"SHINBRIER" ALMOST HEAVEN by "dizzy" harris. 

  • "SHINBRIER" ALMOST HEAVEN by "dizzy" harris
  • NISWANDER FAMILY OF SHINBRIER
  • SHINBRIER PAGE TWO
  • SHINBRIER PAGE THREE
  • COOPERS
  • MILL CREEK COAL & COKE COMPANY STORES & TIPPLES
  • MILL CREEK C&C TUG COMMUNITY
  • HARRIS FAMILY OBITS
  • BLUESTONE WEST VIRGINIA
  • McDOWELL & MERCER COUNTIES COAL DISASTERS
  • COAL & RAIL
  • POCAHONTAS PAGE ONE
  • POCAHONTAS PAGE TWO
  • BOISSEVAIN
  • MAYBEURY
  • COALDALE
  • SOME FAVORITE PHOTOS
  • BOISSEVAIN MINERS MEMORIAL

BOISSEVAIN

BOISSEVAIN, VA COAL DISASTER FEB. 27, 1932

FATALITIES LIST
BY
ROBERT CRABTREE

If he is not a cousin of mine he certainly is a special person and a friend. Robert resides in California now but carries a wealth of Tazewell County, Virginia memories and information in his bright mind. Memories and information he is always happy to share.

THANK YOU BOB
YOU ARE SPECIAL

THOSE WHO PERISHED

WHITE MINERS

Sid Thomas
Warren Harless
Clayton Hodge
J. L. PHIPPS
Dave Wire
Walker Thomas
Robert Hardy
Orbie Hardy
O. R. Jones
L. O. Brown
Mason Shupe
Burton Brooks
Tom Yates
Charles Yates
Garnet McCormick
James Hardy
John Heck
Sam Abrams
C. R. Brown
Sam White
Claude Baldwin
Garnet "Mike" Shupe
Mont Miller
John Baker
Homer Baldwin

BLACK MINERS

Dallas Fitzgerald
Edd Pegram
Sam Robinson
Lewis Moten
Lee Baker
Will Johnson
William Saunders
Ben Saunders
Edd Saunders
Brady Adams
W. S. White
Howard Petty

MEXICAN MINER

Victor Auguieleo

Robert's parents lived three houses from the company store which was just across the creek from the BOISSEVAIN MINE TIPPLE. His mother was emotional when speaking of this disaster until her death.

FROM THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE

BLAST TRAPS 38 MINERS; HOPE FOR LIVES FADES AS GAS HAMPERS RESCUERS.
BOISSEVAIN OPERATION OF POCAHONTAS FUEL COMPANY SCENE OF EARLY MORNING EXPLOSION.
NEARLY SCORE OF WORKERS ESCAPE FROM COAL SHAFT.
ATTEMPT TO REACH EMTOMBED MEN FROM ANOTHER OPENING FAILS.

