The LuLac Edition #702, Jan. 22nd, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: FROM THE TIMES LEADER, A VISUAL OF THE KNOX MINE DISASTER AND GOVERNOR DAVID LAWRENCE WHO JUST TOOK OFFICE AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.

50 YEARS AGO

It was a half century ago that the Knox Mine Disaster took place, essentially closing down that industry forever in Northeastern Pa. Mrs. Lulac's father was schedule to work that day at the site that now occupies Danko's gym and CVS. He was idle that day but for years, like many miners, warned of the impending danger. The River Slope Mine, an anthracite coal mine owned by the Knox Coal Company, flooded when coal company management had the miners dig too close to the riverbed. Tunneling sharply upwards toward the Susquehanna River, the miners reduced the thickness of rock between the mineshafts and the river bed to about 6 feet (1.8 m) -- 35 feet (10.6 m) was considered the minimum for safety. This caused the waters of the river to break through into the mine. It took 3 days to partially plug the hole in the riverbed, which was done by dumping railcars into the whirlpool formed by the water draining into the mine.
12 people died; 69 others escaped. One miner, Amadeo Pancetti, was awarded the Carnegie Medal for leading 32 miners to safety. The bodies of the 12 who died were never recovered, despite efforts of divers and an attempt to pump the water out of the shafts. Their names were: Samuel Altieri, John Baloga, Benjamin Boyer, Francis Burns, Charles Featherman, Joseph Gizenski, Dominick Kaveliskie, Eugene Ostroski, Frank Orlowski, William Sinclair, Daniel Stefanides and Herman Zelonis. Eventually an estimated 10 billion US gallons (38,000,000 m³) of water filled the mines. Ten people, including the mine superintendent and August J. Lippi, the president of District 1 of the United Mine Workers, were indicted on a variety of charges, but only 3 (including Lippi) served jail time. As a five year old, I remember my father working overtime as a railroader helping with the movement of those train cars, my grandmother on my mother's side weeping for the dead and as years went by, the trial of Mr. Lippi. It was a day that changed the lives of everybody in NEPA.