Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Visitors lined up and comforted each other at the Tomblyn-Whitescarver Funeral Chapel in Buckhannon, where miner Jesse L. Jones lay in repose yesterday. Mr. Jones was one of 12 miners killed in a Sago mine accident earlier in the week.

Grief hugged the West Virginia hollows like a thick fog.

Flags flew at half staff, a radio station gave details of a fund-raiser for miners' families and business signs urged the community to pray.

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Another sad chapter in the Sago mine tragedy began yesterday with visitation in Philippi and Buckhannon, W.Va., for four of the 12 miners who died in last week's explosion.

Craig and Lillian Beveridge of Shadyside, Ohio, drove to Philippi yesterday to pay their respects and to comfort the family of Sago miner David W. Lewis, 28.

The Beveridges lost their son in a mine explosion three years ago and felt the need to see the Lewis family.

"We came here to tell them we love them and so does God," said Mr. Beveridge.

Visitations also took place yesterday in Buckhannon for miners Jesse L. Jones, 44, Jerry L. Groves, 56, and Alva Martin "Marty" Bennett, 51.

Mourners emerged from the funeral homes grim-faced, weeping and quiet, having tried to convey some comfort for such heartbreak with simple words and gestures.

"All you can say is sorry," said Tom Moran, of Philippi, outside of the Stemple & Forman Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements for Mr. Lewis.

"I hugged his grandmother," Mr. Moran's wife, Grace, said.

John Jackson, a Sago miner, said he told Mr. Lewis' family to call if they need help.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jackson will have to decide whether he wants to continue work as a miner.

At this point he isn't sure he does.

"Time will tell," he said.

Fred Burnside, of Morgantown, W.Va., said Mr. Lewis' widow, Samantha, was holding strong.

"We just told her we're there for her," he said.

Mrs. Lewis also received comforting words in a letter her husband wrote while trapped in the mine, said the Rev. Mark Flynn, the pastor of First United Methodist Church of Buckhannon.

He wouldn't reveal the letter's contents, but said, "He left behind a letter that was a tremendous gift."

Some mourners moved from funeral home to funeral home.

One man got confused, rolled down his window and asked which miner was at the nearby Tomblyn-Whitescarver Funeral Chapel.

That was Mr. Jones.

By nightfall, the line of visitors for Mr. Jones spilled out of the funeral home and onto the lawn.

Cars filled a shopping center parking lot.

Butch DeBarr, of Buckhannon, said he knew Mr. Jones' mother and brother.

Like many visitors, Mr. DeBarr was a miner before retiring and part of a close-knit mining community.

Asked what words of comfort he had offered, Mr. DeBarr said, "that's between me and his Momma."

The Rev. Flynn, who traveled to Sago Monday to comfort families during the search for the miners, said his sermon today will stress that the miners "are in God's hands."

"I'm going to talk about how these guys mined the coal that lights our houses and they went into the darkest place imaginable to do it," said Rev. Flynn.

They didn't emerge from the darkness Monday, he said.

But he'll tell the congregation, "that darkness is not darkness to God."