Pocahontas, Va., Feb. 27. -- (AP) -- Hope for the lives of 38 miners missing in the Boissevain mine of the Pocahontas Fuel company, virtually was abandoned by rescue workers tonight.
The miners were trapped by an explosion shortly before they were to have concluded work on the night shift.
Rescue crews battled in vain throughout the day to reach the men but were forced back continuously by gas that filled the workings.
THOMAS STOCKDALE of Bramwell, a West Virginia mine inspector, who headed the first rescue crews to go into the mine, said it was improbable that any of the men would be found alive.
Fifty rescue workers plunged into the task of erecting brattices to drive the poisoned air out of the mine and permit them to reach the basin main section two miles from the mine mouth, where the entombed men were working. STOCKDALE, W. D. PRENTISS, of War, another West Virginia mine inspector, and A. G. LUCAS, of Norton, a Virginia mine inspector, headed for the rescue workers.
Families At Mine Mouth.
Meanwhile crowds, composed principally of families of the missing men, milled about the main entrance where rescue headquarters were established. One woman. MRS. TOM BROOKS, whose husband died a year ago, and whose son BURTON, 21, is among the missing men, pleaded with rescue workers for assurances that her boy was safe.
One effort to reach the men from the West Virginia side at Jenkinjones, failed. Rescue workers endeavored to penetrate to the explosion sector through a water drain but were forced back after pushing their way to within about 600 feet of the basin main section.
Two Negro miners who escaped from the section where their 38 fellow miners were entombed told tonight of their "luck."
They were HENRY WATKINS and EDWARD KIRTLY, both of Bluefield, Va., who worked together in a mine room. Smoke billowed into their working place, they said, and WATKINS collapsed.
His companion picked him up and started from the mine, wondering meanwhile where the smoke came from. As they neared the mine surface, KIRTLY said a "jar" caused him to stagger under his burden. He went out of the mine and turned his companion over to physicians. The "jar" he believed, was the explosion that entombed the other miners.
10 To 15 Escape Injury.
The source of the smoke that caused WATKINS to collapse, KIRTLY was unable to explain, but he believed it came from the Jenkinjones side of the large mine which has entries both in Virginia and West Virginia.
An undetermined number of other miners, estimated by company officials to be between 10 and 15, were to other sections of the mine at the time of the blast and escaped injury.
The cause of the explosion was undetermined. Company officials said the mine was non-gaseous and expressed a belief that it might have been caused by the accidental igniting of a quantity of blasting powder.
One rescue worker was overcome when he endeavored to reach the missing men. He was LEWIS MONETAGILONE, chief inspector fot the Pocahontas Fuel company. Brought from the mine he recovered quickly in the fresh air.
A pulmotor crew from the Bluefield fire department was sent to the mine and stood ready to administer first aid to rescue workers or to missing miners if they are found alive.
The mine, a drift operation with its entrance high up on a hillside, is one of the largest of several mines operated by the Pocahontas Fuel company. Opperating only on half time it has employed 400 men on the day shift and 50 at night.
Charleston Gazette West Virginia 1932-02-28
------------------------------------------------------------
20 BODIES ARE DISCOVERED IN VIRGINIA MINE.
SEVEN VICTIMS BROUGHT TO SURFACE OF WORKINGS WHERE 18 ARE STILL MISSING.
BITTER COLD DRIVES FAMILIES FROM SHAFT.
31 WIDOWS AND CHILDREN WAIT SILENTLY TO IDENTIFY RELATIVES.
Pocahontas, Va., Feb. 28. -- (AP) -- Twenty bodies of men who died yesterday when the Boissevain coal mine was shattered by an explosion were found tonight and rescue workers girded themselves for an all-night search for 18 men still missing.
Seven burned and mutilated bodies were brought to the surface and 13 more rested at the foot of the shaft until undertakers above could make way for them. Six of those brought up were identified.
Early in the night searchers were hopeful that all 38 bodies would be found by midnight but as they crawled through the catacombed basin main section two miles from the entrance their task became more difficult and it was expected that the last body would not be found before tomorrow.
The six bodies identified were those of BURTON BROOKS, CHARLES YATES, J. L. PHIPPS, CLAYTON HODGE, SAM WHITE and ED SAUNDERS, Negro. PHIPPS was the father of 10 children.
The bitter cold of the night had driven most of the widows and children back to their homes by midnight. Since early yesterday when most of the night shift failed to come out of the mine, they had stood before the roped-off entrance, for the most part silent and patiently awaiting word from the blast area, two long miles underground. The 31 widows of the blast and their children waited just as quietly in their homes, knowing the only word now would be the identification of the bodies of husbands and fathers.
The rescue crews worked in relays of 50 or more, coming out when rest became necessary. Although air conditions had improved considerably, the men still were hampered by piles of slate and splintered timbers that blocked the way into many of the working rooms and entries.
The mine departments of Virginia and West Virginia and men from the United States bureau of mines worked shoulder to shoulder in the wrecked mine, directing the crews in their work.
Coroner GEORGE W. GILFRAPLE started to hold an inquest as soon as the first bodies reached the surface but there will be no verdict for some time. The mine, which is operated by the Pocahontas Fuel company, was non-gaseous and officials still discussed the posibility that a powder explosion killed the men.
There were about 50 men of the night shift on duty when the blast occurred. About a dozen escaped. Records of the company showed that of the 38 men missing, all but seven were married.
The first two bodies were found beside a mine car and it was believed the men were car greasers. They were reached after the rescue crews, commanded by A. G. LUCAS, Virginia mine inspector, had spent hours erecting brattice after brattice to drive out the poisen-laden air. As the air behind one brattice cleared, the men advanced a few feet, erected another, waited until the air cleared and then repeated. When they had penetrated through the main entry their work increased, for the large basin area was catacombed with entiries and work rooms.
The crews were forced out of the mine once by the gas and when the struggle was resumed, they were further handicapped by freat heaps of jagged slate and shattered mine timbers which jutted across passages.
Part of the men engaged in combing the shattered mine were inspectors ordered there by ROBERT M LAMBIE, chief of the department. LAMBIE said a Charleston, W. Va., that "we do not recognize state lines when things like this occur." The United States bureau of mines rescue car at Norton also was at the scene.
Efforts were made to penetrate to the basin main section through a water drain from Jenkin Jones, on the West Virginia side of the mine, but it failed.
A crowd stook stoically behind the roped-off mine entrance awaiting definite word of those entombed below. It was a crowd composed of the families and friends of the stricken men. Curiosity seekers got no further than this town, where 30 West Virginia and Virginia State troopers turned them back by the hundreds. All cars were stopped and a valid reason was necessary if any were permitted to go toward the mine.
An improvised morgue was ready near the top of the shaft and 15 embalmers were there to prepare bodies for burial. Several doctors also were on hand to treat any found alive and to aid the rescue workers.
Among those who escaped were two negroes, HENRY WATKINS and EDWARD KIRTLY, both of Bluefield, Va. WATKINS collapsed when smoke billowed into the room where they were working and he was carried out by KIRTLY. The latter said that as they neared the mine surface he heard a "jar" which he believed was the explosion that entombed the others. WATKINS was placed in the care of physicians.

