John Merrick (1851-1944) was born at Utica New York., one of at least five children of Patrick Merrick and Marry Ruddy. He married Mary McNulty in 1872, and they had at least seven children.
He was working as a miner at the Pennsylvania Coal Co. #14 Colliery at Inkerman, Jenkins Township, Luzerne County August 22, 1907. The No. 14 Colliery was situated about halfway between Plainsville and Port Blanchard and got its name from the 14 veins that are mined. Thomas Price (1809-1877), a Welsh immigrant, is regarded by some historians as being the first man to engage in underground mining in Pittston. He opened the Blanchard Mine in the Port Blanchard section of Jenkins Township in 1833. That mine would later be part of the No. 14 Colliery. The colliery was worked by slope, drift, and shaft openings; mining the Hillman, Diamond, Checker, Pittston, Marcy, Clark, and Red Ash seams. In 1907, there were 879 men and boys working inside. The Colliery’s mine openings were all located some distance from the breaker.
The No 14 Tunnel, one of the openings on the hillside above Port Blanchard, had been driven from the Pittston vein up to the Diamond vein and a number of places in the tunnel, were “working” with roof and coal dropping often. The necessary retimbering work, taking out the old timbers and putting new ones in their place, couldn’t be done while the drivers were going and coming with their trips of coal from the Diamond vein. The inside foreman had taken the miners out of the Diamond Vein and had a double shift of 17 men on the timbering to hurry up the job so that the miners could get back to work. The men were placing what were known as “cog pillars,” interlacing ties laid horizontally, because of the caving in the upper Checker vein and the thin roof above the Diamond.
At about 2 P. M., a five-man timbering crew were preparing places to put the timber in, an extensive cave-in suddenly occurred, covering Peter Flynn, Irish, company laborer; James O’Boyle, Irish, company miner; Joseph Griglar, German, company miner; and James Koneig, German, company miner, who were entombed and killed by the caving; and John H. Eustice, an American timberman who weighed some 300 pounds was caught in the fall.
News of the fall reached the outside and a rescuing crew of some sixty men led by General Superintendent William Wallace Inglis (1871-1953) was formed. George R. Jopling, 55 and John Merrick, 50, pillar bosses who were part of the timbering crew; Patrick F. Walsh, 29, company miner; Benjamin J. George, 26, assistant mine foreman; and Thomas Huntley, 40 the outside foreman joined the rescue party.
Extra timber pillars were built to prevent additional caves and protect the rescuers. The Pittston Gazette reported, “a workman said, ‘a veritable forest has gone into the tunnel since last night.’ Mine car after mine car loaded with props were sent in in an almost continual line. A force of men was kept busy sending in the timbers and taking care of the empty cars.” Hand work removing the caved rock itself was also extremely laborious. John Eustice’s voice could be heard all the time, urging, “I’m caught here. Hurry and help get us out!”
About 4 hours after the cave, Walsh, Huntley, Jopling, Merrick, and George, reached the area where Eustice was caught. They had to climb up on the six-foot high cave, across about twenty-five feet to reach Eustice, and work with picks and shovels for three hours to move the caved rock and coal. Eustice was caught under a portion of the cave by one leg with a fractured thigh, and they had to work with the utmost care to release him. Finally, they were able to drag him from behind the slab which had pinned him down, and the rescuers carried him to safety. He recovered from the broken leg, but died in 1914 from “complications, traced to the shock of being entombed”.
A few minutes after Eustice was rescued a second cave-in took place and all hope of rescuing Boyle and Flynn, who were farther in the gangway, was abandoned, as the pillars and roof in both veins were working heavy and required immediate attention to protect those who were working to rescue the men under the rock. The bodies of O’Boyle and Flynn were recovered August 29, and the bodies of Koenig and Griglar were recovered September 1 and 6. The indications were that Koenig and Griglar had been instantly killed by the fall.
In November 1910, John Merrick was awarded a bronze medal and $1,000 for helping to dig Eustice out of the debris carrying him to safety. The four others were also added to the roll of honor and awarded bronze medals for their efforts.
Merrick moved to Inkerman as a youth and worked for 60 years at the Pennsylvania Coal Company. For my years he was a mine foreman at Barnam and Hughesville #9 collieries, retiring in 1929 when the #9 shut down.
He died June 3, 1944, in Jenkins Township, Luzerne County, Pa., and was buried at Saint John the Evangelist Cemetery, Pittston. Part of his obituary in the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader read,
“It was no surprise to friends and acquaintances of Johnny Merrick when he received the Carnegie Medal for heroism in 1907…Johnny Merrick was a mine official who did not know the meaning of fear. If there was danger, he was the first to face it. As a foreman, he never expected or allowed others to go where he himself did not lead. So it was only natural after his men were trapped that he should disregard personal considerations when their lives were at stake.”