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

2008-01-01 / 1. szám

Bishop Koloman K. Ludwig at the Olive Branch Cemetery.

Then, there was Peter (Benja) Lackatosch, an ethnic Hungarian from Romania, who arrived in the U.S. in 1907 and only worked at the mine for six months. He was thirty -two years old, married and had three children. Six days before Christmas, the tragedy occurred so Historian Norton concluded, “Imagine that Christmas for that family, homeless, with no income, no food, and most of all, no father. But others too suffered. There were 221 children affected and 521 persons left without an income.”

Mr. Kevin Stricklin, a Hungarian-American, former miner and now administrator of Mine Safety and Health Administration for the U.S. Department of Labor, said, “It’s an honor to be part of this ceremony to recognize that these miners have not died in vain. The year following this disaster, the number of mining fatalities began to drop, and never again approached the terrible total of 1907. In 1954, the number of mining fatalities dropped below 100 for the first time since mining began in Pennsylvania. Although deep mining remains a dangerous occupation, advances in knowledge, equipment and regulations have combined to make Pennsylvania’s Deep Mine Safety program a national model.”

Another Commemoration speaker, Mr. Edward Yankovich, International Vice President of the United Mine Workers of America, said that mining began in Pennsylvania in 1760 and since then, there have been 100,000 total deaths and hundreds who have died of black lung, but the Mine Workers Union, formed in 1890, is most proud of its policy of non-discrimination.

HRFA Director Joe Fabri spoke of the Join Hands Day activity during which time he and other HRFA members cleaned the cemetery’s tombstones in preparation for this

event.

As a result of the Darr Mine tragedy, the American Hungarian Federation (then known as the Hungarian American Federation) placed the first memorial in 1909. In September, 1994, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a historic site marker honoring the coal miners killed in this Darr Mine Explosion. The plaque is located at the Olive Branch Cemetery, the exact site of this fall’s commemoration. The plaque reads:

“On December 19, 1907, an explosion killed 239 men and boys, many Hungarian immigrants, in Darr coal mine near Van Meter. Some were from the closed Naomi mine near Fayette City, which exploded on Dec. 1, killing 34. Over 3000 miners died in Dec., 1907, the worst month in U.S. coal mining history. In Olive Branch Cemetery, 71 Darr miners, 49 unknown, are buried in a common grave. ”

Perhaps an even greater tribute during this Commemoration was that HRFA joined another Hungarian fraternal, the William Penn Association, to make this event such a lasting tribute to their common heritage. William Penn Fraternal Life Insurance Company President George S. Charles best summed up the feelings of most attendees when he said, “This ceremony is what America is all about. Sacrifices were made so future generations will have a better life.”

18 Fraternity - Testvériség - Winter 2007/Spring 2008