■———
"staEl-ISHED SEPTEMBER 19, 1878.
Coal Glen Mine
Gives Up Dead
fifty- three Bodies Taken From 111-Starred j
Chatham County Mine—Last One Rescued
Saturday Afternoon After Four Days
0 f Nerve-Wracking Toil.
--QIC SERVICES 1
GIVEN by miners
_
•state and Nstion Rush-,
• -y y ec3 to -Scene —San-1
Lcgloit Auxil-j
■ ? d Cross and Other j
Croaipt Vt'lth Aid in
1 P/V-. / !
jV,\ trEill. Ua.-i- •>
Nation o 2 Hundreds 1
_
n mine gave up its fifty
- e tiirelay evening. V. a
. the mine to such an j
L y;j lvscurers we.lo 1
j cea-e the search, but
,t fifty-three was the I
. 11 taken.
. ..wing is a list of -the vie-j
White.
Anderson, F. S. Anderson, 1
kutin, D. J. Wilson, C. V.
Joe Hudson, Claude Wood,
er, *J. E. Laubscher, A. L.
A. L. Holland, Sam Napier,
es, J: B. Curd, C. B. Da
vy. E. Bylerly, Hollis Richard-
Imuben Chambliss, Thomas Cot
on, H. C. Hall, Dan Hudson, W. E.
Dillingham, W. D. Dillingham, H W.
Sullivan, N. E. Johnson, C. L. Wood,
Lee Buchanan.
Colored.
Will Irick, Arthur Poe, Jas. Wright,
T. D. Wright, James Williams, John
Burgess, John f w, Charles Wat*
son, David Bc._ June Cotton, Jini
Spruill, John Alston, Henry Alston, |
Lige Hill, Russell Wright, Wesley
K. Harward, Robert Williams, Albert
Holly, T. N. Wright, Wade Wilson,
Lee Hodges, Will Moore, Wilson
Chesney, Manly Lambert, Isaac
Kayes, Jim Nabors.
Four days of incesant and nerve
racking toil on the part of the heroic
rescuers came to an end Saturday
night, when, despite the rising wa
ters, every nook and corner of the :
mine had been explored and the last
body of the 53 victims of the death- I
■ealing blasts of Wednesday’s disas- J
ter had been brought to the surface. !
From the erstwhile peaceful and J
I -PPy little mining community near
score bruised, broken and !
bod bodies of formerly contented j
Industrious men have been rushed i
0 morgue, and to burial far and j
' >rth and south, east and west, j
ns bore the dead and the heart
• loved ones. Five found their |
I mg place in the little Farjn
h yard, while here and
lower Chatham, family
grounds show new-made
and ( , homes are sad
: Hardly yet has the pub
; by the bulk of the tragedy,
‘ to concentrate- its interest
-thy upon the individual
:i sorrows, but to many a
parents, wives, and chil
oers and sisters—the great
; centered in the sudden
■ of just the one life, or,
cases, os with the Hudsons,
several of the family.
A Halcyon Scene,
m v\ ednesday morning and as- ,
U'Ual precautions fifty-three j
- meri with individual electric j
-aming upon their heads, had j
a-towed by the yawning black- j
* mine. Another day of hon- !
v>as un der way. Above ground
activities were in progress;
lL en tilating fan hummed
- assuring a constant supply of
. ie men below; the pow
kanolass gave its intermittent
T hauled out of the bow
: arth load after load of
nderground wea]tll) and gent
- 7 -ing empties gliding over the
san > • black maw; a
(1 a^ove the miners lay a
- field of cotton and here
and yonder were dotted the cottage j
homes with wives, mothers and sis- J
ters about their humdrum daily tasks, j
It was only another day, such as liun- j
dreds before when toilsome hours’
were followed by the evening meal,
rest, and recreation. The casual tour
-Ist would scarcely have dreamed, un
told, that hundreds of feet below Ins
very road three-score labored by
the light of flashing electric torches,
u was a kalycon scene, but one de
-1 stined to instant shift.
Death-Dealing Blasts.
Destiny had strtfek. With the roar
■of a nvicane rushed yellow fumes
A allowed by black smoke from the
Su y L . Nafer will be known just what
v.-a happening below, or how or why
1,12 fatal blast. But, above, it first
| flazed 1 and then galvanized into ac
tion the men who knew too well the
significance' of the blast,
i Young Howard Butler, the manag
er, kyt his head. His first thought
was : or the fan, which was discovered
humming its saving song and giving
hope of early riddance of fumes be
low. Eis mxt was for the help of the
experienced men in the Cumnock
mine. Then, accompanied by Joe Rich
; ardson, a machinist, lie plunged in
ito the shaft; Claude Macnerson,
j weighman, and K. R. Scott, lamp
man, followed. It was easy near the
blast he did not feel the fu.l force, he
and Richardson made their way pn
; hindered by any debris. The air was
heavy but not utterly oppressive.
