Cumberland Evening Times: January 25, 1949, p.11
Two Die In Explosion At Stoney Run Pit
An official investigation... into the cause of an explosion late yesterday afternoon at the...mine, on Stoney Run near Westernport, which took the lives of two men and miraculously; spared the life of a youth who was working 30 feet away.
Killed were Fred William Knisley, 23, Eckhart; and Kenneth Brown Riggleman, 33, Westernport. Both men died, from loss of blood, Dr. H. V. Deming, county deputy medical examiner, reported.
The investigation of the blast, said to have been an "explosion of explosives"...Both men, veterans of World War II, were experienced miners.
Kenny was the son of John Wilbur Riggleman and Minnie Alice [Lambert] Riggleman.
Suggested edit: Miner Recollections by Polla Drummond Horn
James Oliver Statton Armold and Kenneth Riggleman
James Oliver Statton Armold was born on April 15, 1889 in Great Capon, WV, the son of Joseph and Roseann Armold. By age 12, he was residing with his aunt and uncle, Margaret and Uberto Lanham.
As a young man of 22 years, he married Anna Loretta Stine and became the step-father of two children, Nellie and Eva. Employed as an orchard worker and railroad laborer, he worked hard to support his growing family. Four additional children (James, Walter, Margaret and Madeline) were born between 1911 and 1923.
Supporting a wife and six children was no easy task. James and Anna moved many times in their quest to find employment. In 1929 they moved six times, causing little Madeline to fail her first year of schooling. The family finally settled in Franklin, MD where James found work in the Mill Run Mine of JOJ Green Coal Company.
On April 15, 1935, his 46th birthday, James was injured by a fall of roof bone. Bone coal is a seam of coal located just below the Big Vein. It is a lower grade of coal with less BTU’s, not burning quite as hot as Big Vein coal.
James had shot some coal loose on April 12thprior to a three day break. Upon returning to work on the 15th, he heard the roof give while shoveling the loosened coal out onto the track. He tried to get against the face for protection, but when the bone coal fell, he was caught. His back was broken, and he was taken to Miners Hospital in Frostburg where he lingered near death.
Because the Armold family did not have a telephone, the hospital called James’ step-daughter, Nellie, to notify the family that his death was imminent. Twelve- year- old Madeline, who was visiting Nellie, ran from Piedmont Hill to Franklin, a distance of over 2 miles, to carry the devastating news to her mother. Regrettably, the family did not reach the hospital before James expired on May 30th.
After years of frequent moves and renting company houses, Anna was finally able to purchase a home of her own with her widow’s compensation. She lived in her home until a few months before her death in 1950.
James and Anna are buried in the Philos Cemetery, Westernport.
The cruel hand of fate continued pointing its ugly finger at this family. James’ and Anna’s daughter, Margaret, married Kenneth Brown Riggleman. In 1940, while living in Baltimore, their daughter Evelyn Marie was born. She lived for just six weeks before dying at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The family returned to Western Maryland where a son, Roy Kenneth, was born in 1942. War was on the horizon and Kenneth enlisted in Company D 779th Tank Battalion. He was inducted on February 7, 1945. In March of 1945 a daughter, Shirley Jean, was born. She perished a month later. Kenneth was discharged on January 20, 1946. A year later, a son, David Gerald, was born.
After returning home from the war, Kenneth left the mines to work in his uncle’s dry cleaning business in Piedmont, WV. As a favor, Kenneth agreed to help Bill Brashear open a new coal mine in Westernport. He was scheduled to return to the dry cleaning business on January 25th. On January 24, 1949 at 3:15 PM, Kenneth Riggleman and Fred Knisley, an employee of William Brashear, were fatally injured by an explosion. Apparently, Kenneth and Fred were preparing explosives for blasting coal. The source of ignition was not definitively known.
Kenneth had survived the war only to die in a different kind of trench, an underground coal mine.
As our committee recollects our mining history, we also strive to document
the challenges faced by our coal mining families. Margaret Armold Riggleman lost her father to a coal mining accident and grieved over the deaths of two infant daughters before losing her husband in an underground explosion. She resiliently lived an additional 40 years after the death of her husband, passing away in 1989.
Our committee would like to thank Sally Atkinson, Lonaconing, for her contributions to this story.
