1930 — Oct 27, Wheatley No. 4 Coal Mine Gas Explosion, McAlester, OK — 30
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-25-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–30 Herbert (Bureau of Mines). “October 27, 1930: Wheatley No. 4 Mine…30 Killed.” Report.
–30 Kalisch “Ordeal of the Oklahoma Coal Miners,” p. 339 in Chronicles of Oklahoma, 1970.
–30 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC. Mine Disasters.
–30 United States Mine Rescue Assoc. Mine Disasters in the United States. Wheatley No. 4.
–29 National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
Narrative Information
Herbert (Bureau of Mines): “About 9:30 p.m. the underground night shift of 30 men was all killed by an explosion. One, a trip rider, was killed at the mouth of the slope as he was loading material into a car. Almost every stopping in the mine was blown out, as was much of the timbering, resulting in heavy falls of rock, except along the slope. Rescue crews and equipment arrived during the night and temporary stoppings of brattice cloth were put in to restore ventilation into the section where the night shift had been working. The work was done without the use of apparatus except for the recovery of the last 3 bodies in the 15th west, removed by a crew at 4:00 p.m. October 30.
“Explosive gas had accumulated in the face of a crosscut and air-course after the line curtain was removed while coal was loaded out. A mining machine cut into the crosscut from the other side, and the gas was carried over the controller and ignited. The explosion was propagated by coal dust over the entire mine. Rock dusting was so limited in extent that the effect was negligible. Ventilation was inadequate and carelessly maintained.” (Herbert, C. A. “October 27, 1930: Wheatley No. 4 Mine, McAlester, Okla., 30 Killed.” Bureau of Mines report.)
Kalisch: “…accumulation of gas and ‘careless ventilation’ combined to create a blast which killed the entire night shift of thirty at the McAlester, Wheatley No. 4 mine. The detonation of the explosion was heard over two miles from the from the scene and this time there were not even a few survivors. ‘No attempt was made to identify the bodies,’ news dispatches reported. As the dependent parents, widows, and infants received no benefits, the Red Cross announced it would furnish a $70 funeral and bury the victims without any cost to the stricken families.” (Kalisch “Ordeal of the Oklahoma Coal Miners,” p. 339 in Chronicles of Oklahoma, 1970; citing Dallas Morning News, October 28, 1930.)
Newspaper
Hartshorne Sun, OK. “The Bodies of 25 Miners Taken From Stricken Mine.” 10-30-1930:[1]
“Up to about 9:00 o’clock this morning, 25 bodies of miners entombed in Wheatley Mine No. 4 located just west of the state penitentiary at McAlester, killed by an explosion Monday night, had been removed. There were 29 men in the mine at the time of the explosion, which, counting William DONLEY, who was in charge at the mine entrance, and was also killed by the force of the explosion, makes a total toll of 30 men, as there is positively no hope of finding a single man alive. The work of removing bodies were made necessarily slow on account of the afterdamp in the mine, and because of the wreckage, which almost clogged some of the passages. It is another terrible toll of life, given for the coal industry, and every person deeply sympathizes with the wives and orphans of the dead miners. Following are the names of the miners in the mine, as given out by the company:
Nick ZONTIC,
Nick ZONTIC, Jr.,
Sam ROBERTS,
- LEWIS,
Barney BLUE,
Isam COLE,
- P. HAMMAN,
Marcellus ROSS,
Joe McCAULEY,
Richard FAUCKNER,
Bob CORRITER,
Frank HUSTED,
Seth HEATHCOCK,
Steve DELUGAS,
Tony CAMPBELL,
John WRIGHT,
Harry LEHMAN,
Bob LOUERO,
Dominic MOLET,
Ernest FEARS,
Frank POPPY,
T.B. MEREDITH,
W.H. McMURTRY,
Tom HOLT,
Lige McBEE,
Phillips BIETZ,
John GHIGO,
Homer BOND, and
Augus MASCO.
Sources
Hartshorne Sun, OK. “The Bodies of 25 Miners Taken From Stricken Mine.” 10-30-1930. Accessed 1-25-2025 at:
https://www.ancestry.com/boards/topics.occupations.mining.us.okminers/51
Herbert, C. A. “October 27, 1930: Wheatley No. 4 Mine, McAlester, Okla., 30 Killed.” Bureau of Mines report. Cited at: http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.occupations.mining.us.okminers/51/mb.ashx
Also accessed 1-25-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/1930_Wheatley_Report.pdf
Kalisch, Philip A. “Ordeal of the Oklahoma Coal Miners,” pp. 331-340 in Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. XVLIII, No. 3. 1970. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1TMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA338&dq=Bureau+of+Mines+Bulletin+586&ei=OL1eSdaRFYPmzATs-ZS_BA#PPA263,M1
National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research.. Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed 1-25-2025 at:
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/NIOSH-Mining/MMWC/MineDisasters/Table
United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. “Samples Coal Company, Wheatley No. 4 Mine Explosion, McAlester, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, October 27, 1930, No. Killed – 30.” Accessed 1-25-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/wheatley_news_only.htm
[1] This transcription is courtesy of someone identified only as “Sandy W.”