Centralia Mine Disaster Memorial

The above photos of the Centralia Mine Disaster Memorial in Beckemeyer, Illinois were taken by me in December, 1997.

Miners Headstones

These are the headstones of some of the miners who died in the Centralia mining disaster on March 25, 1947.










These headstones are located in St. Anthony's Cemetery, Beckemeyer, Illinois. The photos were taken by me in September, 2004.

“Please save our lives...”

This plea was contained in a letter written to Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green by miners working in the Centralia Coal Mine No. 5. The letter was dated March 3,1946. Three of the four men who signed the letter were killed in the Centralia mine disaster on March 25, 1947.

Below is a transcript of the letter, copied from the minutes of the Senate subcommittee which investigated the mine disaster.

Centralia, Ill.,
March 3, 1946.

Hon. Dwight H. Green,
Governor, State of Illinois,
Springfield, Ill.

Dear Governor Green:
We, the officers of Local Union No. 52, U. M. W. of A., have been instructed by the members of local union No. 52 to write a letter to you in protest against the negligence and unfair practices of your department of mines and minerals. But before we go any further, we want you to know that this is not a protest against Mr. Driscoll Scanlan, the State mine inspector in this district. Mr. Scanlan is the best inspector that ever came to our mine, he is honest, of good character, and a good mining man, he writes his reports just as he finds the mines. But your mining board will not let him enforce the law or take the necessary action to protect our lives and health. This protest is against the men above Mr. Scanlan in your department of mines and minerals.

In fact, Governor Green this is a plea to you, to please save our lives, to please make the department of mines and minerals enforce the laws at the No. 5 mine of the Centralia Coal Co. at Centralia, Ill., at which mine we are employed, before we have a dust explosion at this mine like just happened in Kentucky and West Virginia.

For the last couple of years the policy of the department of mines and minerals toward us has been one of ignoring us; when we write complaints to Springfield it will sometimes be several weeks before we hear from them and then sometimes we have to write the second letter to them before they will answer us.

In December 1945 we preferred charges before the mining board against the mine manager and the superintendent of our mine and requested that their certificates be revoked for operating the mine in violation of the State mining laws and for ignoring the recommendations of the State mine inspector.

A special investigation commission was sent to the mines; they were very unfair toward us; on the commission was Robert Wier, a boss for our coal company. The commission did not inspect all of the mine, they did not stay at the machine that our main complaint was on long enough to fairly see the actual conditions at this machine. They let the superintendent of the mine lead them around the mine. They rode out of the mine in a mine car, so could not see the dirty and dusty and unsafe conditions on the main haulage roads. And they ignored the officers of this local union, they did not talk to us or give us a chance to call their attentions to unsafe conditions or listen to our complaints.

If we understand the law right, the mining board should have held a hearing and we should have been allowed to come before the board and press our charges. After the commission went through our mine we waited several weeks and did not hear from them and we wrote the director a letter. He then wrote us that the commission found insufficient evidence to revoke the certificates of the mine manager and mine superintendent. Then a few days later a report of the commission was posted at the mine making eight recommendations. Any one of these recommendations should be sufficient to revoke the certificates of the manager and superintendent and to remove them from the mine.

For your information as to the conditions at this mine, we are sending you copies of the State mine inspector’s report, also a copy of the report of the investigation commission, which you can check against the State inspector’s report and see the unfairness of the commission. Then please check these reports with the last Federal inspection report of July 1945, which you can get from the director of your department or from our district president, Hugh White. After reading these reports, if you doubt our word and the reports of the State and Federal inspectors, we kindly invite you to make a personal inspection of this mine yourself.

We are writing you Governor Green, because we believe you want to give the people an honest administration and that you do not know how unfair your mining department is toward the men in this mine. Several years ago after a disaster at Gillespie we seen your pictures in the papers going down in the mine to make a personal investigation of the accident. We are giving you a chance to correct the conditions at this mine that may cause a much worse disaster than the one at Gillespie or the one in Kentucky. If your mining board does not enforce the laws at this mine and back the State mine inspector, then we are going to go to the State’s attorney, and to the public and newspapers.

