Welcome, Guest
Username: Password: Remember me
  • Page:
  • 1

TOPIC:

"Did any of these lamps come back?" "Not one." 6 years 9 months ago #54328

  • Rory
  • Rory's Avatar Topic Author
  • Away
  • Senior Member
  • Senior Member
  • Posts: 3323
  • Thank you received: 2121
Frederick Stockman

Trooper, Prince of Wales Light Horse – Anglo Boer War
Trooper, British South Africa Police

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Orange Free State and South Africa 1901 to 31463 Tpr. F. Stockman, P OF W LT HORSE

Very little of the antecedents of Fred Stockman are known – his Attestation form for service with the Prince of Wales Light Horse, completed in Durban on 19 February 1901 tells us that he was single, 28 years of age (thus implying that he was born in 1873) and a Russian by birth. His profession or calling was that of a Seaman.

It can be supposed that Stockman was a sailor aboard one of the many vessels plying their trade around the southern coast of Africa. Durban was a popular and bustling port and had, for someone with an adventurous spirit, the added attraction at the turn of the previous century, of being a landing place for the thousands of British troops being sent to South Africa to take the fight to the wily Paul Kruger and his Orange Free State ally in what was to become known as the Anglo Boer War.

This war had been raging since October 1899 with seemingly no end in sight despite the capture of the capitals of both Boer territories – the Boers just didn’t seem to get the message that enough was enough and that they should go back to their farms.

Instead, with the conventional side of the fighting a thing of the past, they embarked on a guerrilla-type operation where small and highly mobile commandoes would harass the British lines of communication, disrupting isolated pockets of troops and generally making life difficult for everyone concerned. (On the British side at least)

It was into this phase of the conflict that Stockman stepped. Quite why he decided to join the P.O.W.L.H. is unknown as this was, primarily, a Cape-raised unit. Assigned no. 31463 he took to the field for the sum of 5/- per day having signed an undertaking that his Arms, Horse and Equipment remained the property of the State on the termination of his services.

In his despatch of 8th March 1901 Lord Kitchener dealt with the entry of the Boer General De Wet into the Cape Colony in the beginning of February, the pursuit by British columns, and his subsequent expulsion. Lord Kitchener mentioned that the Prince of Wales's Light Horse, then recently raised at Cape Town, and 'G' Battery RHA, had been put under Colonel Bethune, and had assembled at Naauwpoort. The Prince of Wales's Light Horse was engaged near Colesberg about 12th February. So it was that Stockman, soon after joining, was sent to the Cape.

When De Wet moved west from the Colesberg district, Bethune's force also crossed the De Aar line, and the pursuit was continued through Britstown, and afterwards in a northerly direction to the Hopetown district. In this pursuit all De Wet's waggons, his guns, and most of his ammunition were taken. The hard riding involved a terrible strain on the pursuing columns, horses falling daily by the score.

The despatch of 8th May mentioned that Colonel Bethune's brigade "left Orange River on 1st March, and two days later attacked and dispersed a body of about 1000 Boers at Open Baar. The brigade moved north-east, and reached the Modder River, near Abraham's Kraal, on the 8th. On this date the Boers attacked an empty convoy returning from Colonel Bethune's column to Bloemfontein. The escort held its own, and being reinforced by a detachment of the Prince of Wales's Light Horse, drove off the enemy".

Colonel Bethune's Brigade now moved to the northeast of the Orange River Colony, where, under the general direction of Major General Elliot, they and numerous other columns took part in many operations. During March and April the corps suffered casualties on several occasions. On 31st March Lieutenant C F Berry was killed. The despatch of 8th July shows the Prince of Wales's Light Horse to have been 500 strong shortly before that date.

Stockman wasn’t long in uniform – he took his discharge after three months on 19 May 1901 but was soon to reappear in the British South Africa Police with who he served from 28 January 1902 until 7 April 1902 at which point he must have decided that his African odyssey was now at and end.

For his troubles a Queens Medal was issued to him off the Prince of Wales roll on 2 September 1905 but Stockman wasn’t destined to ever receive or wear this medal. He had passed away under horrific circumstances a year before in a Coal Mine explosion in Harwick, Pennsylvania on 25 January 1904.

