A TIME TO WEEP
A time to be born ... a time to die ...
A time to weep ... a time to mourn ...
Ecclesiastes: Chapter 3
On Wednesday, January 10, 1940, the Pond Creek No. 1 Mine at Bartley, owned by Pocohontas Coal
Corporation, exploded at exactly 2:30 in the afternoon killing ninety-one men. Two men standing
outside in the cold drizzling rain witnessed a cloud of black dust and bits of paper shoot out of
the mine entrance. In the blink of an eye the explosion made bereaved widows of fifty-one women,
and orphans of one-hundred and sixty-nine children. The mine shaft was a depth of about 600 feet.
Families lived in company-owned houses near the mine. One-hundred and thirty-eight men were in the mine
at the time of the blast. The west side of the mine was not affected, and thirty-seven men
escaped injury. Another ten men at the bottom of the mine shaft also cheated death. The mine
foreman and others near the bottom of the shaft felt a strong rush of air that sounded like a
fire siren. The area was instantly with filled thick dust. Jack Tickle and Fred White's fathers were
two of the victims. Their families lives would never be the
Top mine officials were holding a safety-meeting near the mine at the time of the explosion.
They began organizing rescue workers immediately which entered the mine at three o'clock. They
traveled in fresh air to the explosion area, and extinguished some small fires. Seven hours after
the first blast as men replaced brattice curtains, a second explosion occurred. The crew quickly
returned to the surface. Bartley Mine was a gassy mine, so extreme precautions were necessary.
Relatives spent an anxious night gathered around the Bartley Mine waiting for the fate of
their loved ones, and as dawn broke rain turned to snow. They tried to keep warm from bonfires,
and makeshift stoves made from barrels . How many tears could the people of Bartley shed? It had
only been three months that a tragic school bus wreck took the lives of the bus driver and six
Big Creek High School students. On October 11, 1939, news of the wreck spread like wildfire
through the community. Hundreds of people rushed to the site. Miners left their jobs at the
Bartley Mine as soon as they were notified leaving the mine almost at a standstill. At 8 o'clock
in the morning, a spindle on the bus snapped plunging the bus from the highway down an
eighty-three foot embankment onto the railroad tracks below. A high school student waiting
for news of his brother's fate entombed in the Bartley Mine said he would always dread the
second Wednesday of every month. Both the bus wreck and mine disaster struck on a Wednesday.
It took more than an hour to free the bus driver and children from the wreckage. Herbert
Belcher was a much loved and respected driver. Charles Flanagan and Maxine Beavers were
standing behind the driver sharing peanuts. Shortly before the bus went over the mountainside,
Mr. Belcher told them they'd have to clean the bus because they were throwing shells on the
floor. Mr. Belcher's legs were caught underneath the engine and one leg was so badly mangled it had
to be amputated. Death claimed Mr. Belcher and six students.
Lucille White - age 16 - valedictorian of her Bartley Junior high school graduating class
Maxine Beavers - age 18
Lucille Mullins - age 17
Ernest Woody, Jr. - age 15
Charles Colvard - age 16
Ralph Earls - age 17
Claude Runyon - age 16 - head injuries
James White - age 16 - internal injuries
Charles Flanagan - 18 - internal injuries
Virginia Logan - age 16 - fractured pelvis
Pauline Jessie - age 16 - fractured pelvis
Fifty-one others, including Jack Mullins, sister of Lucille, remained in the hospital for
treatment. Now Mrs. Mullins waited at the Bartley Mine for news of her husband Marion and her
young son Charles who where working when the mine blew up.
A frenzied crowd gathered quickly after news spread that the mine had blown. Only one phone to the
outside world was working after the blast, and it took two hours to restore service. This added
to the chaos, because police could not be called for crowd control. Men were running around
searching for equipment, and cursing the events and the weather. Screaming women and children
rushed to the mine shaft getting in the way of workmen. School buses soon began arriving
unloading high school and elementary school children, and some of them went to the scene before
going home. Agnes Monaghan, age fifteen, stood vigil for her widowed mother. Her brother, Pat was
one of the victims, but brother Joe was spared as he was not at work. It was estimated that a
crowd of almost two-thousand people congregated by nightfall on the first day.
