THE SAMPLE RUN COAL MINE DISASTER

On the afternoon of August 26, 1926, there was an explosion deep inside the Sample Run mine (also known at the Clymer Number One Mine). About five minutes later there was a second explosion. There were 57 men in the mine at the time; 44 of them were killed. Nine men working near the entrance were able to escape uninjured. Fathers perished with their sons; brothers perished with their brothers. Some of the men as well as teenage boys who died were from Sample Run, but it is not known for certain who they were.

Mrs. Mart Whistle, whose house was located near the main mine entrance, heard the explosion and looked out her window. She saw smoke and fire pouring from the mouth of the mine and she notified company officials. Not long thereafter rescue teams from several area mines, accompanied by Father F. S. Kondria of St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, cleared away the debris that blocked their path to the dead and dying miners. Sheriff Malcom came with 18 deputies. State Police from Greensburg later arrived to help. Four miners were rescued. The Salvation Army of Indiana and Red Cross of Johnstown provided food for the rescue workers and cared for the injured.

In August 1991, at 2 p.m., a stone memorial with a bronze plaque affixed with the names of those who died in the mine disaster was unveiled by Louis Tate and Edward Puro. The monument was placed on the lawn of the Clymer Borough building. An inscription reads:

"Working the coal mines feed a family they loved, Now they rest with their Gods, in the heavens above." Here's a list of those who died in the coal-mine disaster. Follow this link to see the tomb stones we have located.

* Note:  Names in boldface are those for which their tombstone has been located.

The dead were interred in three different cemeteries, to include the Clymer Cemetery. (Since 1870, over 51,000 men have died from mining accidents in Pennsylvania.)
 

EYEWITNESS TO THE MINE EXPLOSION
by HELEN BRAUGHLER SALSGIVER

I was 4 1/2 years old at the time of the explosion. Our farm joined the C. B. C. property and my Dad was plowing for winter grain. It was mid afternoon when my Mother got a phone call on the old farmer's line from Mrs. Whistle. The Whistle's family was running the substation on the Tanoma to Clymer Road. She said there had been a bad explosion in the mines and didn't know what effect it would have on us as we were so close to the power plant and mine entrance. My Mother sent my sister and me to the field to tell my Dad. She didn't know if the explosion would cause sinkholes. After we told Dad of the explosion, he stopped his plowing and drove the team to the barn and then went to the mine to see if he could help. Mom sat us kids on her sewing machine, which was in front of the side door facing the mines. We watched the ambulances, Red Cross and the nurses line up on the public road, which ran parallel to the road into the mine. The line of nurses seemed endless as they lined up the hill of the road. We watched until it got too dark to see. Years later, I learned from my husband that two miners had gotten out of the mine by coming up the air shaft that had been Installed on the I. T. Salsgiver farm. This was the farm my husband grew up on. In the1930s I attended Clymer High School. A lot of my classmates were children of the men who had been in the explosion. Tommy Fleitz was the engineer of the power at the time of the explosion. The family of Richard Ward's lived in the old post office on old RT 80 and Mr. Ward later would take over Tommy Fleitz's job. The old post office was approximately 500 yards from the tipple. I attended grade school in the school house just across RT 80. It was torn down for the new RT 286 road. I graduated from Clymer High School in 1939. It was a class of 72 students. This was the largest class to ever graduate from Clymer High. Minto's took over the substation after the Whistle's and the substation later became the Kemp's Antique Shop. The family farm is still owned by the Braughler family. My nephew Cal Braughler owns it now. It has been in the Braughler family for 114 years.

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