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)
Not what I expected to hear when I woke up Wednesday morning...God Rest Their Souls.
Thank you so much for the kind words--now-- and after John died.
So--it bears repeating: God Bless you!
That's why I tell my husband I love him every morning before I go to work - if (God forbid) something happens to me, it'll mean the last thing I said to him was that I loved him.
I assumed he was fighting going to sleep just long enough to write the note. He knew how he was going to die, and knew people would read it after he did die, so it makes perfect sense. Especially considering he was probably already halfway to unconsciousness.
Ya Big Dope!!
Reading both your stories reminds me of mine - my beloved Grandmother (Busia) passed away on 12-17-05. I was extremely upset and stayed up a lot of the night crying, and at one point I prayed that the Lord would just give me a sign to know that she was with Him in heaven. The next day, on my way to a cousin's house, while I was driving through an industrial park, a roadrunner crossed the road. I knew it was my sign! My Busia was an avid birdwatcher and I have NEVER seen a roadrunner in that area before, and I feel that I never will again. I just said: "Thank you, God!" because he answered my prayer and I know she is with Him!
He is truly amazing!
That's inspiring.
I am sure that anyone succumbing to this would not be clear headed enough to write a literary masterpiece......I think this message is just perfect.
Silly - he wrote a not as he was dropping off into a sleep that he knew he would never awake from...
My mother (may she rest in peace) loved Corrie ten Boom's books!
"For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me."
My Uncle was a miner. He was a good family man but he wasn't necessarily that nice. He died at about 50 of a brain aneurysm. His co-workers at the mine said nobody thought ol' Chuck would live long enough to die of natural causes.
The doctors at Allegheny General in Pittsburgh say they're keeping Randall McCloy in a drug-induced coma to help his brain heal. They claim his reactions are only reflexes at this point because his sedation is as deep as anesthesia. He may have reacted to his family in the Morgantown hospital but he supposedly can't react in his present comatose state in Pittsburgh. I think this writer may have overstated McCloy's level of consciousness.
PING ...
I tend to PING to death penalty issues but this really is an amazing story.
God bless them for doing the work so many take for granted. What a sad story... the kind of story which makes us reflect upon our own mortality and fragile lives. We are here today, but there's no guarantee we'll be here tomorrow - nor there is guarantee we'll get the chance to say goodbye to our friends and loved ones as these courageous miners did; and for so many of us as the saying goes -- the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
May they rest in eternal peace.
I come from coal mining country. I have miners on both sides of my family.My grandfather used to always wear a hat but he would always take it off in the car for the ride to work. He was asked why he takes his hat off for the ride to the mine and he said it was because he was praying for a safe day of work and he always takes his hat off when he prays.
How sweet. I know you have that heart tucked away somewhere for safe keeping. :) Sorry you lost your husband so suddenly.
---God Bless them all. A great many hearts are broken over these poor men who lost their lives. My thoughts and prayers are with the families that must go on alone.
Hugs,
Lauranne
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