
Miner's final note: 'Tell all I'll see them on the other side'
TALLMANSVILLE, West Virginia (CNN) -- "It wasn't bad just went to sleep."
Those were the words that 51-year-old Martin Toler Jr. scrawled on a piece of paper in a note to his family, as he was dying in the darkened Sago coal mine where he and 11 other miners perished after an explosion early Monday.
"Tell all I see them on the other side JR I love you," wrote Toler, a section foreman who had spent 32 years working in coal mines.
Toler's nephew, Randy Toler, said his uncle meant to say "I will see them."
"But he, of course, in his distress left the 'will' out," the nephew said.
The piece of paper also has light pen marks on it where it appears Toler scribbled on the paper in an effort to get the pen to work.
The note was released Thursday by Toler's family, who had received it from the coroner.
Randy Toler said the note, written on the back of an insurance form, "was the most precious thing that I believe I've ever seen." (Watch the miner's nephew talk about the note -- 9:10)
He also said that his uncle was a religious man.
"His last scripture in church Sunday night was 'save your affections on things above, not on Earth,' " Randy Toler said.
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