Six Men Found.
At the entrance of the second cor
ridor to the right they found six men,
but dazed-and. bruised. These the two
intrepid explorers dragged into the
main shaft, where the air current was
more effective. One of the six men
was Richardson’s own brother. Turn
ing from the main shaft and still ex
amining the wiring and testing the
air, he searched through windings
I and turnings for more men, but found
none.
“By that time,” related Butler to re
j porters as he lay stretched out on a
sofa in his own home, bruised and
I with dust-clogged lungs, “Joe Rich
ardson had got away somewhere and
1 I couldn’t find him. I thought I had
better get back, to the top to get
work started to bring those six men
out.” But before he reached the main
I shaft, the second blast came. Os that
blast he did not feel the full ofrce, he
j says, and thinks it was quite distant
from him.
Having reached the. main shaft as- j
■ ter the second explosion he was mak- !
I ! ing his way upward when he heard
" J the third explosion behind him and
! flung himself fiat upon the ground.
“It sounded like a tornado,” was the
best description the young man could
> give.
Thus w r rote cne of his interviewers '
i for the Greensboro News:
“The rushing wind swept over his I
prostrate body, 'hurled it forward and .
up the shaft, tossed it around, batter- i
eel it and filled it wuth dirt and dust J
and sand and rock, ripped his cap
from his head,, his lamp from around
i the forehead, his very glases from his
: eyes, and left him almost uncon
scious.
Literally Crawled Friom Mine.
All this the listeners dragged from
Butler slowly and by piece-meal. He
wasn’t talking much about it unless
1 you questioned him closely. But some
how as you heard him talking you
saw him staggering ahead. On hands
and knees he crawled the remainder '
of the way to the mouth of the mine.
“The last 200 feet took me 45 min- j
utes,” somebody said, he mentioned,
almost casually. ‘I didn’t know how
long it was. I guess I didn’t know any
thing much but to keep on climbing.’
Somebody asked him how be felt ‘
He thought a moment. Then he, said:
“Did you ever drve into the water and
hit flat on your belly ? WMI/ tha£s
PITTSBORO, N. C., CHATHAM COUNTY, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1925.
DEATH OF MR. MADDOfc
lterns of News From Mon J|e
That Will Interest Recort£
Readers.
p
K*
Moncure, June I.—Miss r
Womble and Mr. Ralph Crutchi 1
motored to Raleigh Monday.
Mrs. J. E.. Cathell has returned fib
1 Fredericksburg, Va., where she
tended the commencement
of the college from which her daug(U
ter, Miss Virginia, graduated.
! Mr. Evan Ray has gone to Peak,
S. C., where he has obtained a posi
tion with Phoenix Utility Co.
Mr. and Mrs. D. R .Perkins are with
us in Moncure again. We are glad
to have them. They are boarding with
j Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Wicker. Messrs
jW. A. Moneyhan and Bruce Spivey
; are also at Mr. Wicker’s.
| Miss Amey Womble, daughter of
; Mrs. S. W. Womble, who graduated
at Davenport College, returned heme
last week. She was valedictiorian of
her class.
1 Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Davis and
daughter, Mary Louise, of Raleigh,
N. C., spent Sunday with Mrs. S. V.
Holt.
Mr. and Mrs. Russell Evington, of
Smithfleld, also Mr.a nd Mrs. Lee
(Continued on page four.)
j / " “ '
I Thomas Montreviiic Aland
Passed Away On Tuesday
i .
i the way 1 feel all over.’ But when a
. 1 physician came in, the youngster turn
. ed his head and said cheerfully :
enough, “Hello, Boc, I’m getting along j
. all right.”
. i That interview was given Wednes
, day afternoon. Afterward young But- :
. ler was threatened with pneumonia
! and was taken to a Sanford hospital.
. | He is back home now and practical
ly recovered from his harsh experi
», 7
.: once.
, The News Spreads.
, The news of the disaster was her
alded far and near. Sheriff G. W.
. Blair hastened to the scene, swore in
j twenty or more special deputies, and
j has remained in complete control of
. | the situation, experiencing little, or no
i difficulty in maintaining the very
[ best order and keeping the area about
i the slrcft clear of the thronging
. crowds.
