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The Pineville Sun
www.pinevillesun.com
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Letter to the Editor
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Hatfield objects to accounts of
Fourmile Disaster
Letter to the Editor:
I have been an
admirer of your newspaper for over 50 years and eagerly await each
copy's arrival. I have never before felt the need to address any
article unfavorably even though I did not always agree. This time,
however, I feel the need to address these articles on "The Fourmile
Mine Disaster: of which I was an interested party. These
stories were and still are still great reading; but they are just
that: STORIES. I lived just below the mine entrance for about
ten years and had recently moved to Wallsend when this happened.
My Dad, who had worked for Mr. Lewis for about 23 years, had a
choice house near the mine at a cost of $9.00 per month, which I
believe was two dollars more than the lower camp houses. I used to
take his dinner bucket up to him at mid-morning until we moved and
then he had to take it with him at 6:00 am when he left home for
work-it was about a 30-minute drive to the fourmile commissary yard.
When the explosion happened, my mother had my brother and I rotate
staying at the mine, we could catch the Straight Creek Bus which ran
hourly to fourmile and the other would catch the return trip and
report any new developments. Actually, there were several men
and boys who did similar chores for families and there were no women
hanging outside the mine at any time; superstition causes most to
fear that should they go up there their loved ones may not make it
out alive. My mom is 98 years young and she will still tell
you that she would never go near the mine for any reason. We boys
were elected to carry wood (crossties, etc.) and coal to keep a
55-gallon drum fire to keep us warm. There were never many up
there mainly because there wasn't room in the area for a crowd
of people and the inclement weather without any sort of shelter
wasn't conducive to those who didn't have a valid reason for being
there. I do not ever recall seeing a female there except for
some children during the day; and that was few. I do know that
the rescue teams were made up of those who did not have relatives
inside, except for Earl Lewis, who was a team leader and whose Dad
owned the mine. He was a pupil of Nath Centers, Lon Lewis, and my
dad for mine foreman at the time and knew about where all of those
trapped may be located. Interestingly enough, in 1949, in an
attempt to extract the bodies of those still entombed, he and five
others were temporarily trapped also. There were no heroics
permitted and the federal officials were in charge of the rescue
permitted no unauthorized persons near the mine and we who had to be
there suffered the cold and the rain because we had no shelter.
There were no crowds wailing not cheering when they thought there
was news. Miners' wives are quiet in nature and do not converse with
strangers and would shoot a threatening person without hesitation;
therefore, newspaper persons were tolerated but not socialized with
during this time, and what little information they obtained was
reported throughout the land as a fact. You may believe what
you desire, but facts speak for themselves and those stories about
the fourmile mine explosion which have been printed as fact, just
aren't all true. I have had official reports, statements by my
father, who was the last living survivor as well as the sub=foreman
responsible for those he and Huey Miler found alive and kept alive
until the rescuers found them, and my mother has quite an avid
memory of this mine and its workers through the years, will tell you
the difference between fact and fiction about the explosion.
further, I have a website
http://www.geocities.com/fleahat/index.html which was part of
two official reports concerning this disaster and I would happily
explain to anyone interested in knowing the truth about it. I
apologize for taking up so much time and space and have tried to
limit my comments in order to et some few across in this matter.
I was on duty in Korea when I got interested in the articles which
had been written about this matter and questioned my parents for
permitting such to go on unquestioned and not wanting to get
involved was the easiest way out I suppose. that was their
choice. Mine is to question why and seek what is the truth and
not be afraid to get involved.
Mr. Editor, I would like to thank you for your time and apologize to
your for crating a question about your articles. I do not challenge
you, but the person who copies previously unfounded articles and
presents them to your readers as fact are only interested in making
a buck rather than doing a bit of research for the truth and giving
your public something new and refreshing to enjoy. The
author of this article evidently did just that as he stated to me
the article was written ten years ago and was not interested
in the least any changes made therein. I suppose that there
are more parts forthcoming and they will also be a repeat of the
same category of repeat journalism; and I suppose I will object and
do another dissertation with the hope you may desire to present
another version to these articles. I realize that you have
limited space for such as I, therefore, I shall not feel deflated
should you decide not to view my objections to these articles.
Therefore, I should like to say thank you for your time and hope you
do not feel anger towards me for my objection to the repeated
unfounded material submitted to youSincerely Lee Hatfield |
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