Contributor: Shawn McGreevy (47382209) • [email protected]
View Memorial
Two Die In Explosion At Stoney Run Pit
An official investigation... into the cause of an explosion late yesterday afternoon at the...mine, on Stoney Run near Westernport, which took the lives of two men and miraculously; spared the life of a youth who was working 30 feet away.
Killed were Fred William Knisley, 23, Eckhart; and Kenneth Brown Riggleman, 33, Westernport. Both men died, from loss of blood, Dr. H. V. Deming, county deputy medical examiner, reported.
The investigation of the blast, said to have been an "explosion of explosives"...Both men, veterans of World War II, were experienced miners.
Kenny was the son of John Wilbur Riggleman and Minnie Alice [Lambert] Riggleman.
Suggested edit: Miner Recollections by Polla Drummond Horn
James Oliver Statton Armold and Kenneth Riggleman
James Oliver Statton Armold was born on April 15, 1889 in Great Capon, WV, the son of Joseph and Roseann Armold. By age 12, he was residing with his aunt and uncle, Margaret and Uberto Lanham.
As a young man of 22 years, he married Anna Loretta Stine and became the step-father of two children, Nellie and Eva. Employed as an orchard worker and railroad laborer, he worked hard to support his growing family. Four additional children (James, Walter, Margaret and Madeline) were born between 1911 and 1923.
Supporting a wife and six children was no easy task. James and Anna moved many times in their quest to find employment. In 1929 they moved six times, causing little Madeline to fail her first year of schooling. The family finally settled in Franklin, MD where James found work in the Mill Run Mine of JOJ Green Coal Company.
On April 15, 1935, his 46th birthday, James was injured by a fall of roof bone. Bone coal is a seam of coal located just below the Big Vein. It is a lower grade of coal with less BTU’s, not burning quite as hot as Big Vein coal.
James had shot some coal loose on April 12thprior to a three day break. Upon returning to work on the 15th, he heard the roof give while shoveling the loosened coal out onto the track. He tried to get against the face for protection, but when the bone coal fell, he was caught. His back was broken, and he was taken to Miners Hospital in Frostburg where he lingered near death.
Because the Armold family did not have a telephone, the hospital called James’ step-daughter, Nellie, to notify the family that his death was imminent. Twelve- year- old Madeline, who was visiting Nellie, ran from Piedmont Hill to Franklin, a distance of over 2 miles, to carry the devastating news to her mother. Regrettably, the family did not reach the hospital before James expired on May 30th.
After years of frequent moves and renting company houses, Anna was finally able to purchase a home of her own with her widow’s compensation. She lived in her home until a few months before her death in 1950.
James and Anna are buried in the Philos Cemetery, Westernport.
The cruel hand of fate continued pointing its ugly finger at this family. James’ and Anna’s daughter, Margaret, married Kenneth Brown Riggleman. In 1940, while living in Baltimore, their daughter Evelyn Marie was born. She lived for just six weeks before dying at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The family returned to Western Maryland where a son, Roy Kenneth, was born in 1942. War was on the horizon and Kenneth enlisted in Company D 779th Tank Battalion. He was inducted on February 7, 1945. In March of 1945 a daughter, Shirley Jean, was born. She perished a month later. Kenneth was discharged on January 20, 1946. A year later, a son, David Gerald, was born.
After returning home from the war, Kenneth left the mines to work in his uncle’s dry cleaning business in Piedmont, WV. As a favor, Kenneth agreed to help Bill Brashear open a new coal mine in Westernport. He was scheduled to return to the dry cleaning business on January 25th. On January 24, 1949 at 3:15 PM, Kenneth Riggleman and Fred Knisley, an employee of William Brashear, were fatally injured by an explosion. Apparently, Kenneth and Fred were preparing explosives for blasting coal. The source of ignition was not definitively known.
Kenneth had survived the war only to die in a different kind of trench, an underground coal mine.
As our committee recollects our mining history, we also strive to document
the challenges faced by our coal mining families. Margaret Armold Riggleman lost her father to a coal mining accident and grieved over the deaths of two infant daughters before losing her husband in an underground explosion. She resiliently lived an additional 40 years after the death of her husband, passing away in 1989.
Our committee would like to thank Sally Atkinson, Lonaconing, for her contributions to this story.