We will appreciate an early personal reply from you, stating your position in regard to the above and the enforcement of the State mining laws.

Very respectfully yours,
Jake Schmidt, President
Wm. E. Rowekamp, Recording Secretary
Thos. Bush,
Elmer Moss,
Committee.

Centralia Coal Mine Disaster

This week marks the 62nd anniversary of the Centralia Coal Mine Disaster, in which 111 miners, including my grandfather Anton Skrobul, were killed.

Willie Pax Tavern

This photo is labeled "Willie Pax Tavern" and it originally belonged to my mom, Ann Skrobul. Willie's looks like it would've been a fine place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in years past. Although, since my mom's ancestry was Lithuanian, I doubt she celebrated St. Patrick's Day before she met my dad, Edwin Francis Brady. After they were married, mom did celebrate the Irish saint. My mom was a good cook. In honor of her Irish-ancestry-by-marriage, she made great corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick's Day when I was a kid.

I don't know where or when this photo was taken. My best guess is that it was taken in Chicago in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Diary Excerpts from Ratoath, Ireland

"6 March 1847 Mary Rooney sailed for America deeply regretted by Pat Anderson."

The above quote was taken from the article by Peter Mulvany titled "Extracts from a Ratoath Diary 1804-1898." It was published in Vol. VI, No. 1 (1975) of Riocht na Midhe, the journal of the Meath Archaeological and Historical Society.

Here are a few more excerpts.

May 1848. The Magranes and Tom Bryant went to America and on 3 August the Lynams.
25 July 1848. Martial law proclaimed in Ratoath.
May 1849. James McCabe, John Bruton, and several others went to America and Pat Magrane on 6 June.
June 1849. Mary left Ramsey a broken heart.
Aug. 1849. Kit Foy died of cholera.

The article mentions many other deaths, emigrations, legal matters and other events. This article shows one of the reasons I love Irish genealogical periodicals: they contain information that is not readily available anywhere else. They also provide insight into the social history of Ireland.

To see if there is a journal published for your Irish locations of interest, follow this link, Archaeological and Historical Journals.

I have inquired about the present location of the original diary that the excerpts are taken from, but I haven't yet located it. I hope to find the diary, or at least a complete transcription of it someday. If you have any information about the diary, please let me know.

The Big Wind

My ancestor, Catherine Markey, told her granddaughter, Rita Brady, that she was one year old in the year of the Big Wind. I have learned that the Big Wind was a hurricane which struck Ireland on the evening of 6 January 1839. Catherine also told her granddaughter that she was from "County Meath near the River Boyne, 5 miles from the sea." According to A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Nicolas Carlisle (originally published in 1810, republished by Heritage books on cd-rom in 2001)this location is St. Mary's Parish in Drogheda.

Here is a description of what the residents of Drogheda experienced on the night of the Big Wind:

"As the hurricane hit Drogheda, many families fled in mortal terror for their lives as the wind thundered through their shaking homes. The nightmare atmosphere was further raised as slates and chimney pots crashed down into the streets in the darkness. Frightened horses bolted wildly about adding to the general terror and confusion. Some families made their way to the safety of the Tholsel and the Watch House. Others quit the town to spend the night huddled together in the freezing rain, under the hedgerows of the open fields.

As daylight broke on Monday morning the streets of the town were seen to be blocked with debris of every type and description. Very few houses had escaped the night undamaged. But the greatest loss and suffering was felt amongst the poor of the town. A large number of their cabins were demolished, two or three were burned to the ground, and the remainder were stripped of their thatch roofing.

Remarkably in all this destruction, not one single life was lost, nor were any serious injuries reported in the vicinity of Drogheda." -quoted from the Journal of the Old Drogheda Society, 1990 no. 7.