Death and Disaster: 1922
Wednesday, 30th of August
She heard the noise, a bang. And she looked…There's your father, he's gone…" John Gibson left his wife and six children behind
Margaret Cameron, in Lynne Bowen, Boss Whistle (2002).
It was your usual August afternoon in the Valley. Dr. Hicks, the Cumberland practitioner, was conducting his regular visits in Union Bay, Miss Nora Ballatti and Dr. Carson were making their rounds in the Cumberland hospital, while the mining men and boys were down in the cavernous coal pits.
Then, at two in the afternoon, a small tremor rippled beneath the feet of the Cumberland locals and the mine telephone rang…
The message came through. Another explosion in No. 4 Mine.
A first aid team rapidly assembled, preparing for a rescue mission. While Dr. Hicks scrambled back to Cumberland, Nurse Ballatti and Dr. Carson dashed from the hospital down to No. 4 Mine.
Going against the gendered norms of the time, Ballatti adamantly demanded she would join the rescue team. Together with Hicks and Carson, they bravely descended into the mine in hopes of bringing some of the husbands, sons and brothers that were injured in the explosion back to their families.
They came across a terrible sight: miners’ bodies scattered amongst debris and rubble. Twelve men were killed instantly in the explosion. A further six died in their Cumberland hospital beds from their injuries. The newspapers hailed the endeavors of the hospital team as ‘heroic’. Their courage saved thirteen men, allowing them to return to their families.
The disaster happened at two o’clock, and by seven o’clock the injured were all in the hospital, and the dead had received a place in the undertaking parlors."
The Cumberland Islander (September, 1922).
Hajime Kajiyama
Nineteen year-old Hajime Kajiyama was a victim of the 1922 mine accident in No. 4. Hajime was also a member of the Royston Lumber baseball team.
During that time, the white-owned written press rarely published details on Japanese victims’ lives. As a result, we do not have further information on his life besides a portrait and his grave post marker.
In fact, there are many other Chinese and Japanese victims for which we don't even have a correct name.
The No.1 Nippon and No. 5 Suns teams stand at the grave of Hajime Kajiyama.
