Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-08-02
Helena Montana, Thursday August Z, 1885,
MINERS CHARITY.
How the Widows are Taken Care of in
the Coal Regions.
New York Sun. |

New Ork sun.
While no organized relief societies exist
among the colliers, there is a general system
in vogue which does its work well and
promptly. Every printing Office in this
region is visited weekly by persons wanting
rattle tickets. These tickets cost 81 a 100,
and are headed Rattle for Cooking Stove,"
or clock, bureau, quilt, table, or some other
article of domestic use. 1t is announced
that the rattle is for the benefit of widow
or an injured miner and will be held at a
place designated, on the might after pay
day.n The price of the ticket is generally
so cents The rattle is in charge Of COM
mittee whose names appear on the ticket.
Take the case of a woman, for instance, late
ly made widow She has been left penni-
less, as miners widows usually are. Every
body understands this, and the 100 tickets
are promptly disposed of among the miners,
who pay for them on payday. On that day
the widow gets $50 cash. The night of the
rattle comes, and possibly one-fifth of the
ticket holders assemble. A fiddler, keg O..
beer, and little "hard stuff form the ele-
ments of the entertainment. The young
lads Join in dance with the lasses, the old
men sup and smoke their pipes, and the old
women recount the virtues of the deceased
miner. About midnight the rattle begins
The names of the ticket purchasers are put
into hat and well shaken. Whoever Sc
cures the prize at once turns it over to the
beneficiary. The company breaks up happy
over the good time they have had, and the
kind deed they have done. That $50 goes
long way in keeping the shadows from the
little house It will sometimes pay whole
years rent, and it only requires one or two
more rafles to keep the widows poor larder
stocked, for it must be remembered that po-
tatoes. cabbage and meat form the staple
articles of diet in these humble homes.
A year is a long time for comely and
thrifty woman to remain a widow at the
mines. no matter how many children she
NAV have. Jim is killed to-day, and possi-
blv before the summer ends Jack, who was
Jim's best friend, insists upon marrying
Jim's widow. Jim's babies become his. And
if YOU 20 below the surface you will find
the foundation of Jacks action to be pure
charity. 1t is a matter of record that when
the terrible Avondale disaster occurred, so
many widows and helpless ones were left
that the matter of caring for the former
speedily was discussed. 1t was quickly set
tied by propositions of marriage, and within
a very short time after the calamity
the household of every victim was
protected The same spirit exists in every
mining community, and is shield against
distress.
Attempts have been made to organize
mutual benefit associations among the
miners, but invariably the schemes have
come to grief usually through the cupidity OF
the managers. The Miners unions that have
been formed to relieve the distressed miners,
and the widows and orphans OF miners, have
all been wrecked in the shoals of politics.
An association of this kind was organized
by Charles Parrish, at the time President OF
the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company
and a large owner of the cOlliers. 1t was IN
the flush times Of several years ago. His
system involved the payment of fifty cents
a month by each employe into general
fund. Every miner injured in his work drew
out stated sum for his support during his
illness. Every widow got fixed sum, as
did every orphan up to certain age. Thous-
ands of miners were enrolled in this Organ1-
zation. For not only were the men taxed, but
the company itself contributed something.
For long time things went on swlmlngly.
The fund increased great deal more rapidly
than demands were made upon it, until the
sum of 900 was in the treasury This
accumulation worried the men, who imagined
that something would happen to the money
Agitation famed the fears of the doubling
into a blaze of suspicion, until finally
against the earnest petitions Of Mr.. Parrish
and hosts of well-informed miners, the de-
mand for a distribution of the fund among
the contributors became so obstinate that
the trustees turned the money over to the
claimants. Since then no other effective sys.
tenn has been adopted.
| Efforts have been made from time to time
to induce the miners to abandon custom
that prevailed among them. Whenever
man is killed in a mine while at work, every
man in the colliery where the accident oc
ours stops work Frequently 1900 employees
turn out and remain out for two days. There
appears to be deep superstition thai
prompts this peculiar exhibition Of respec
| for the dead.
| of .lv,nr