Darr Mine disaster mentioned in new overseas documentary
As the 102nd anniversary of the Darr Mine explosion approaches, the public continues to show an interest in the tragedy – and with good reason. “Darr Mine is the second worst coal-mining disaster in the United States and the number one coal-mining disaster in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Ann Toth of Bobtown, whose grandfather Stephen (Istvan) Toth Sr. was one of the first rescuers on the scene.
The Darr Mine explosion took place on Dec. 19, 1907, in Rostraver Township, killing 239 miners.
The most recent mention of the tragedy is in a new Hungarian documentary about the Hungarian Reformed Church in America that is told in a DVD series called “The Christ Wanderers,” which is available in the United States. The documentary includes footage of Toth and the Rev. Alexander Jalso of Brownsville.
In addition, the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District includes the Darr Mine story in its coal-mining exhibit “The Darkest Month,” which will continue running through April.
And WQED-TV in Pittsburgh plans to rebroadcast its documentary “The Darr Mine Disaster” at 7:30 p.m. and midnight today.
Meanwhile, local residents who are interested in the Hungarian DVD series, which is bilingual, will find it available through the Rev. Attila Kocsis of Perth Amboy, N.J., who is a missionary to the United States for the Hungarian Reformed Church from Debrcen, Hungary.
Kocsis can be contacted at attlkcss@hotmail.com or by calling 732-442-7799.
“The film is about Hungarian churches that were established in the United States and stopped to function in past decades because they lost their membership when people moved away for different reasons,” said Kocsis, who noted the documentary has been broadcast on several television stations in Hungary.
He said, “It is in memory of those people who lived here, served here, were members of congregations, built churches and became good citizens of the United States.”
Locally, the crew filmed last year in Connellsville, Uniontown, Hazelton, Pittsburgh and Morgantown, W.Va. Filming also took place in Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia, Kocsis said.
During their filming, the crew visited St. Emory’s Cemetery in Connellsville – one of several local cemeteries in which Darr miners were buried. St. Emory’s Cemetery also holds a monument to the Darr miners.
At St. Emory’s Cemetery, the crew filmed Toth and Jalso, a Herald-Standard columnist who is a retired pastor with the United Presbyterian Church but still pastors the First Hungarian Reformed Church in Homestead. Jalso led a prayer for the Darr Mine victims that reads in part, “May they rest in peace and their memories be blessed.”
“It is a piece of history and very important,” Jalso said about the need to remember the Darr Mine disaster. “+The tragedy is deep and we should not forget those who sacrificed their lives.”
Toth visited St. Emory’s Cemetery in Connellsville again this week to lay flowers at the Darr monument.
“Death came so fast and so swift,” she said, expressing a wish that students would spend more time studying this local history.
Toth also lent some family keepsakes to the Heinz history center’s exhibit called “The Darkest Month,” which opened in December 2007 to mark the 100th anniversary of three district mining tragedies that happened in December 1907, the most disastrous month in U.S. coal-mining history.
The month began with an explosion that killed 34 miners inside the Naomi Mine in Fayette City on Dec. 1. Five days later, massive explosions and roof collapses killed 362 men in the Monongah No. 6 and No. 7 mines in Monongah, W.Va. The Darr explosion occurred Dec. 19.
The exhibit was supposed to close in June 2008 but has continued to run.
The history center released this comment by Anne Madarasz, director of its museum division, who said, “One of the reasons we’ve held ‘The Darkest Month’ exhibit over is because of its popularity – not just with the general public, but with schools and educators who find it directly applicable to their curriculum and what they’re trying to teach.”
Meanwhile, WQED will rebroadcast “The Darr Mine Disaster” at 7:30 p.m. and midnight today as an OnQ Special Edition.
The documentary premiered for the 100th anniversary and is also available for viewing on-line at the station’s Web site at www.wqed.org/ondemand. The public also can visit online at www.wqed.org/OnQ to ask for a copy of the DVD by making a request in the Talk to Us! Comment form.
David Solomon of WQED believes “The Darr Mine Disaster,” is the only full documentary done regionally on the tragedy. The station still receives requests for information on it from students and educators.
Solomon said, “I believe it’s our fourth most-viewed video on the Web site. It’s logged nearly 20,000 hits. We still get inquiries from viewers all the time asking about it.”
Jalso believes it is important to remember Darr Mine, saying, “We cannot ignore the past.”