{ The news was flashed to the Gov
ernor, who dispatched Gen. Van Metts
to the scene and stood in readinesij
„' to call out roops if there should bag
. 1 occasion for it. 1
Fort Bragg was alert. Gen Bow-J
ley himself w r as absent in the extreme
eastern part of the state, but the rr*yfl
jor next in command, hastened ffira
ambulance corps, two lorries of siw
i diers, stretchers and other parapher
nalia.
| Washington heard and acted. A
supply car with experienced men and
material from West Virginia arriv
|ed 24 hours after the explosion. A
similiar party hastened from Bir
mingham, Ala.
j But the promptest assistance came
from the Cumnock mine, three miles
| distant, miners of brown experience
| and courage, and from Sanford,
where the hospital corps and the Am
erican Legion Auxiliary responded
immediately—surgeons, nurses and
supplies. The Red Cross, too, got into
action.
| In the meantime, and for the next
two days ,the roads were thronged
i with automobiles whizzing to the
j scene of tragedy from points near
and remote. The narrow roads were
| dust-clouded. That there was no col
! lisidn is notable. For half a mile cars
i were parked as at a monster county
fair. Thousands and tens of thousands
I of people visited the spot. Flocks of j
newspaper reporters sped thither and
camp.ed. The wires were kept hot;
fast automobiles conveyed written
copy to Raleigh and Greensboro.
Sanford was bombarded with calls
from* afar for the latest news. The
office of the Carolina Coal Company
was converted into a reporters’ ren
oezvous and work shop. Soft drink
and hot dog stands sprung up and did ■
a flourishing business and even the
case and cold drink stands in Pitts
boro boast a booming trade last
week.
Grief-Stricken Families.
The most distresing sight was that
of the awed and grief-stricken wives,
children and parents, waiting in stoic
al silence at first with hope that their
(Continued on Page 8.)
LOWER CAPE FEAR HELPS, j
Sent S6O For Relief of Miners,
Another Contribution to Fol
low—Local News.
Brickhaven, June 1. — Messrs J. C.
Seawell and W. J. Hannon spent the I
week-end at their homes near Car- j
thage. Mr. O. C. Kennedy accompa
nied his sister, Mrs. W. O. Mills, and
niece, Mrs. Johnson to Carthage Sun
day to attend the home-coming day
exercises at their old home church.
Mrs. E. C. Mims is spending this
week at Pinehurst with her daughter, i
Mrs. Atleigh Hannon.
Mr. Jas. F. Johnson, of Raleigh,
was a business visitor last week. He j
was accompanied by his mother who J
holds a eontroling stock of the Cher- ■
okee Brick Co. While here Mr. John- j
j son and Mr. Kennedy motored to the j
Carolina mine. Mr. Kennedy gave a ,
vivid account of the horrors and suf- |
sering among the miners. It seems
help is needed and needed badly.
Personal aid is there but financial
aid is lacking. Over sixty dollars have
been raised by the lower Cape Fear
people, and this section will send an- j
other contribution this week. If any- j
- one wishes to contribute, any amount,
, small or large, will be eargeriy receiv
(Continued on Page 5.)
Prominent Citizen and President
of Farmers Rank Passes.
j Mr. T. M. Eland died Tuesday ev
ening at Watts Hospital, Durham,
where he was taken ten days ago for
treatment and probable operation,
j The result of the earlier diagnosis
’ was reported to be that Mr. Bland
was suffering from the after effects
j of influenza, but it seems that a later
| diagnosis placed the trouble in the
; gall bladder, and an operation was
performed Wednesday morning.
The patient was seemingly recov
ering satisfactorily from the opera
tion, but in the afternoon a turn for
the worse occurred and he rapidly
sank till he passed away in the early
evening.
t The b*. dy was brought home that
| night and the burial occurred yester
day afternoon at Gum Springs Bap
tist church between Pittsboro and
YMoncure, by the side of his first wife.
«The funeral was conducted by Rev.
i&T, J. Howard, of Chapel Hill, and
Wmj&cG. W. Perry, of Weldon. A large
of friends and relatives were
to pay their last respects to
jjpbeir irisrd and kinsman.
W: TMr.'Bla I was 73 years of age. He
was reared in the eastern part of the
; county. His first wife was Miss An-
L nette Poe, who bore him eleven chil
\ dren, of whom eight are living.. After
. her death he married Mrs. Fannie
i Hatch, who survives him. Os this
. | marriage there was no child.