Frightened wives, some half-crazed with grief, set up a relief station in the lamp house to
serve free coffee and sandwiches to rescue workers and waiting relatives. Spectators and
curiosity seekers were not allowed in that area. Mrs. Alonso Barnett, a twenty-one-year-old
mother of four children said she couldn't stay away knowing her husband was trapped down there.
She later learned he was one of the victims.
Mrs. Floyd Combs, a young bride helped out. Her husband was among the missing. In the early
morning hours, she could no longer hold up. She broke down sobbing and started home only to
collapse in the snow. Friends took her home. Her husband was among the dead.
Twenty-year-old William Fultz rushed from his college classes at West Virginia State
College near Charleston to the blast site. He said,"I worked in that mine all summer, and
from what I know of it I'm certain some will come out alive." The optimistic hoped some of the
men would barricade themselves in "rooms" off the main entry to hold out until a rescue team
could reach them. William's father and uncle died in the blast.
As dawn approached, four bodies had been located. Roy Evans was the first body discovered.
Later, Roy "Red" Hyatt, Charlie Moffitt, and an unidentified man were found. Hope was fading for
the other entombed miners.
Officials first set the number of victims at ninety-two. P. B. Atwell didn't know that his
name was on the list of those who were believed to be dead until Sunday. The paper issued a
corrected list of the names of the dead. They had listed him as P.D. Atwell. By a quirk of fate,
Atwell, a young single man, reported for work that fated day only to find no loading checks on
the board for him. Assuming there was no work for him that day he returned home. After reading
the paper, he appeared in person before mine officials to prove he was very much alive. He was
scheduled to work in Main 6 which was the center of the blast.
Forty years after the mine disaster, Homer Barnett of English still vividly remembers that
day. He was a thirty-eight-year-old coal-cutter at the mine who worked the evening shift.
Preparing to enter the mine, he heard the explosion, and watched in horror as the lids on the
ventilation fans blew off. Barnett said some of the men were found in a crouched position. Rigor
mortis had set in, and we didn't want the family to see them like that. So, we broke their legs
in order to put them on a stretcher
Evidence proved most of the men died instantly. However, at least one of the victims lived
long enough to pen a farewell note to his wife. The note was written on paper torn form a rock
dust sack, folded carefully, and placed in his hard-hat. Ernest Hoops note read: "If we don't
make it out, darling wife, please take my body down home and have Rev. Spears to preach my
funeral. Ernest" His remains were taken to his hometown in Jackson, Ohio. Rev. George Spears
who preached his funeral was working in another part of the mine, and was one of the forty-seven
men who escaped death.
Some of the bodies were buried under slate, and it took several days to recover them. Each
body was then carried to the bottom and laid out side by side. No one was brought to the top
until all the men were recovered, so decomposition had set in and bodies had to be sprayed continuously
with formaldehyde. Each rescue man carried a can, but the spaying did not fend off the odors.
Five days after the blast all the bodies were removed by ambulances to a temporary morgue in Welch and
additional morticians were brought in to prepare them for burial. Caskets were lined up
everywhere as people stumbled through the line to claim their loved-ones. Jack Tickle's, Uncle
Kent Sutphin admonished a director who was trying to rush the people along. He told him that
these were human-beings and needed time. There was no mass funeral. Each family planned
separate funerals. The majority of interments were in Iaeger Memorial Cemetery near Roderfield.
However, so many were laid to rest on the same day it appeared to be one big, mass funeral.
Joe Tickle grew up on a farm in White Plains, North Carolina in a family of ten children.
Joe’s father was an abusive alcoholic who worked hard, but had little to show for his effort.
