News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-04-05
A FAMILY IN ITSELF.
PENNSYLVANIA COAL MINERS.
How They Provide for the Widows and Or
phans-A Work of Generosity.


How They Provide for the Widows and Or
| phRns-A Work of Generosity.
A letter by a Wilkes Barre, Pa, cor
respondent of the New York SIN SAYS:
| Accidents in the colIierics of the mid
die district of the anthracite coal fields.
of which this city is the centre, made
! last year nearly one hundred widows and
over five hundred orphans. Reports for
| the first two months of 1888 show an
equal average of the fatalities. But not
outstanding the frequency of fatal acct
dents and the absence of any organized
| charity, the larders of the widowed fam
lies are never empty. None go naked,
| the household fires are not extino11ished
and the little home is never stripped by
a landlords warrant. Kind hands see
that food is provided each day, and the
men returning from their work in the
mines do not forget to carry to the
| widows home a lump of anthracite for
the next days Use. Communism in a
peculiar sense prevails among the coal
miners of Pennsylvania. The lucky di-
vide with the unlucky as readily and as
cheerfuIly as if they belonged to one
family. However much all may quarrel
on abstract questions of politics or re-
! llgiOn, all discussions are dropped at the
appeal of charity.
While, as has been said, no organized
relief societies exist among the golfers,
| there IS general system i'll vogue which
does its work well and promptly. Every
printing office i'll this region is visited
weekly by persons wanting rattle tickets.
| These tickets cost one dollar a hundred,
and are headed. "Raffie for a 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 a widow or an injured miner,
and will be held at a place designated,
on the might after pay day" The
| price of the tickets is generally fifty
! cents. The rattle is in charge of a COM
mlttee whose names appear on the ticket.
Take the case Of a woman, for instance,
| lately made widow She has been left
| penniless, as miners widows usually are.
Everybody understands this, and the
| hundred tickets are promptly disposed Of
among the miners, who pay for them on
pay day. On that day the widow gets
$50 cash. The night of the rattle comes
and possibly, one-tifth of the ticket
| holders assemble. A fiddle, a key of
| beer, and a little hard shtuff' form
| the elements of the entertainment The
young lads join III a 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 a
| hat and well shaken. Whoever secures
| 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 a long way in keeping the
shadows from the little house. 1t will
| sometimes pay a whole years rent and
! it only requires one or two more raffies
to keep the victOrs poor larder stocked,
for it must be understood that potatoes,
cabbages, and meat form the staple arti-
cles of diet i'll these humble homes.
A year is a long time for a comely and
thrifty woman to remain widow at the
mines, no matter how many children she
may have. Jim is killed to-day, and pos
| sibly before the summer ends, Jack, who
was ,Jim's best friend, insists upon marry
! ing Jims widow Jims babies become
! his. And if you go below the surface
! you will find the foundation of Jacks ac-
ton to be pure charity. 1t is matter of
record that when the terrible AvOndaIe
! disaster occurred, so many widows and
| helpless ones were left, that the matter
of caring for the former speedily was dis
cussed. 1t was quickly settled by prop
| OsltlOns OF marriage, and within a very
! short time after the calamity the house
hold of every victim was protected. The
same spirit exists in every mining COM
munity to-day, and is a shield against
much distress. Attempts have been
made from time to time to organize mu-
! tual benefit associations among the
miners, but invariably the schemes have
come to grief, usually through the cupid
! lty OF the managers. The miners unions
| that have been formed to relieve dis
! tressed miners, and the widows and or
! phans of miners, have all been wrecked
IN the shoals of politics. An association
of the kind was organized by Charles
! Parrish, at the time President of the LIE
high and Wilkesbarre Coal Company and
| a large owner of the collieries. It was
in the flush times of several years ago
His system involved the payment of fifty
cents a month by each employee into a
! general fund. Every miner injured in
his work drew ont a stated sum for his
support during his illness. Every widow
! had a fixed sum, as did every orphan up
to certain age. Thousands OF miners
were enrolled in this organization. Not
only were the men taxed, but the COM
pany itself contributed something. For
a long time things went on swimmingly
| The fund increased a great deal more
rapidly than demands were made upon it,
until the sum of $50, 900 was III the treas
Ury. This accumulation worried the men,
who imagined that something would hap
pen to the money Agitation famed the
| fears of the doubling into a blaze of sus-
picion, until finally, against the earnest
petitions of Mr. Parrish, and hosts of
well-infOrmed miners, the demand for a
distribution of the fund among the con-
! tributOrs became so obstinate that the
| trustees turned the money over to the
claimants. Since then no other effective
system has been adopted.
Efforts have been made from time to
! time to induce the miners to abandon a
custom that prevails among them. When
ever Il man is killed in a mine while at
work, every man III the coliery where
| the accident occurs stops work. Ere
quently 1,5O0 employees turn out and re-
main out for two days. There appears
to be a deep superstition that prompts
this peculiar exhibition of respect for the
dead.