AWAITING THE INEVITIBLE

 

NEWSREEL & PHOTOS

View actual newsreel footage and still photos taken of the crowds and rescuers at the scene of the explosion.. Thanks to Donna M. Yates Dant for forwarding this site to this Boissevain page. Donna's grandfather, Charles Yates, perished in this tragedy. Click on link below.
  • Newsreel and still photos of the 1932 Boissevain Disaster

BOISSEVAIN MINING PHOTOS

  • Boissevain - Pocahontas Fuel Company
  • Boissevain Coal Tipple
  • Boissevain Commissary

  • Boissevain Miners 1933
  • Boissevain Tipple 1908
  • Crowd Gathers at Scene of Boissevain Disaster

 



 

 

POEM DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF BOISSEVAIN DISASTER VICTIMS

AUTHOR - UNIDENTIFIED WIDOW OF VICTIM

On Saturday morning, ten minutes till four
Boissevain mine began to roar
Thirty-eight men were instantly killed
While hard at work they thought was fair
But such a death was hard to bear

By break of day, thirty-one widows were at the rope
Hoping to see their husbands come up the slope
Which they failed to see

They cried and hollered and fainted there
To think life's hopes had expired
More than a hundred little children were crying
and hollering, " DADDY DEAR "
But daddy was dead; his life was gone
And the little children left to cry and mourn
Rescue parties worked day and night
To bring these bodies to the light

People came from far and near
To see the sight of dreadful fear
The sympathy shown for this little town
Were standing here on the ground

May GOD bless these living souls
Comfort them with thy care
That they may meet their loved ones over there

Rescue crews were summoned from all around
But all the hopes that could be had
All were dead that were under ground

Now all the hopes were circled round
Can I identify my husband when he is found
But badly burnt they scarcely identified all the dead

In loving remembrance of our dear husband and father who left us on February 27th, 1932
Answering to the call above
Oh, the world is cold and lonely here without his care and love
The way he went, we can't forget

He left in the mourn before the break of day
Not a light could be seen by them
But the MASTER's hand did guide the way

Although you could not speak to us or say goodbye
We knew your thoughts were with us when you were called to die

What would I give to clasp his hand
His face to see
To hear his voice and see his smile
Which means so much to me

Our life is lonely, our home is sad
Our hearts are filled with pain
We feel that we can never know
The happy days in life again

Surrounded by friends, I am lonesome
In the midst of joy I am blue
With a smile on my face, I have a heart ache
Longing dear husband for you

" ENOUGH SAID "

Thank you, ROBERT CRABTREE, for forwarding this poem to me. And my apologies to the unidentified WIDOW if my construction is not exactly as original.....I did my best.