In his early teens Joe's mother died, and his father farmed all the children out to anyone who
would take them in. At age sixteen, Joe stole a car and headed for the West Virginia coalfields
hoping to find employment. He made it as far as the state of Virginia where he made a quick stop.
He looked out the window, and saw a policeman checking out the car. Joe escaped out the back
door, and thumbed the rest of the way to Coalwood, West Virginia. A cousin, Fred Tickle helped
him find employment in the mine where he worked.
Joe married Gladys Salyers, whose mother ran the boarding house in Coalwood. By 1938 Joe
had moved his wife and three children, Phyllis, Ronald, and Jack to Bartley Hollow where he was
employed by Bartley No. 1 mine. In August of that year Gladys gave birth to their last child,
Allen. They lived in a company house with no electricity or indoor water or plumbing. Joe's,
stepfather, John Coldiron helped with the recovery of the miners. He was the one who found Joe's
body, and said a timber was blown completely through Joe's badly burned body.
The Tickle family lived about a mile up Bartley Hollow. Jack said shortly after his dad's death
he was riding a sled with his sister when an elderly colored lady called out to them asking if
they were Joe Tickle's kids. When they said yes, she invited them in for hot chocolate. Jack was
only three, but his sister remembers the ladies house being the warmest, cleanest house she had
ever been in. The lady said she always knew when their dad passed by her house on his way to
work, because he was always whistling. Shortly after that, Gladys Tickle settled with the company
for one-thousand-dollars, bought a new Chevrolet, and moved the family to English.
Jack Tickle's grandmother, Beth Sturgill first married John Salyers, but the marriage didn't
work out. After her marriage fell apart she moved from Lousia, Kentucky to Coalwood where she ran
a boarding house. In the 1920's Beth came down with the deadly flu that killed many people, and a
boarder, John Coldiron helped nurse her back to health. They later married, and moved to English.
Most of his life, Jack's step-grandfather was fondly referred to as "Uncle Jack." John worked at the
Bartley Mine when the explosion occurred, but was not working that day. They lived frugally
having only the bare necessities. His grandmother kept an old black purse hanging on a hall tree
behind the bedroom door that held a small silk change purse. She always had a quarter or fifty
cents for us. For twenty-five cents Jack said they would catch a movie and buy popcorn and pop.
Jack has his grandmother's silk purse that held the change that gave him so much pleasure.
A newspaper account stated that thousands of dollars would be paid out by the State
Compensation Commission from their fund with the coal company bearing the brunt of the expenses
over a long period of time. At that time, under West Virginia law the maximum judgement to be
obtained in case of accidental death was ten-thousand-dollars. Based on previous cases the
article said each death as a result of the Bartley Mine explosion would cost five to
six-thousand-dollars with beneficiaries receiving the full benefits. However, it is doubtful any of the
victims loved ones sought the advice of an attorney.
The United Mine Workers of America erected a granite monument with all the men's names that
perished in the Bartley Mine inscribed upon it. It was first located at Atwell Park, but in the
50's the park began to deteriorate. So, it was moved near the Bartley Methodist Church where it
still stands today. Jack Tickle is standing beside a marker near the explosion site. Bartley is
located on Dry Fork about a mile west of English, and was closed and sealed up long ago.
Bonnie Ethel Kesterson worked at the White Springs Hotel. Her wedding to Jasper White was held
at the hotel. They were the parents of nine children: J.T., Virginia, Alma Lucille, Norman
Randolph, Clifford Lee, Charles Robert "Bob," Lola Joan, Frederick E., and Charlie John.
Jasper White served in World War I. All six of his sons entered the service. Charlie John,
Norman and Bob joined the US Navy, Clifford and J. T. the Army and Fred the Air Force. Fred,
Norman,and Clifford served their twenty years, and received a military pension. Bob doesn't
think of his family as being patriotic. He said "I believe that mostly, we just wanted to get out
of those damn mountains and see what else was beyond those hills. After high school, we had a
choice of working in the mines if they were hiring, or joining the service with hopes of
learning something about the outside world."
