as amended 1919, 1927, 1939 and 1943), Department of Labor and Industries; Pgs 48 & 49; State Printing Plant, Olympia, WA. (1943)
- 1910, Nov. 8, article – Five May Live in Dark Depths of Lawson Mine, Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, Seattle, WA.
- 1910, Nov. 7, article – Black Diamond Mine Disaster Seals Up Fifteen Men In Tomb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, Seattle, WA.
- 1910, Nov. 14, article – Bury 8 In One Grave, Seattle Star, Seattle, WA
Other Sources:
- Personal contact with descendants
- Probate records
- Census Records
- Grave markers
- Lawson mine map
- Cemetery indexes
Notes:
- A “breast” was an area in the workings within the mine that exceeded 12 feet in width and was used for access to steeper dipping seams of active coal between the various levels. It was a common term, similar to a “room” for the lower dip angles, in the room and pillar system of mining.
For more about the 1910 Lawson Mine explosion:
- Diamond Junction: Where yesterday meets today: Lawson Mine, by Ken Jensen, BDHS newsletter, October 2010
- Pictures of the past: Entombed, but not forgotten, Julius Persyn, 1879-1910, by JoAnne Matsumura, BDHS newsletter, October 2010
- Going home: Louise Fabre Jouila Persyn Bailleul, by JoAnne Matsumura, Black Diamond Bulletin, Summer 2013
- Lawson Mine disaster (November 6, 1910): Official investigative reports, HistoryLink.org
Do you have copies of my five pictures of this explosion? My great grandfather Atti Paananen was a sub timberer that Sunday. His wife Edla did not wake him’.. Have family picture of family boarding house where many single Finn men ate their meals. My mother made 14 pies each day. My father and mother were the first married couple into Morganville. Your fine article has brought back memories and tales my Mother Olga told me. I will be 83 in march. Had plan to meet with Ken Jenson and pass on all my memorabilia
including a 1910 calendar plate. Please call at 972 254 5073 if interest.
LikeLike
[…] Smiles for Living: Tears for the Dead Correspondence Between J.C. Ford and H.W. Cannon, November 1903 […]
LikeLike
[…] Novel advertising scheme used for Diamond Briquets Smiles for living: Tears for the dead […]
LikeLike
[…] Smiles for living: Tears for the dead, by Frank Hammock, BDHS newsletter, October 2010 […]
LikeLike