Fraternity-Testvériség, 2008 (86. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)

2008-01-01 / 1. szám

Monongha disasters marked the first use of self-contained breathing apparatus in a deep-mine rescue in the U.S. Other major advances in mine safety followed soon after. Within six months, the U.S. Geological Survey created the Mine Accident division and opened a station devoted to research of mine rescue techniques in Pittsburgh. In two years, branch stations were established in Illinois, Tennessee and Washington. And on July 1, 1910, an Act of Congress established the U.S. Bureau of Mines.”

The Commemoration this fall sponsored mainly by the two Hungarian fraternal benefit societies, HRFA and the William Penn Association, was especially moving because friends, relatives, local dignitaries, and the media converged on the small Baptist church on the cemetery grounds to pay tribute in an especially poignant ceremony in light of the Utah mine collapse in August, 2007, and two especially horrific recent mine events in China and in Africa. A local miner’s daughter whose dad died from Black Lung disease but who had no connection to the Darr Mine event other than passing the marker going to work each day was curious about the advance publicity given this commemoration and brought her husband. John and Mary Lou Pécsi Magiski handed out commemorative book marks at the door in memory of their grandfather Lajos Pécsi who was killed in another mine accident two years after Darr Mine’s tragedy in 1909 at Peters Creek Mine. Local Van Meter and Smithton residents seemed particularly moved with the speeches, the VFW Honor Guard, the wreath- laying followed by the 21-gun salute, taps, and a bagpiper who played “Amazing Grace” at the

VFW Honor Guard preparing for the 21-gun salute.

monument site where 71 miners lay in a common grave. Rev. Stefan I. Torok of Somerset, NJ, representing the Hungarian Reformed Church in America upon the request of Bishop Sándor Szabó, said, “This is a day I’m proud of, not only to remember but now to sadly reflect on how these events have impacted my own life. The miners’ names, recorded in today’s program, are written in the

book of life and, more importantly, are written in our hearts.”

Rev. Imre Bertalan, Jr., Executive Director of the nearby Bethlen Communities in Ligonier, PA which originally housed the widows and orphans taken in by Hungarian Reformed pastors Rev. Sándor Kalassay and Sándor Harsanyi, said, “These fallen miners were simply breadwinners made heroes mainly through tragedy.”

George Dózsa, Director of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (HRFA), said, “The irony of history is that the same year this tragedy occurred, in 1907, HRFA received its U.S. charter which began our fraternal’s patriotic, cultural and charitable efforts.”

Rev. Ilona Komjáthy, pastor of the First Hungarian Reformed Church of Pittsburgh, PA reminded attendees that following the disaster, the widows and orphans had to vacate their small cottages near the mine site, a coal mining rule if the family’s breadwinner died or left. “If not for the two Reformed pastors, Kalassay and Harsanyi,” Komjáthy said, “these women and children would have had no place to go. In fact, a street in Ligonier, PA is named Kalassay Drive in one of the minister’s honor.”

Pennsylvania State Representative from Pittsburgh, the Honorable Nicholas M. Kotik, echoed her sentiments. Ironically, historian and Pastor Chip Norton, keynote speaker, purchased the Darr Mine pit boss’s home and after extensive renovation, lives there today with his wife Hope. Nortan said, “Because of where we live and walk, I feel like I’m standing on holy ground today. Exactly 100 feet from my front door, the bodies were laid out as they were brought from the mine.” He went on to read the mine inspector’s report that listed the miners’ ages, names, and numbers of children and widows left behind. Among the many nationalities of Scottish, German, Russian, Slovakian, Polish, and Austrians, the greatest number of fatalities, 116, were Hungarians. “ No wonder this event is still called “Black December,” Norton said.

In addition to displaying many artifacts discovered in the Darr Mine area following the mine’s closure, including the porcelain, enameled numbers taken from the front of the small cottages where the miners lived and the metal numbers taken from the front of coal cars as they emerged from the mine to be weighed, Norton read small biographies of three of the Hungarian miners who died to give an overview of the people who worked there. First was 29-year-old László Bensa, single, who came from Hungary through Ellis Island in 1902. He had left a family in Hungary but had none here. He worked at the mine for 5 years.

The second profile was of Andrew (András) Contra, an 18-year-old laborer who was single and arrived in the U.S. in 1904. Three years later, he died in the mine disaster.

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