Contributor: Shawn McGreevy (47382209) • [email protected]
View Memorial
Cumberland Evening Times: January 25, 1949, p.11
Two Die In Explosion At Stoney Run Pit
An official investigation... into the cause of an explosion late yesterday afternoon at the...mine, on Stoney Run near Westernport, which took the lives of two men and miraculously; spared the life of a youth who was working 30 feet away.
Killed were Fred William Knisley, 23, Eckhart; and Kenneth Brown Riggleman, 33, Westernport. Both men died, from loss of blood, Dr. H. V. Deming, county deputy medical examiner, reported.
The investigation of the blast, said to have been an "explosion of explosives"...Both men, veterans of World War II, were experienced miners.
Kenny was the son of John Wilbur Riggleman and Minnie Alice [Lambert] Riggleman.
Suggested edit: Miner Recollections by Polla Drummond Horn
James Oliver Statton Armold and Kenneth Riggleman
James Oliver Statton Armold was born on April 15, 1889 in Great Capon, WV, the son of Joseph and Roseann Armold. By age 12, he was residing with his aunt and uncle, Margaret and Uberto Lanham.
As a young man of 22 years, he married Anna Loretta Stine and became the step-father of two children, Nellie and Eva. Employed as an orchard worker and railroad laborer, he worked hard to support his growing family. Four additional children (James, Walter, Margaret and Madeline) were born between 1911 and 1923.
Supporting a wife and six children was no easy task. James and Anna moved many times in their quest to find employment. In 1929 they moved six times, causing little Madeline to fail her first year of schooling. The family finally settled in Franklin, MD where James found work in the Mill Run Mine of JOJ Green Coal Company.
On April 15, 1935, his 46th birthday, James was injured by a fall of roof bone. Bone coal is a seam of coal located just below the Big Vein. It is a lower grade of coal with less BTU’s, not burning quite as hot as Big Vein coal.
James had shot some coal loose on April 12thprior to a three day break. Upon returning to work on the 15th, he heard the roof give while shoveling the loosened coal out onto the track. He tried to get against the face for protection, but when the bone coal fell, he was caught. His back was broken, and he was taken to Miners Hospital in Frostburg where he lingered near death.
Because the Armold family did not have a telephone, the hospital called James’ step-daughter, Nellie, to notify the family that his death was imminent. Twelve- year- old Madeline, who was visiting Nellie, ran from Piedmont Hill to Franklin, a distance of over 2 miles, to carry the devastating news to her mother. Regrettably, the family did not reach the hospital before James expired on May 30th.
After years of frequent moves and renting company houses, Anna was finally able to purchase a home of her own with her widow’s compensation. She lived in her home until a few months before her death in 1950.
James and Anna are buried in the Philos Cemetery, Westernport.
The cruel hand of fate continued pointing its ugly finger at this family. James’ and Anna’s daughter, Margaret, married Kenneth Brown Riggleman. In 1940, while living in Baltimore, their daughter Evelyn Marie was born. She lived for just six weeks before dying at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The family returned to Western Maryland where a son, Roy Kenneth, was born in 1942. War was on the horizon and Kenneth enlisted in Company D 779th Tank Battalion. He was inducted on February 7, 1945. In March of 1945 a daughter, Shirley Jean, was born. She perished a month later. Kenneth was discharged on January 20, 1946. A year later, a son, David Gerald, was born.
After returning home from the war, Kenneth left the mines to work in his uncle’s dry cleaning business in Piedmont, WV. As a favor, Kenneth agreed to help Bill Brashear open a new coal mine in Westernport. He was scheduled to return to the dry cleaning business on January 25th. On January 24, 1949 at 3:15 PM, Kenneth Riggleman and Fred Knisley, an employee of William Brashear, were fatally injured by an explosion. Apparently, Kenneth and Fred were preparing explosives for blasting coal. The source of ignition was not definitively known.
Kenneth had survived the war only to die in a different kind of trench, an underground coal mine.
As our committee recollects our mining history, we also strive to document
the challenges faced by our coal mining families. Margaret Armold Riggleman lost her father to a coal mining accident and grieved over the deaths of two infant daughters before losing her husband in an underground explosion. She resiliently lived an additional 40 years after the death of her husband, passing away in 1989.
Our committee would like to thank Sally Atkinson, Lonaconing, for her contributions to this story.
