Posted on 01/06/2006 8:31:12 AM PST by Former Military Chick
This letter released by the Toler family on Thursday was written by Martin Toler Jr., who died with 11 other miners in the Sago mine. The note was given to Martin's brother, Tom Toler, by the coroner. It reads "Tell all I see them on the other side JR I love you It wasn't bad just went to sleep."
(Courtesy of the Toler Family / AP)
BUCKHANNON, W. Va (Reuters) - A letter scrawled by one of the 12 miners who died after an explosion trapped them in a West Virginia coal mine offered some comfort to relatives on Friday as the single survivor remained in hospital.
Randal McCloy, who was rescued after more than 40 hours underground, was reported to have emerged from a coma and his wife said he was responding to her and their two children, though doctors were keeping him sedated.
A picture of the note written by Martin Toler Jr. showed rough letters scrawled with an ink pen on a piece of paper signed JR. "Tell all I see them on the other side," he wrote.
"It wasn't bad. I just went to sleep. I love you."
The dead miner's final words were discussed by his nephew, Randy Toler, interviewed on CNN by phone from Tallmansville, a small Appalachian mountain town where the mine is located.
"I think he wanted to set our minds at ease, that he didn't suffer, and I just think that God gave him peace at the end," Randy Toler said.
McCloy was transferred on Thursday to Pittsburgh's Allegheny Hospital for treatment to reduce carbon monoxide levels which doctors fear may have damaged his brain.
His wife Anna told ABC's "Good Morning America" her husband became excited when his two small children visited him after doctors said he was no longer in a coma. "He knows when I'm there, because when I'm there he gets excited and he's trying to lift his eyelids and look at me," she said.
McCloy's mother, Tambra Flint, said on the same program she thought some of the older miners who died might have shared their oxygen supplies with him to save the younger man who had the best chance of survival.
"I have a feeling that they did," she said.
SEVERAL NOTES FOUND
The state's worst mining disaster since 1968 was made more poignant by initial reports saying 12 of the men had survived, prompting three hours of jubilation that quickly turned to despair when the reality became apparent.
Mine authorities have said that several notes were found with the victims but only one had so far been made public. The man who wrote it, Martin Toler, 51, had worked as a coal miner for 32 or 33 years, since he was a teenager, his nephew said.
Asked why young Tallmansville boys go off to work in the mines despite the constant dangers, Randy Toler said: "When you grow up with it and you start at such a young age, when you feel you're invincible, it's an adventure-type thing. You're too young and dumb to worry about a lot of danger ...
"The danger is there, but the nation needs coal. We need energy as well as we need defense. Soldiers put their lives on the line every day and coal miners are the same way," he said.
Randy Toler said he believed other notes found with the miners' bodies were likely written with his uncle's ink pen.
"Coal miners typically don't carry ink pens, just the section boss does. .. and I'm sure he would have directed them to do that. I'm sure he probably told them that it didn't look good and they needed to make peace with their maker."
Toler said his uncle had a pleasant, joyous disposition.
"He was a very jolly, happy person who never displayed any depression or any down moments," Toler said. "He always kept his chin up, always laughing and good-naturedly teasing you.
There has been no explanation for the explosion on Monday at the Sago Mine which employs about 145 miners and produces about 800,000 tonnes of coal annually. Investigators are looking into whether it might be linked to a lightning strike.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had issued 50 citations to the Sago mine, including some for accumulation of combustible materials such as coal dust and loose coal.
(Additional reporting by Jon Hurdle in Tallmansville, Philip Barbara in Washington)
I believe, and I've had this experience, that your loved one somehow "speaks" to you with an assurance ... oh, say, during the first two weeks after they pass on.
God is an ever present help in our trouble.
Weren't the two guys in there that are in the their twentys?
There were 12 of them.
Thomas P. Anderson
Alva Martin Bennett
Jim Bennett
Jerry Groves
George Hamner Jr
Terry Helms
Jesse L. Jones
David Lewis
Martin Toler
Fred Ware Jr.
Jack Weaver
Marshall Winans
Not so much. A last memory. Something to cherish.
I haven't been in a mine in 25 years, but you never forget what it's like down there and how a couple of seconds of inattention can mean the end for you.
Sometimes the crew would ride out on conveyors. We had one boy fall asleep and it tipped him into the silo for the prep plant. It was a place you did not want to be. There were a thousand ways to get hurt or die.
The blessing is that it is a real rare thing in America, these days. You still read about huge loss of life in Asian mines.
Well, THAT brought the tears. God bless you for thinking of the best for your children.
I send my wife flowers about once a month ever since my father passed 11 months ago. Incidentally, he was a (surface) coal miner.
What a story and what a blessed legacy!
Amen and thank you, flutters.
You sure pay attention! ;-)
BTTT
Forgot the citation:
"God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble."
Psalm 46:1
Miners are not strong grammarians.
Look at the note......I'm sure it means I just WANT to go to sleep
Read the note again. He probably scribbled : Just WANT to sleep
..thanks for sharing with others.
Hope you are well.
He says he will see them on the other side.
Clearly he speaks of Heaven.
God bless you!
Hi Gwennie--good to "hear" from you. May God bless you this New Year!
God's blessings to you milagro.
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