|
Philip Ruble says...
On 06/07/19
at 05:06 PM
|
ARTICLE ONE – June 7, 1926 – Explosion Berkeley Springs Glass Sand Co.
Evening Star, Washington, D.C., June 08, 1926, Page 4, Image 4
Newspaper Collection in Library of Congress, Washington, DC
“SANDPIT BLAST TOLL MOUNTS TO SIX TODAY
Workman Injured Dies in Hagerstown Hospital – Explosion Cause Unknown.
Special Dispatch to the Star.
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W. Va.,
June 8 – The death toll in the premature dynamite explosion in a sandpit here yesterday mounted to six today when Oliver Wood ** died of his injuries in a Hagerstown hospital.
Irvin Henry, G.W. Walls and Emory Miller, all married were killed instantly. Two others Romanis Dawson, unmarried, and G.W. Miller died later of their injuries. Five others were injured.
The men were among a group of 15 in the mine when the blast occurred. The body of Emory Miller was literally torn to pieces.
The mine belonged to H.T. Bridges of Hancock, Md., with G. W. Hohannis, Berkeley Springs, as superintendent. Ernest Widmyer, mine boss, was in a critical condition this morning from shock. The injured were rushed to hospitals after stop-gap attention at the mine by Berkeley Springs physicians.
G.W. Miller, one of the dead, was married just a week ago. All the other married men have families.
The men were tamping holes for their last shot or the afternoon when one of the blasts went off from some unexplained cause.”
- NOTE – the 1926 Evening Star article may have mis-reported the name of the man who died at the Hagerstown hospital. A Morgan County family knows that a Mr. Moon, married to Viola, died in the blast. A check of the marriage 1919 record shows that Mr. Moon’s first name was in fact OLIVER – just like the blast victim who died at the Hagerstown hospital. Oliver Moon married Viola May Steiner in 1919 in Berkeley Springs.
ARTICLE 2 – June 7, 1926 – Explosion Berkeley Springs Glass Sand Co.
Evening Star, Washington D.C. June 10, 1926, Page 18, Image 18
Newspaper Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC
“BLAST VICTIMS BURIED.
Joint Service Held for Four of Six in Berkeley Springs.
Special Dispatch to the Star
Berkeley Springs, W. Va.,
June 10. – Business and industry suspended here yesterday afternoon during the combined funeral services for four of the six victims of the premature explosion at the sand mine of the Berkeley Springs Glass Sand Co. plant near here Monday afternoon.
All pastors here took part in the services, and the four victims were buried in the same cemetery. One of the other two was buried this afternoon and the sixth will be buried tomorrow. Philmore Norris, who was injured in the blast, is expected to recover. Examination by physicians showed two broken ribs and a badly cut head, but the injuries are not believed serious now.”
|