Contributor: Shawn McGreevy (47382209) • [email protected]
View Memorial
Two Die In Explosion At Stoney Run Pit
An official investigation... into the cause of an explosion late yesterday afternoon at the...mine, on Stoney Run near Westernport, which took the lives of two men and miraculously; spared the life of a youth who was working 30 feet away.
Killed were Fred William Knisley, 23, Eckhart; and Kenneth Brown Riggleman, 33, Westernport. Both men died, from loss of blood, Dr. H. V. Deming, county deputy medical examiner, reported.
The investigation of the blast, said to have been an "explosion of explosives"...Both men, veterans of World War II, were experienced miners.
Kenny was the son of John Wilbur Riggleman and Minnie Alice [Lambert] Riggleman.
Suggested edit: Miner Recollections by Polla Drummond Horn
James Oliver Statton Armold and Kenneth Riggleman
James Oliver Statton Armold was born on April 15, 1889 in Great Capon, WV, the son of Joseph and Roseann Armold. By age 12, he was residing with his aunt and uncle, Margaret and Uberto Lanham.
As a young man of 22 years, he married Anna Loretta Stine and became the step-father of two children, Nellie and Eva. Employed as an orchard worker and railroad laborer, he worked hard to support his growing family. Four additional children (James, Walter, Margaret and Madeline) were born between 1911 and 1923.
Supporting a wife and six children was no easy task. James and Anna moved many times in their quest to find employment. In 1929 they moved six times, causing little Madeline to fail her first year of schooling. The family finally settled in Franklin, MD where James found work in the Mill Run Mine of JOJ Green Coal Company.
On April 15, 1935, his 46th birthday, James was injured by a fall of roof bone. Bone coal is a seam of coal located just below the Big Vein. It is a lower grade of coal with less BTU’s, not burning quite as hot as Big Vein coal.
James had shot some coal loose on April 12thprior to a three day break. Upon returning to work on the 15th, he heard the roof give while shoveling the loosened coal out onto the track. He tried to get against the face for protection, but when the bone coal fell, he was caught. His back was broken, and he was taken to Miners Hospital in Frostburg where he lingered near death.
Because the Armold family did not have a telephone, the hospital called James’ step-daughter, Nellie, to notify the family that his death was imminent. Twelve- year- old Madeline, who was visiting Nellie, ran from Piedmont Hill to Franklin, a distance of over 2 miles, to carry the devastating news to her mother. Regrettably, the family did not reach the hospital before James expired on May 30th.
After years of frequent moves and renting company houses, Anna was finally able to purchase a home of her own with her widow’s compensation. She lived in her home until a few months before her death in 1950.
James and Anna are buried in the Philos Cemetery, Westernport.
The cruel hand of fate continued pointing its ugly finger at this family. James’ and Anna’s daughter, Margaret, married Kenneth Brown Riggleman. In 1940, while living in Baltimore, their daughter Evelyn Marie was born. She lived for just six weeks before dying at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The family returned to Western Maryland where a son, Roy Kenneth, was born in 1942. War was on the horizon and Kenneth enlisted in Company D 779th Tank Battalion. He was inducted on February 7, 1945. In March of 1945 a daughter, Shirley Jean, was born. She perished a month later. Kenneth was discharged on January 20, 1946. A year later, a son, David Gerald, was born.
After returning home from the war, Kenneth left the mines to work in his uncle’s dry cleaning business in Piedmont, WV. As a favor, Kenneth agreed to help Bill Brashear open a new coal mine in Westernport. He was scheduled to return to the dry cleaning business on January 25th. On January 24, 1949 at 3:15 PM, Kenneth Riggleman and Fred Knisley, an employee of William Brashear, were fatally injured by an explosion. Apparently, Kenneth and Fred were preparing explosives for blasting coal. The source of ignition was not definitively known.
Kenneth had survived the war only to die in a different kind of trench, an underground coal mine.
As our committee recollects our mining history, we also strive to document
the challenges faced by our coal mining families. Margaret Armold Riggleman lost her father to a coal mining accident and grieved over the deaths of two infant daughters before losing her husband in an underground explosion. She resiliently lived an additional 40 years after the death of her husband, passing away in 1989.
Our committee would like to thank Sally Atkinson, Lonaconing, for her contributions to this story.
Contributor: Shawn McGreevy (47382209) • [email protected]
View Memorial