The Harwick Mine disaster went down in the history books as one of the most calamitous to ever strike the American nation. The Courier, Connellsville, Pennsylvania edition of January 26, 1904 told the story under the banner

Over 100 Victims Make Up Dead List of the Explosion in Harwick Mine

Cheswick, Pa., Jan. 26. -- By an explosion in the Harwick mine of the Allegheny Coal Company, 16 miles from Pittsburg. Western Pennsylvania promises to add one of the greatest tragedies of years to the already long list of mine fatalities. Even the officials of the Allegheny Coal Company, the owners of the mine, do not know at this time the number of men still entombed in the chambers of the mine 220 feet below the surface, but a conservative estimate places the number at 184.

Even General Manager George Schuetz of the coal company, who is in charge of the mine, gives little hope that many of the men will be brought to the surface. The first ray of hope that any of the men had escaped the tremendous concussion of the explosion came at six o'clock last night when Adolph Gunia was brought to the surface still living.

From all that can be gathered at this hour between 180 and 190 men are lying dead in the headings and passageways of the Harwick mine of the Allegheny Coal Company. Cage after cage has gone down into the mine and come up again but the only miner of all those that went down to work has been brought to the surface. The rescued miner is Adolph Gunia, and is still in a semi-conscious condition at the temporary hospital at the rude schoolhouse on the hillside above the mine.

In addition to the miners who were at work when the explosion occurred, it is now believed by practically all of the men of the rescue party who have come up the 220 foot vertical shaft for a warming and a breathing spell, that Selwyn M. Taylor, the Pittsburg mining engineer who plotted the mine and who was the first to reach the bottom after the explosion, is now among the list of dead.




The explosion occurred at 8:20 in the forenoon and the first warning was the sudden rumble underground, then a sheet of flame followed up the deep shaft. Both mine cages were hurled through the tipple, 20 feet above the landing stage and the three men on the tipple were thrown to the ground. A mule was hurled high above the shaft and fell dead on the ground. The injured men were taken at once to Pittsburg.

The rumble of the explosion and the crash at the pit mouth startled the little village and the wives and children of the men below rushed to the scene of the disaster. There was no way to get into the deep workings. The cages that let the men into the mines and brought them out again when the days work was done were both demolished.

All day long there was a jam about the mouth of the pit and there were calls for assistance and for surgical aid from the men in charge of the mine, but it was not until 4 o'clock in the afternoon that the first attempt at rescue was made. This was a failure, as the two men who volunteered were driven back by the foul air.




Shortly after 5 o'clock, Selwyn M. Taylor and one of his assistants signalled for the engineer to lower them into the shaft. Taylor is still down there. Three times efforts have been made to reach him, but so far without avail. Thomas Wood, one of the first of the rescue party hauled to the surface, told his story of his trip through the mine. He said:

"I was with Taylor and we clambered over three or four falls. Taylor laid out the mine and seemed to know the way. There was one man alive at the foot of the shaft. He was sent up and then we took the mule path into the south level. We saw two men who were alive and notified those back of us and then went on. We passed the third, fourth and fifth headings and then through an overdrift into the air shaft. I began to feel dizzy and sick and then I saw Taylor stagger and fall. His lantern fell. We tried to lift him up, but could not carry him, and I made my own way to safety."

F. W. Cunningham, the mine inspector of the Fourteenth district, reached Harwick at 7:30 p.m. He said:

"I went to Greensburg to inspect a mine and when I reached home I found a bunch of telegrams telling me of this disaster. The mine was inspected, I think, about the 1st of December. There was some gas in it then, but I never considered the mine dangerous."

The last inspection plank hanging on the nail in the mine company's office is dated July 17, 1903, but it is evident that a later report has been torn off. Among the rescue party now in the mine, in addition to Inspector Cunningham, and Jack McCann, Bob North, Robert Carney, Henry Becker, Robert Gibson and William Walkenerst. An additional party of 20 has just gone down.

Three of the rescuers, Becker, Smith and Walkenerst, when they returned to the surface declared that all in the mine outside of the rescue party are dead, including Taylor, the engineer.