Jasper White was the last body to be recovered. When they picked him up to place him on a
stretcher, he was in such an advanced stage of decomposition one of his arms came off. Bonnie
did not sleep for five days waiting for news of her husband. She sat in a chair staring at the
wall. She did not weep or eat. When news came that they had found his body she went to bed. She
later lost the son she was carrying.
Bonnie lived through so much grief in her lifetime. Her daughter, Lola drown in a creek
behind their house when she was four-years-old. She lost Lucille in the school bus wreck only
three months before her husband was killed. After the death of Jasper a seer read Bonnie's palm.
She told her that she'd had a hard life and had lost many loved ones. She said she'd never have to witness
another death in her family. She never did. However, four of her sons have died since Bonnie's
death in 1964. Virginia, Bob and Fred are still living.
According to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, nothing was overlooked by the coal company in
caring for the families of the dead. When payday rolled around the Company delievered the fallen
men's paychecks to the widows or beneficiaries. It was said food and other necessities were distributed
regularly and generously. However, the Jasper White's family received an eviction notice soon
after his death stating his widow did not have a family member working for the company, and was
no longer authorized to live in the company house at Bartley. It was a cold and inhumane thing
to do. The Company needed housing for men who would replace the dead. Bonnie White had received a settlement
from the Board of Education for the loss of her daughter, Lucille. She used the money to move the
family to English. Her eighteen-year-old son, J.T. joined the Army and made a thirty-dollar
allotment to help out. Bonnie took in "boarders" to make ends meet.
An investigation was held from January 24 to February 2 by the Bureau of Mines. Ninety-one men
died of burns, violence, and asphyxiation. They concluded the source of ignition was probably an
electric arc. Rock dust had been applied over thick accumulations of coal dust, but back entries
had not been treated, so coal dust was ignited causing a violent gas explosion. The Bureau of
Mines ruled out smoking as the cause even though two cigarettes were found in a miner's jacket
pocket. Chief D. Harrington, of the Health and Safety Branch said it was unfortunate that
smoking was ruled out as the original ignition. Smoking was strictly prohibited, and miners were
searched before they entered the mines. Still, they smuggled cigarettes into the mine. Even
though no matches or burned cigarettes were found in the Bartley Mine, Chief Harrington felt
there was good reason to be suspicions. He asked for a formal inquest which was granted, but a
conclusion was never reached.
Jack Tickle still lives in McDowell County. Occasionally he drives over to English where he
grew up. He likes to walk slowly down those dusty roads so full of memories. There's not much
left of the town as he remembers it. Most of it has been burned down, torn down, or it is
decayed beyond repair. Some people would wonder why he goes there. Jack said, "It is because of
the friendly ghosts."
English wasn't a mining town, so many of the women made widows by the Bartley Mine explosion
more than sixty years ago moved there when they were evicted from their company-owned houses.
Like Jack, most of his friends were fatherless. "The people of English were simple folk of
limited education, and modest achievements who set examples of goodness for me that still blesses
me today," Jack said. He often wonders what his life would have been like if not for those
loving people. Most of them have been dead for years so he can't express to them what is in his
So, that is why Jack sometimes drives over to English to visit his "friendly ghosts."
** Concetto Avanzato is also listed as Jim Vance. It was common for immigrants with hard to
pronounce names to Amercanize their names.
* A list of negro men who died. Victims names were often listed under nationality when huge
mine disasters occurred.
Source: Information sent to me by Archivist Jane DeMarchi who is employed by the Beckley, WV
Mine Safety and Health Administration. The Bluefield Dailey Telegraph newspaper. Book by Lacy A.
Dillon called They Died In The Darkness. Special thanks to Jack Tickle and Fred White who shared
their memories and pictures. Also thanks to Bob and Virginia White. Dolores Riggs Davis