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The experience in Western Pennsylvania of the trapped miners was a reminder to me; not only of the care and concern American people have for the hard work of the American miner. But, on a personal level, as well, I was reminded that the Topper family had been hard working individuals who worked in the mines of this country.
Cambria County, PA, had many hard working Topper men who worked, and sometimes, died in the mines. The family of Henry Topper and Elizabeth Emeigh had several sons (and grandsons) who worked in the mines. The female offspring had husbands and sons who were lost to the mines. A couple of newspaper clippings are here to tell the story.
Spouse of Malinda Catherine Topper (Lena), Henry Casper Hoyer, and their son, James Hoyer, both killed in a mine accident on 14 July 1899.
“Henry Hoyer and his son James were brought to Memorial Hospital in this city about 11 o’clock Monday, suffering from burns sustained in a mine accident at Ehrenfeld, about three hours earlier. Both are dead. The father died about 4 o’clock that afternoon and the son at 11:30 the same night. By the request of the mother, who was at her husband's side when he passed away, the boy was not told of his father's death and died ignorant of it.
“Three other men, who remained at their homes, are getting along well and will recover.
“The accident was in the mine of J.C. Scott and Son and not that of Daniel Laughman, as published in some papers. Mr. Laughman has no interest at Ehrenfeld. At the time of the explosion, which was shortly after 8 o’clock, 48 men were at work in the mine. They were working on a 'heading' and were distributed in 11 rooms. Hoyer and son were working at the highest point in the mine. The gas, being lighter than air, would naturally ascend, and consequently the Hoyers got the full force of the explosion. They had gone into the mine about 7 o’clock with open lamps, just the same as the other men used, and had not been working long when the accident occurred. The explosion tore up the railroad tracks in the mine, brought down rock and slate and loosened the supports. One man was hit on the back of the head with a stone, and he claims to have been one thousand feet away from the room where the Hoyers were at work.
“A terrible scene ensued. The miners, as soon as they recovered from the shock, thought of their own safety first. When they found that no more explosions were likely to follow they began to count to see if all the men had turned up. The Hoyers were missing.
“After the injured were removed from the mine, an endeavor was made to reach the Hoyers. It was two hours before the condition of the mine would allow the rescuers to reach them and all that time they lay in the fire damp. Finally, they got to the unfortunate men, expecting to find them dead. James was conscious, but his father was not. As soon as possible after being taken from the mine these two men were brought to Memorial Hospital. The writhing of their bodies indicated intense pain, but it is thought that the fire damp had the effect of an anesthetic on them, and that especially the father did not suffer so greatly as he would have under other circumstances. The father would recover consciousness at times, however, and was able to recognize his wife and brother, who were at his bedside.
“The bodies of Mr. Hoyer and his son were taken charge of by Undertaker Pendry, and the former being removed to his establishment on Main Street that night and the latter next morning. Both were sent to Ehrenfeld Tuesday on the 12:02 train. The funeral took place on Wednesday morning leaving the late home of the deceased at 8 o’clock and proceeding to Wilmore where Mass was said in St. Bartholomew's Catholic Church. Interment was made in the cemetery near by.
“As soon as the accident occurred all work was suspended at the mine and Mine-Inspector Evans, of this city was notified. In the opinion of some of the miners the carelessness of the fire boss in not going into the mine to see that the air was all right before work commenced, was responsible for the mishap. They say he is supposed to go in at 3 o’clock every morning and make an examination, but that of late he had not been doing it. Others think a fall of slate released the gas suddenly just about the time the explosion occurred. The existence of gas in sufficient quantities to cause an explosion is rare in this section of the state.
“As to the criticism of some of the miners that the mine boss was to blame for the accident because he did not go into the mine earlier in the morning to see if there was gas there, Mr. Evans says that it is not required and is not done except where the presence of gas is known or suspected, and there was not the least reason for either in the mine in question, as gas had not been found there or in the vicinity before. In this instance it had been released, he believes, by a fall of roof some time between the cessation of work Saturday evening and it's beginning Monday morning.”
The same newspaper gave an account of the funeral.
The largest funeral ever witnessed in Wilmore occurred today in the burial of Mr. Hoyer and his young son, who met their death in a mine explosion at Ehrenfeld. The procession of buggies and other vehicles from their country home and a large number who came by trains or on foot and a wheel extended along the country road for almost a mile, the freight trains on the Pennsylvania Railroad stopping above and below the crossing while the cortege following the black and white hearses containing the remains of the breadwinners passed over and up the village street to the Catholic Church, where, after the usual services, the bodies were deposited in the double grave before the unverheads of the largest gathering ever witnessed in that ‘God's Acre.’
Taken from “The Hoyer Family History” by Gerald Hoyer May 1995.
Clarence Austin Costlow, son of Matilda Jane Topper and Peter Costlow b. 3 November 1896, d. 10 February 1921, killed by fall of rock in Mine #8 Logan Coal Mine, wife Dessie Witherow.
“Beaverdale, Feb 10 . — Clarence Costlow, aged 25, was killed by the fall of rock this morning in No. 8 mine of the Logan Coal Company. The deceased's home is at St. Michael, near here. He is survived by a wife and two children, one of them a baby three weeks old. Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.”
Other Topper Mine Workers: Frank Topper b. 3 Nov. 1877 – d. 17 April 1957. Edward Thomas Topper b.5 May 1869. – d 29 September 1962. Peter Robert Topper b. 29 June 1885 – 28 Nov 1925. Bernard J. Topper b 24 Mar 1888 – d. 14 May 1962. Edward A. Topper b 27 Jul 1875 – d. 26 July 1940, watchman – coal mines.