“Mourners”

The families and friends of doomed men sit in a special area on a rise overlooking the scene of a horrible mining accident on May 24, 1965 in Brimstone Mountain in Scott County, Tennessee. Corn writes, “The opening to the mine and the grass around the entrance were scorched on all sides for 15 feet by the fiery explosion. Several of the wives were crying softly and one fainted just before her husband’s draped body was carried out…The bodies were burned almost beyond recognition, but each miner had a brass plate on his belt to aid in identification. As each body came out, a murmur would pass from person to person throughout the huge crowd with the name of the dead man. This kind of rescue effort is not new to the people who live in the coal fields, but is a carefully prepared for and rehearsed event.”