pril 3, 1931, Pennsylvania coal mine, explosion trapped thirty-two miners 800 feet underground, twenty-nine-year-old Martha Sullivan’s husband James was among them, rescue teams began digging immediately, estimated eight days to reach trapped miners if they survived blast, if air pocket existed, if rescuers could dig through collapsed rock fast enough, Martha arrived at mine entrance within hour of explosion, set up vigil, refused to leave.
Eight days and nights Martha waited, sat at mine entrance wrapped in blankets, wives of other trapped miners joined her, eventually thirty-two wives were camped at mine entrance, waiting, praying, hoping, rescue team worked around clock, progress was slow, rock fell faster than they could clear it, mine was unstable, rescuers were risking their own lives, wives waited above while husbands were trapped below.
Martha hadn’t slept beyond brief naps in eight days, couldn’t sleep, kept thinking James was down there, possibly alive, possibly calling for her, she had to be there when rescuers reached him, had to be first per
son he saw when he emerged, if he emerged, Martha’s mind went to dark places and she pulled it back, focused on hope, James was alive, rescue would reach him, she would see him again.
Day three, rescuers heard tapping from below, Morse code, miners were alive, thirty-two trapped men were alive and conscious and communicating, wives cried with relief, Martha grabbed mine foreman’s arm, said “James knows Morse code, can you ask if he’s okay?”, foreman tapped question, r
esponse came back, thirty-one men alive, one killed in initial blast, foreman had to tell one wife her husband was dead, had to tell thirty-one wives their husbands were alive, Martha learned James was alive, day three, five more days of digging.
Days four, five, six, rescue continued, progress was steady but slow, miners below were running low on air, trapped air pocket was being depleted, rescue team worked faster, wives waited longer, Martha developed cough from exposure, refused to leave for treatment, said “James is breathing bad air 800 feet down, I can breathe cold air up here.”
Day seven, rescue team broke through into air pocket, miners were reached, were alive, were weak, were extracted one by one, James Sullivan emerged April 10, 1931, eight days after explosion, was carried up on stretcher, Martha was there, grabbed his hand, James opened eyes, saw Martha, said “You waited,” Martha said “Of course I waited, where else would I be?”
Thirty-one miners survived, one died in initial blast, thirty-one wives had waited eight days, had camped at mine entrance, had refused to leave, had been there when husbands emerged, vigil of wives became legendary, symbol of devotion and hope, women who waited eight days because they refused to give up.
James recovered, never went back to mining, couldn’t face mine again, became factory worker, lived until 1979, age seventy-seven, married to Martha fifty-six years, James told his grandchildren about April 1931: “I was trapped in mine eight days, knew my wife was above waiting for me, could feel her waiting, gave me hope when air was running out and we were losing strength, I knew Martha wouldn’t leave, knew she’d be there when rescuers reached us, she was,
d waited eight days, slept at mine entrance, refused to leave, I’ve lived forty-eight more years because Martha waited eight days, because she refused to give up on me
, I’ve tried to deserve those forty-eight years.”
Martha died 1983, age eighty-one, outlived James by four years, at Martha’s funeral her daughter told story: “My mother waited eight days at mine entrance when my father was trapped below, slept outside, refused to leave, was there when he emerged, they had forty-eight more years together after those eight days, mother and father were married fifty-six years total, those fifty-six years started with mother’s eight-day vigil, mother’s refusal to leave, mother’s absolute certainty father was alive below and would be alive when rescuers reached him, mother waited, father survived, we exist because mother wouldn’t leave that mine entrance, mother’s eight-day wait bought fifty-six-year marriage and our family, that’s my mother, that’s what love looks like when it