Mr. Bland began life as a poor boy
but by honest efforts succeeded -in
J amassing a considerable fortune. He
, has been president of the Farmers
Bank since its organization.
.‘j Mr. Bland’s outspokenness some-'
[ times made an unfavorable impres
[ sion upon people, but those who knew
} him had admired him greatly. He was
a most liberal man, but did not pa
rade the fact. Many a poor person has
been the recipient of his bounty with j
,j no hint of its source. Thus an old
citizen summed up his characteriza
j tion of Mr. Bland a few days ago: j
“There was no man in the community
j who would more readily help the poor
and do it oftener.” Also “uncle”'Tom!
Leach, who lived near him, says that
he was the kindest neighbor he ever
had, and that he had helped many
colored folk. On a Christmas a year,
or two ago he sent a sack of flour to |
every colored preacher in Pittsboro.
lAn instance only of his kindly and
liberal disposition.
Mr. Bland has reared ti family of
children that do him honor. The liv- :
ing are Mrs. W. H. Cox, of Laurin
burg; Mrs. M. M. Guinn, of Pittsboro;
| Mrs. D. D. Guinn, of Lamar, S. C.;
Miss Mary Bland, of Pittsboro; Mrs. 1
B. W. Gilmore, of Pittsboro; J. T.
Bland, W. F. Bland and C. E. Bland,
of Pittsboro. He is also survived by
one brother , William F. Bland, of
Apex, Rt. 4 and one sister, Mrs. G.
W. Ellington, of Clayton.
To the bereaved wife and children
The Record expresses the heartfel*
sympathy of the community.
•
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF COAL MINING IN
DEEP RIVER SECTION
(By Walter D. Siler.)
The tragic disaster at the mine of
the Carolina Coal Company at Farm
ville in this county, whic occurred last
week, has focussed for the time be
ing public interest in a section and i
an industry, that for many years
seem to have been forgotten by the
outside world. However, authentic rec
! ords disclose the fact that coal was
| discovered in the immediate vicinity
; of the recent catastrophe more than
one hundred and fifty years ago, and
being mined, in a small way, if
' not prior to, certainly during the
Revolutionary war.
John Wilcox, a prominent and influ
ential citizen of Chatham ,and its
first representative in the Colonial
Assembly, owned the lands in the vi
i cinity of the mines now operated both
Iby the Carolina Coal Company and
! the Cumnock property prior to 1775,
1 and operated a blast furnace in the
neighborhood of Gulf, where coal was
then produced. General Green, as his
army marched through this section,
i after the battle of Guilford Court
! House, impressed or took a quantity
of iron from the Wilcox furnace, and
1 as late as 1830, the records show that
! his estate was endeavoring to collect
! pay therefor from the Federal gov
; ernment. It is historically interesting
I to note that the Wilcox furnace and
j mining machinery were set fire to and
[ destroyed by Fanning’s Tory ban
i dits in the colsing days of the Revo
’ i lution.
| Colonial and State records recount
, | instances where citizens filed peti-
tions with the Governor and the War
< * Board asking for exemption from mil
’ i itary and militia duty upon the
x 1 ground that they were necessary la
' j borers at the Wilcox furnace and
' i mine.
In a letter written by Professor
I Olmsted from Chapel Hill, in 1820,
~ he says: /
r “We have it in ourpporerw r er to
r say that coal has been diiscovered
in this section, and that a bed of
- - considerable extent has been op
ened not far from Gulf pn Deep
• River*
“It is about 50 years since this
coal bed was first discovered. Mr.
Wilcox, an enterprising gentle
man, proprietor of the Old Iron
„ Works at Gulf, took some pains
to have it opened, and to intro
> duce the coal into use.
“ It, (the mine near Gulf) was
) known in the Revolution, and a
' Report made to Congress, res
: peering it, is still extant.”
. j Peter Evans, who then owned the
i plantation in the great northward
| bend of Deep River, including the vil
; lage now known as Cumnock, began
; mining coal on his property there,
then called Egypt, about the year
1830.
1 In the year 1851, the Egypt plan
tation was sold to L. J. Haughton and
I Brooks Harris. Soon afterward, Har
| ris acquired the Haughton interest,
| and in the year 1853 sank the Egypt
shaft, which was the most important
single piece of development work un
dertaken in the Deep' River Coal
fields prior to Hie Civil war. This
j shaft pierced the Cumnock coal bed
at a depth of* 430 feet, but continued
to a depth of 460 feet. After chang
| ing hands for several times, in the
year 1854, the Goovernor’s Creek
Steam Transportation and Mining
j Company, became the owner of the
present Cumnock property, and oper
ated this mine until after the Civil
War, when the name of the corpora
tion, by an ordinance of the Constitu
' tional Convention of 1886 was chang
ed to the “Egypt Company.”
