For folks who are interested in the coal industry or coal history, there’s plenty to love about the West Virginia Book Festival, being held this weekend at the Civic Center here in Charleston.
First off, my friend Bonnie Stewart will be giving a talk about her new book, “No. 9: The 1968 Farmington Disaster” on Saturday at 10 a.m. We’ve talked about Bonnie’s work before on Coal Tattoo here and recall a great NPR piece that gave a preview of the book here. It’s also been featured on the Gazette’s book festival blog by my boss, Gazette City Editor Greg Moore.
Earlier this week, the Gazette’s Dr. Paul Nyden had a story in the paper about the book, writing:
Records and documents, Stewart writes, show the 1968 “disaster easily could have been prevented. The company men responsible for the mine’s day-to-day operations knew the mine was dangerous, but did not slow or stop production to make it safe.
“Everyone in the mine was under intense pressure to produce coal . . . . State and federal inspectors ignored the mine’s glaring and egregious ventilation violations.”
One of the book’s saddest stories is about 48-year-old Emilio Megna, who had one more shift before he would retire and open up a gas and repair service station in Worthington.
“Just eight more hours, 600 feet underground inside the cold and dark tunnels, then he would no longer have to breathe coal dust or scrub it from his face and clothes each day.
“No longer would he have to worry about methane gas explosions or roof falls that could bury him alive,” Stewart writes.
“The day before the No. 9 exploded, Emilio’s 16-year-old son, Joe, tried to convince his father to play hooky and go trout fishing. But Emilio would not do it, said he owed it to the company to work his last shift.”
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