TNCAMPBE-L Archives

From: "Donna Strong" <>
Subject: Re: [TNCAMPBE-L] 1943 Etna Coal Explosion
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 09:41:10 -0500
References: <1c8.24626992.2f657d73@aol.com>

The "John Pelizzari" listed among the dead was part of my BROCK line.
He
was only 27 years old at his death and left a surviving wife ~ Gedina
Sharp. BTW, the explosion took place on May 5, 1943 ~ the day before this
article appeared on the AP.

John's parents, Nancy (Brock) and George Pelizzari ran The Central Cafe
in
downtown LaFollette for years. Someone on one of these lists managed to
get
a photo of the outside and inside of the cafe for me and I put it in the
Heritages Album I completed for my BROCK line ... 325 photos in all!!!

Donna (Brock) Strong

----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 6:26 AM
Subject: [TNCAMPBE-L] 1943 Etna Coal Explosion


> 10 KILLED IN MINE EXPLOSION;
> 18 ESCAPE INJURY
>
>
> LaFOLLETTE, TENN. - (AP) -
> Eighteen coal miners, huddling behind
> a hastily erected canvas barrier
> nearly 2,000 feet underground, survived
> an explosion that rocked the
> Etna Coal and Coke company mine
> and suffocated ten of their companions.
> The miners, fighting against the
> deadly fumes of "black damp" for
> more than eight hours, stumbled and
> crawled from their barricaded cell
> Wednesday night as rescue parties
> freed them.
> Two other miners, who had joined
> the barricaded group, became panic stricken
> and dashed from their enclosure
> to death from carbon monoxide
> fumes 400 feet away.
> The explosion thundered through
> the East Tennessee soft coal mine
> Wednesday afternoon, rocking it
> from tipple to the deepest seam.
> The dead miners were identified
> as Cecil Foust, John Pelezzari, Dan
> Garrett, George Douglas, Lawrence
> Hale, Albert Kitts, Lewis White. Homer
> Martin, Oscar Ayers and Ernest
> Riggs.
> Two miners who were almost outside
> the mine tunnel when the blast
> occurred were burned critically.
> Three others in another section of
> the mine escaped injury.
> Earl Turner, one of the first entombed
> men to reach the outside,
> said he herded his companions into
> an enclosure and erected a cloth
> canvas barricade to keep out the
> fumes.
> Jim Raines, 38, said the survivors
> "held out hope until 7 o'clock."
> "The air was getting bad," he said,
> "and the oxygen was just about gone,
> There was so much dust we couldn't see.
> Then the rescuers found us at 8:30. Some
> of the boys were so weak, they were crawling
> on their hands and knees".
> Herman Gilbreath related how Albert Kitts and
> Oscar Ayres "decided to make a break for it"
> from the protected tunnel, only to collapse 400
> feet away and die.
> A coal mine official said the disaster, the worst
> in Tennessee since 1926, probably resulted
> from ignition of gaseous fumes. However,
> Mine Bookkeeper, R. B. Parrott said a test
> by inspectors Wednesday morning revealed
> no traces of gas.
>
> Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota, May 6, 1943
>
>
> ==== TNCAMPBE Mailing List ====
> To See Previous Posts http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/TNCAMPBE
>

This thread:

• 1943 Etna Coal Explosion by

  • Re: [TNCAMPBE-L] 1943 Etna Coal Explosion by "Donna Strong" <>