H. M. Chance in his report on
North Carolina Coal Fields to the
Department of Agriculture, (1885,)
says of the Deep River Coal fields:
“Coal was dug from open pits
for black-smithing in the Deep
River coal field early in this, if
not in the last century, but no
systematic attempt was made to
open the field for market until
the slackwater improvement of
Deep River. The next attempts
were made upon the completion
of the railroad from Fayetteville J
to Egypt and Gins. * Operations
were most actively pushed in the
period immediately preceding the
Civil War. During the war coal
was mined at Farmville (pres
ent Carolina Coal Company
mine,) Egypt, (present Cumnock -
j mine,) Gull, (present Deep Riv
er Coal Company mine) and the
’ Evans piece, and shipped by riv
er to Fayetteville and Wilming
ton, where it was used by block
ade runners.”
Following the Civil War, the Cum-,
nock property had a checkered his
tory; ownership frequently changed,
and no one appeared to be able to
operate it at a profit. In 1870 the
mine was closed down and remained,
Hooded until the year 1888, when it
was re-opened and operations again
commenced. From then until the year
1902, the holding corporation manag
ed by Samuel J. Langdon and Samuel
1 A. Hensey, experienced many rnisfor
, tunes; was involved in much litiga
i tian growing out of the personal dis-»
?• ferences of these financiers and mine
5 j operators, and suffered from two most
, disastrous explosions, one of which
tj occurring in the year 1835, resulted
7 in the loss of more than forty lives
l and another in the year 4900 when
t more than twenty operatives were
t killed. These explosions and added
- financial difficulties necessitated the
l closing down of the mine about 1902,
1 and it remained under water until
I 1915, when it pased into the handa
-| of the Norfolk-Southern Railroad
- 1 Company, and was rehabilitated un
der the name of the Cumneek Coal
" Company. The output secured by tho
- operations of this company was used
r for railroad purposes. In September
- \1922, the property was purchased
s by the Erskine-Ramsey Coal Com
- pany, and since that time has been
d , operated by that corporation.
[ Os the three separate developments
r in present or recent operation, the
6 j Cumnock mine, the Carolina Coal
! Company, and the Deep River Com
pany’s location is the property upon
which coal was first or jg+
inally known as the mine,”
and while the Qarolina Coal Company
did not begin operations at Farmville
until 1921, coal had been produced
there in a small way since the early
days, Sbd for many years the father
of our-popular eotmtyman, Mr. R. R.-
Seagroves, supplied a considerable lo
cal demand, and shipped to Various
points in the state coal mined £r?T&
this location.
The original Cumnock was called’.
LaGrange, but was changed to Egypt,
due to the fact that Peter Evans, the
owner of the farm was a large pro
-5 j ducer of corn, and so many people
t journeyed to his plantation to pur-^
- j chase this grain, that Peter Smith, &
1 Scotchman, spoke Os their going down
> to “Egypt to get corn, and the owner
■ -was so pleased w:‘th the remark that
j he afterward called his place Egypt*
The name Gulf was given to the
l early settlement at a sharp bend of
■ Deep River ,by boatmen who found
> there an unusually deep portion of
' | the river between shallows formed
' by the dikes where they cross the
• stream.
Within the years intervening be-*
i tween the time when John Wilcox be
i gan the first development more than
a century and a half ago, and the:
present, disappointment, financial dis
■ aster, tragedy, and romance and in
trigue have all mingled with efforts
of the ambitious spirits, who have
sought to bring the hidden treasures
of the Deep River Coal Fields to
the light of day, and a true history of
this section, penned by a capable wri
j ter, would be more interesting than a
, popular novel.
CORONER’S INQUEST.
Coroner Geo. H. Brooks, with a
jury composed of R. M. Gorrell, J. F.
Thomas, R. Campbell, R. Desem, H.
Dixon, J. Wren, held an inquest at
Coal Glen rendering the only possible
verdict. The list of the dead in the
story of the disaster is furnished by; 1
Coroner Brooks and should be correct.
copelandTjones.
Mr. Frank L Copeland, son of Mr.
W. A. Copeland, and Miss Beulah
Jones of Hadley township, were mar
ried by ’Squire Blair Sautrday.
happy young couple, we understand,
will live with the groom's parents,
near Moores Bridge.
NUMBER 52.