The Pinkney Mine disaster near West Point stands out as the worst industrial accident in Lawrence County history. When the dust of the disaster finally settled, at least thirteen men were dead and more than a dozen were seriously injured. The mine at Pinkney produced brown iron ore, and was served by a spur of the L&N Railroad. In early 1897, the mining company constructed a new tipple, which is a structure used to move the extracted ore for transport from the mine into railroad hopper cars. The completed tipple towered 65 feet in the air, and the miners who had watched its construction were leery of it from the beginning. According to Tennessee Tragedies by Allen R. Collins, the completed tipple lacked crucial lateral bracing, a point which mine company management shrugged off. When the tipple was completed, it was tested. After bearing the weight of twenty empty ore cars, and then twenty full ones, the tipple was put into use. On the afternoon of May 13, 1897, the miners worst fears came to life. Jim and Charley Crow, the father-son engineer-fireman team who operated the train which pulled the ore cars from the mine, set out onto the tipple that afternoon. The weak structure creaked and groaned and collapsed beneath the trains weight. Everyone atop the tipple dropped 65 feet into the valley below. Jim and Charley Crow, it is said, were locked in a final embrace as they fell downward, the son dying instantly and the father dying two minutes later, after kissing his sons forehead one last time. The eleven other men standing atop the tipple all died when the structure collapsed. Two men leapt from the tipple in time to escape with only minor injuries--one jumped into a tree and walked away with a broken jaw and a small tree-limb impaled through his chin. The other man somehow escaped the tragedy with only a sprained ankle. A local doctor named Turner was summoned to the scene of the accident, and he treated the wounded as best he could. As word spread about the tragedy, the L&N Railroad sent a train to the mine with three doctors from Florence. It took the train six hours to arrive. In the meantime, Turner covered the bodies of the dead with sheets and laid them aside to await family members. News of the disaster spread fast. As can be seen by this collection of newspaper articles from six different states, the story of the Pinkney Mine disaster made national headlines within three days. In addition to the examples shown here, the New York Times also ran an article about the tragedy. The victims families received some financial restitution from the mining company, but none received more than $500 to compensate for their loved ones death. The injured were allowed to continue drawing their salaries of 80 cents per day until they were fully recovered.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 04:26:13 +0000
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