By A. N.
In the 1930’s Americans were experiencing the effects of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were without work. At the time of the huge economic breakdown, Herbert Hoover was president of the United States. He lost the election of 1932 to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Americans had hopes that Roosevelt would help solve the economic crisis. Because so many Americans were out of work, families were traveling from place to place in search of work. Roosevelt established something that became known as the New Deal. These programs were put into place in order to create jobs and begin to cut down on the unemployment rate.
The small towns of Indiana were affected just as much as those in any other state in the nation. Farmers were not paying their mortgages and began to lose their land. Public relief became a point of focus for Paul McNutt, Governor of Indiana. Of the many towns that were effected, Linton Indiana was no exception. During the Great Depression, the town of Linton suffered a great tragedy. The Little Betty mine explosion of 1931 left twenty-eight men dead. The mining site was about five miles southwest of Linton. The explosion was the worst that Greene County had experienced. At the time of the blast shifts were in the middle of changing so that meant there were fewer men in the mine at the time of the blast, but over two hundred in the surrounding area. The men were waiting for the end of shift bell to sound when the blast occurred. A spark igniting quite a bit of blasting powder brought on the blast. However, it was later reported that a gas explosion caused the blast. The workers that survived the explosion described it as a “burning cyclone”. There were black clouds of what is called “damp” all throughout the mine, making it difficult to see. Right after the explosion occurred men from the crews that were coming in and out of the mine rushed to help. Crews were made up of about six to seven men.
After about a few hours men from other mines that were nearby came to help the cause as well. There were one hundred and twenty five volunteers on site. Doctors and several nurses from the Freeman County Hospital provided first aid to the wounded in a make shift hospital that was set up in the mining office. Eleven men died the night of the explosion due to injuries they sustained during the initial blast. At six thirty the following morning a rescue party discovered seven men that had survived the blast from inside the mine. These men were originally pronounced dead. Of these men, Jule Wellington had survived a previous mine explosion in February of 1925. Wellington was able to guide the men to safety and close them off from the explosion. A man named Ben Snyder was sure of the remaining member’s death. Snyder scratched the hour of the explosion on a slate in case that they were not found for a long period of time.
The explosion that Wellington survived occurred in Sullivan County in the winter of 1925. This explosion was caused by a spark from a piece of machinery. This blast killed fifty-one men on initial impact. During the 1920’s there were between fifty and sixty mines operating in Indiana and huge coal mine explosions were not an uncommon occurrence. They continued to happen all over until the state and federal authorities slowly cracked down and enforced new regulations. In this explosion, rocks that had caved in at the entrance to the mine trapped men underground. One hundred and twenty men were in the mine at the time of the explosion. When this blast occurred, the mine had only been in operation for about one year.
Little Betty was the name of the mine where the explosion occurred. It is argued whether it was part of Greene or Sullivan County. It was located just south of the four way bridge in Sullivan County. This was the third major explosion since 1925.
The town of Linton was excited to have seven survivors, but this excitement was overcome by the sadness of the loss of all the other men who due to the explosion. Ambulances from many funeral homes come to the site to collect the deceased and bring them to hospitals and morgues in Linton and nearby Sullivan. The local Red Cross established a relief fund with $1,209.62 with public donations adding up to $1,466.26. These funds were mostly used to help the families of the deceased pay their mortgages, establish trust funds for the dependents, cover burial expenses and medical aid. The governor of Indiana, Henry Guyner Leslie, paid the town of Linton a visit and gave $1,000 from his emergency relief fund. Leslie also worked very close with Dr. Earl V. Bull, who was the mayor of Linton at the time.
The superintendent of the mine, Pete Donie, initiated early rescue operations. Donie made several trips underground looking for his brother who was a pit boss. His brother Martin Donie was later found dead in the mine. While making trips into the mine, many volunteers passed out from the gas but were able to recover quickly. William and Ed McQuade provided the crews with Brattice cloth. This was used to help restore the ventilation system in the mine. Wayne Hamilton was a Linton pharmacist who helped the cause by donating his entire stock of flashlights. The entire community came out to help the cause.
Most of those who died in the explosion were residents of Linton. These men included Earl and William Bedwell, Hubert Butler, Charles Centers, Herbert Herod, John Letot, John McPhail, Henry Metz, George Neal, Don Newkirik, Dean Phipps, and John Suthard, Jr. There were also miners from nearby Pleasantville and Sullivan. The dead were burned so badly by the explosion that they were very difficult to identify when they were found.
Little Betty was owned by the Little Betty Coal Corporation of Chicago at the time of the explosion. President, L. H. Dayhoff, ran the company.
Prior to the explosion, Linton was a town with many businesses including real estate agencies, barbershops, furniture shops, etc. There were dentists and lawyers as well as surgeons. But what put Linton on the map was the discovery of the coalmines. Before the mines were uncovered Linton had a population of about three thousand. After the discovery of the mines the population reached twelve thousand in a matter of six years. This population continued to grow and develop as the mines grew. The population of Linton was almost completely white. There were very few other races, and among those, none were black.
It was said the amount of coal in the Linton mines was “inexhaustible”, and mine labor was the highest paid labor in the state of Indiana, making Linton the ideal location to move to with it’s plethora of jobs in the mines.
Early on Linton had a good education system consisting of three large schoolhouses. The city also had strong churches where everyone gathered on Sunday mornings. Linton had three newspapers, only one was printed daily. The city also relied on the railroad system to get around, including getting the men to the mines. Four railroads came through the city; the Illinois Central, the Pennsylvania, the Chicago, and the Indianapolis & Louisville. At the time, it was the only city in Indiana to have four direct railroads to Chicago and three to Indianapolis.
Coal mining regulations were not as strict at the time of the Little Betty explosion. Miners were not even required to wear hardhats until the 1930’s. To the owners of mining companies, a mule was worth more than the man doing the actual mining. If the mile died, the company would have to find and buy another and if a man died in the mines, it would be easy to find a replacement considering the country was full of unemployed men looking for work. Since 1900, over one hundred thousand miners have lost their lives in accidents underground. This caused stricter government regulation of mining companies. In early years of mining, the miners would bring canaries underground with them. A canary’s lungs, because they are so small, would die due to a lack of oxygen or exposure to methane gas. If the canary died the men knew it was time to get the heck out of there.
The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was put in place in 1969, nearly forty years after the Little Betty explosion. This act was put in place to get improved health and safety standards. This act also provided benefits to miners who suffered black lung disabilities. It took years for the government to realize that they needed to do something about the poor working conditions miners spent so much time in.
“The Magical Coal City,” Linton Public Library, 1, March, 2014.
“Historical Perspective: Coalmine disaster 80 years ago kills 28,” The Tribune Star, 4, December, 2011. 2 ,March, 2014.
“Safety,” Coal Camp Memories, 1, March, 2014.
“Indiana Coal Mine Explosion Kills 20,” The Washington Post. 29, January, 1931. 1, March, 2014