DIZZY HARRIS

 

 

 

 

BIBLE CLASS - BOISSEVAIN VA

EASTER 1932

 

 

 

 

  
ALL ROWS ARE LEFT TO RIGHT


1st. Row

Victor Smith
Clayton Collins
Edd Lucas
Henry Viers
Charlie Thompson
Mack Huffman
Clarence Whitehead, Sr.
Jim Way
Wiley Belcher
Ross Angelo
Charles Smith
Ernest Murray
Payton Moser
Koonie Swecoff, Sr.
 
2nd. Row

William Baker
Walter Sayers
Hut Atwell
Fes Groseclose
Mr. Wainwright
Otis Smith
Tom Ruble, Sr.
Mr. Mitchell
Edd Houstin
Norman Hughes
Sam Blankenship
Pat Shanahan
Troy Ball
 
3rd. Row

Rev. Gilmer
Dave Shupe
Claude Groseclose
Sam Poseno
Millard Tabor (Mine Superintendent)
Mr. Saunders (Store Manager)
Jim Davidson
Edd Collins
Mr. Odom
Oliver Barbour
Floyd Barbour
Clyde Davidson
Walt Johnson
Joe Tabor
 
4th. Row

Buddy Woods
Louie Wine
Harry Akers (Assistant Store Manager)
Bentley Arrington
Johnnie Groseclose
Mr. Carl McConnley
Huge Love (Postmaster)
Charlie Caudill
Cleve Marshall
Royal Collins
Pete Ward
Tom Webb
Joe Willard
Bill Odom
Bob Sisk
 
5th. Row

Roby Phillips
Clayton Thompson
Haller Groseclose
Jim Wyrick
Ernest Goodman
Frank Evans
Henry Morris
Mr. Baily
C. K. Fraley
???????
Bill Belcher

PHOTO AND INFO COURTESY EVE WELCH ~ A FORMER BOISSEVAIN RESIDENT NOW RESIDING IN NORTH CAROLINA

 

 

 

 

PHOTO IS BOISSEVAIN, VA SCHOOL. NO NAMES OR DATE. PICTURE IS IN VERY POOR CONDITION AND CANNOT BE IMPROVED BEYOND THIS. IF YOU HAVE A GOOD COPY OF THIS PHOTO, AND/OR INFORMATION, WE WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOU SHARING IT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~~~ BOISSEVAIN PHOTOS ~~~

PROVIDED BY JIM MATHENA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOISSEVAIN COMPANY STORE 

 

 

 

 

 

BOISSEVAIN MINE EXPLOSION 1932 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PEOPLE GATHER AT SCENE OF 1932 DISASTER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 WOODEN BOXES FOR THE VICTIMS

 

 

 

 

 BOISSEVAIN MINERS 1933

 

 

 

 

 

 BOISSEVAIN TIPPLE AND AREA

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOISSEVAIN COMMISSARY 1931

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Lee “Bobby” Crabtree

BIRTH 25 Jul 1932
Boissevain, Tazewell County, Virginia, USA
DEATH 19 Jun 2011 (aged 78)
Rancho Cordova, Sacramento County, California, USA
BURIAL
Cripple Creek, Wythe County, Virginia, USA
Robert died in his home at age 78. Preceded in death by his wife, Pearl F. Crabtree, originally of Wytheville, VA.; survived by daughter Donna Reynolds and 3 grandchildren. He served in the U.S. Navy & Air Force, during the Vietnam War. He had been a professional photographer & electrician, avid carpenter, gardner & story teller.
Memorial service: Rancho Cordova Moose Lodge, July 30, 2011, 1:00 p.m.








 DizzyHarris1@yahoo.com

E. L. Harris

1305 Dodge Drive NW

Warren, OH 44485

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