Miner Recollections — The Frostburg Express
Four Brothers
by Polla Horn & Bucky Schriver · The Frostburg Express
Billy Drummond
Billy was next to die, he was 19 when he was crushed between two loaded coal cars at the Frost Mine in 1903. During my research, I discovered that an empty coal car weighed 2,040 pounds. Billy lived for three days after the accident. Can you imagine the pain he suffered? The fourth brother was James, my grandfather. He was the only brother to survive. My grandfather died from miner’s asthma when he was 54 years old. I never got the chance to meet him.
After hearing and reading about these four brothers, I wondered how my great grandmother ever survived the tragedies. I believe the men in those days carried the financial and physical burdens on their backs but the wives, mothers, and children carried the emotional burdens in their hearts.