The History of Black Lung
Black Lung was the name of a coal miner who died of the dreaded
lung disease in the 1880s after a phlemy lifetime of searching America's
deepest, darkest, dankest holes in search of an elusive Motherlode.
Lung's father, a wealthy British industrialist, owned several coal mines in the U.S..
Father and Son were forever at odds. Lung the First insisted his son follow in his
coal-encrusted footsteps, while Lung the Second defiantly pursued his own minerly interests.
Black Lung Sr. was to die of infection from a gunshot wound inflicted by his nephew,
who believed Lung Sr. had murdered his father.
At the end of his own twisted road, Black Lung Jr. died of the coal dust in one of his father's mines, his last place of wretched refuge after hitting rock bottom in his obsessive search for gold, silver and diamonds.
Equally as famous was Black Lung's beautiful, strong-willed and intelligent wife, Lilly Alice Lung,
who faithfully remained by his side until his death.
While her husband rushed headlong towards an early grave, Lilly nursed a career as
an accomplished writer and songstress, as detailed in a journal recently handed over
by her family to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C..
Lilly's account of her husband revealed a man of passion and depth who loved his wife
with a deep devotion. In spite of her repeated warnings, he continued to strive for the unattainable
until, pale with death and black from coal, he left her side forever.
Lilly went on to live a long and happy life, settling in San Francisco to write and perform. She would
never marry again, but had many celebrated love affairs over the course of her life after Black Lung.
But that's entirely another story, so let's head for...
