Life was finally beginning to look up for James Buggy. It had been three years since his beloved wife Kathryn passed away during the birth of their first child, leaving him with the seemingly impossible challenge of keeping a steady job in the mines that would allow him to raise his infant daughter on his own. 

And then, in January of 1917, James' prayers were answered. The thirty-year-old single father met and fell in love with a young Italian woman who also lived in the Edgewood neighborhood of Shamokin. With hair as dark as the anthracite mined in the nearby hills and piercing eyes that flashed with youthful passion, twenty-three-year-old Annie Compolo swept the lonely widower off his feet. And, much to James' delight, his new flame took an immediate liking to his motherless daughter, Eleanor. 

Four weeks later, James would realize that he had made the biggest mistake of his life.