Manager Schuetz has telegraphed to Chief Mine Inspector Roderick at Harrisburg as follows: "Two outside men dead of injuries. But one brought out of shaft who is still living. Rescuing party in mine, including Mine Inspector Cunningham, who will advise later."

H. F. Hutchinson, who gave out the lamps to the miners before they went to work in the pit, said:

"At 7:15 o'clock, the time when everyone is supposed to be at work at the mine, I had given out between 180 and 190 lamps. That was one lamp to a man."

"Did any of these lamps come back?"

"Not one."

There is a light in every cottage in the little hamlet above the pit mouth. There is still a crowd about the mouth of the shaft but it will probably be hours before the full extent of the catastrophe is known.

The first attempt at rescue was made at 1 o'clock by Robert North and Jack McCann, one of the engineers employed by the company, who tried to get into the mine by way of the stairs through the air shaft. They managed to grope their way some distance but were finally driven back by the foul air.

The main shaft into the mine, 220 feet deep, was made by a loss by the explosion, which hurled both cages, one of which was within 30 feet of the bottom of the shaft, through the tipple, 30 feet above the surface.

Shortly after 5 o'clock a temporary rigging had been put in place over the mouth of the main shaft and a small bucket capable of carrying three men fastened to the tackle. The first try with the new rig was made by Selwyn M. Taylor, the mining engineer, who had been summoned from Pittsburg, and an assistant J. M. Rayburn.

A crowd of anxious men and women were gathered at the pit mouth as the two men were lowered into the black shaft on the work of rescue. Slowly the rope on the big drums of the engine began to unroll and the two engineers disappeared.

Still there was no sound from the depths below except the occasional shout from the men in the bucket to stop while they tested the air. Then the cage reached the bottom. There was a silence of full 40 minutes and then came the summons to haul up slowly. When the cage reached the top Rayburn was there and with him was Adolph Gunia, still alive, but gasping for breath and evidently seriously injured.

Again the cage went down into the darkness, and this time it carried with it E. Taylor, an assistant of Selwyn M. Taylor, and also Robert North and J. McCann, who had made the first attempt.

There was also a call for volunteers to aid in the work of rescue and a call for hammers, nails and brattice cloths to enable the rescuers to brattice up the headings so that they can grope their way back to where the men were at work.
So Stockman, whose remains were never recovered, had survived the Boer War to perish in a far-away place. His Attestation papers carried the following message scrawled across the page:

"Killed in a coal mine explosion at Harwick, PA, USA 25/1/04 - Administrator of Estate Mr. E.A. Arthur, Attorney at Law, 314 Frick Building, Pittsburg, PA., U.S.A."

Fred Stockman was no more and one can only wonder who remained to cherish his memory.










The following user(s) said Thank You: Brett Hendey, jim51

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

"Did any of these lamps come back?" "Not one." 6 years 9 months ago #54329

  • QSAMIKE
  • QSAMIKE's Avatar
  • Offline
  • Senior Member
  • Senior Member
  • Posts: 5792
  • Thank you received: 1873
Thank You Rory.......

Not only for the military history of Trooper Stockman but for the story of the mine disaster.......
My Grandfather on my mothers side was a miner in Wales and also a Rescue Leader in the event of problems..... He told me many stories when I was a kid but did not really appreciate them..... He suffered from Black Lung and had been gassed in WW 1, yet smoked every day and passed away at over 100.....

Thanks again Rory, this one struck home......

Mike
Life Member
Past-President Calgary
Military Historical Society
O.M.R.S. 1591
The following user(s) said Thank You: Rory

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

"Did any of these lamps come back?" "Not one." 2 years 6 months ago #78662

  • ResearchRescue
  • ResearchRescue's Avatar
  • Offline
  • Senior Member
  • Senior Member
  • Posts: 106
  • Thank you received: 101
Hello Rory

This is a death list from the Harwick disaster published in the Report of the Department of Mines Of Pennsylvania Part II Bituminous 1904 (published in 1905)

It lists 125 identified names( 123 men in the mine and 2 rescuers) . Stockman is not on the list (unless he was using an alias) However, there is a cross after the last name listed which denotes Fifty-six unknown Americans(see last page of list).













Regards

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Page:
  • 1
Moderators: djb
Time to create page: 1.611 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum