September 22, 1934: The Gresford Colliery Disaster

The memorial to the Disaster

September 22, 1934: The Gresford Colliery Disaster occurs in Gresford, about 3 miles north of Wrexham, Wales. A total of 266 deaths is attributed to it.

Like the rest of the island on which Great Britain rests, also including England and Scotland, Wales is coal-mining country. The Gresford Colliery had opened in 1911, and, by 1934, in spite of the Great Depression, employed 2,200 people.

Tthe mine was extremely dry, unlike mines to the west of the fault, and was therefore prone to firedamp: Any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata. When they are penetrated, the release can trigger explosions.

This is what happened in Gresford's Dennis Shaft, at 2:08 AM on September 22, 1934, with about 500 men working the overnight shift. Because of the intense heat, only 6 men were recovered alive, and 11 were recovered dead. The rest were presumed incinerated.

Without any decisive evidence, the report of the investigation, issued 3 years later, could not attribute any outright blame or definitive cause for the disaster.

In 1947, the Labour government created the National Coal Board, nationalizing the industry. Gresford Colliery finally closed on economic grounds in 1973. In the 1980s the site was redeveloped as an industrial estate. In 1982, a memorial to the victims of the disaster was erected nearby; it was constructed using a wheel from the old pit-head winding gear. The last direct link to the disaster, Eddie Edwards, who began work in the mine aged 14, and who participated in the rescue efforts, died on January 6, 2016, at the age of d 102.

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September 22, 1934 was a Saturday. The British soccer team I would one day begin supporting, Arsenal F.C. of North London, traveled to Yorkshire, and played Sheffield Wednesday to a 0-0 draw at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

In America, it was early in the college football season, and most schools in what would later be called the major conferences hadn't yet begun their seasons. Most games played that day ended up having little significance. But these baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 3-2 at Braves Field in Boston. Hal Schumacher walked Les Mallon with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning, forcing Randy Moore home with the winning run. Giants player-manager Bill Terry went 1-for-4 with a walk. Mel Ott went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 and 11-7 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-8 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns, 8-3 and 15-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up the next day, as part of a doubleheader. The Yankees swept, 1-0 and 5-4. Lefty Gomez pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener. In the nightcap, Ben Chapman singled Red Rolfe home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Red Ruffing went the distance for the win. Over the 2 games, Babe Ruth, in his last few days on the Yankee roster, went 0-for-5 (he only appeared in the 2nd game as a pinch-hitter), and Lou Gehrig went 3-for-7 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. 

* The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies were rained out at Ebbets Field. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on the following Monday, September 24. The Dodgers swept, 5-3 and 10-1. The Cardinals won the 1st game, 9-7. Jesse Haines was the winning pitcher, and Dizzy Dean got the save, not that anyone knew what a save was at the time. The Reds won the 2nd game, 4-3. In the bottom of the 9th, Dizzy's brother Paul Dean was done in by his own throwing error, and Dizzy had to come in to relieve him. But Mark Koenig, of the 1927 Yankees, hit a sacrifice fly to win the game.

* The Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators were rained out at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. This game was also made up as part of a doubleheader on the following Monday, September 24. The A's swept, 5-4 and 3-0. In the nightcap, Bill Dietrich pitched a 3-hit shutout against the defending AL Champions.