The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-10-16
THE MINERS ARE GRATEFUL
FOR THE CLOTHING SENT TO THEM
Pathetic Incidents Connected With Dis
tribution of "The Sentinel's" Collec-
tion-MedicIne, Food and Clothing
StIn Badly Needed.

| of the Brazil block coal company's shafts.
! At Cardonia there is no work being
/ done at all, and the little hamlet is filled
with idle men, who are willing and anx
lOus to go to work when an opportunity
offers that will promise more than slow
starvation. While here 1 had my atten-
| ton called to a most pitiable sight. Will
| lam Me- is a miner who has worked
in the shaft, as boy and man, nearly
thirty years. As he puts it in his own
language: 81 have always been sober and
industrious. and have a wife. mother and
three children depending on me for sup
port" His mother very recently took to
her bed with chlls and fever, which
threw the responsibility of caring for the
house and little ones on his wife, which
she did until yesterday, when she gave
birth to a baby. The mother could not
furnish the little one with nourishment
and it was taken in charge by the neigh
bors. They are also caring for the poor
woman. whose serious condition, the doc
tors say, was brought about by lack OF
wholesome food.
If there was but one incident of this
kind, God knows it would be serious
enough, but such is not the case. DIR. j.
Pell OF Carbon was attending a sick child
of Smith Rothford's, when the little one
died, and he says that beyond doubt the
baby came to its death through blood
poisoning contracted through its inability
to secure a sufficient amount of nourish-
ment from its mother, she not being able
to obtain the necessary food.
At Carbon there are few black-legs
working in the shaft known as No. 10,
which is owned by the Brazil block coal
company, but hundreds of men are here
idle and are firm in their resolve to hold
out against the operators. Meeting an
old miner, asked him if he knew what
the condition of the miners families was
in regard to clothing. God knows we
need clothes to cover our nakedness, he
said. "THE INDIANAPOLIS SENTINEL, in
conjunction with the people of Indian
apolis, has conferred blessing on us that
we can never forget and you can never
fully appreciate"
While at Carbon I visited the public
schools. The rolls show an attendance of
about one hundred and seventy pupils,
the oldest of whom was not more than
fourteen years of age: not more than forty
OF them had shoes. Many had nothing
to cover their little forms but a calico
slips The very amiable lady who
taught the little fellows, on being asked
as to the condition of their parents, said:
ut seems like sin and shame to spend
money in keeping up the schools when 1
know the little dears come here hungry
and 90 back home TO get only a small
piece of bread and bacon and a glass of
water. tell you sir, she went on, ''the
authorities of the state should take this
matter in hand and at least provide them
with quinine to break the chills and fever
from which they are now suffering"
The condition OF the miners has been
steadily growing worse for the past four
or five years. 1t has at all times been the
aim of the operators to keep more miners
on hand than there was work for. This
they accomplished by paving the men
from the store, the keeper of which kept
the shaft boss informed as to the amount
Of the bill the miner owed. Ii he was
found to be frugal and making an en-
deavor to lay something by, he was laid
off for few days until bis savings were
used up. In the meantime some other
man was allowed TO work awhile to square
himself at the store. BY this system ithas
been impossible for the men, except in
rare instances, to get anything at all
ahead. When at last the operators came
to the conclusion, on account of the weak
ness of the men in this respect,
they could reduce the price of
mining and thereby add to their
well-illed Golfers they cut the scale.
No more work than they had had in the
past would be promised. They counted
without their hosts, as the history of the
past five months proves, and are now try
ing other tactics, claiming as one of the
chief operators did, that it was not
question of the 10 or 20 cents difference
in the price of mining, but the question
has resolved itself into "who was master
and who was man."
Incidents OF priyation and almost stary-
alton are here without number, and as
one thinks of the wan faces, bare feet and
naked bodies of the women and
children, he almost feels like doubling
the humanity of some men.
Too much can not be said in honor and
praise Of the officers and members OF the
central relief committee The president,
Mr.. William Gault. is a man of exceptional
qualifications. He has spent his life in the
mines and his efforts at frugality have
DcCn dDlN ecCOUOeQ DN HIS WIG, ana vet
he has been unable to obtain anything but
little nest in which to live. The efforts
of the committee in their distribution of
the stores and conduct of the strike in
order TO keep order among the men, who
are nearly driven to desperation they are
assisted by State Mine InsI ector McQuade,
who has gone down in his pocket, when he
could i'll afford it, to relieve the suffering
of his fellow men. To use his own Lam
guage: 81 know what these people have
to endure. | wasa miner all my life until
l received the appointment TO the Office
now hold"
There are miners in this place who have
been here since mining commenced. They
have been frugal, industrious and hard
working; some of them have secured only
an humble home in all those years of toll.
None OF them have attained competence,
or palatial mansion to dwell in. Such is
the case, and it cannot be controverted.
How are they going to live at reduction
of the proportion proposed by the oper-
ators? II they merely subsist when
working, the poor-house would be their
portion when idleness is forced upon
them.
The clothing collected by THE SENTINEL
arrived all right and was distributed to
the needy. The two suits of fine baby
clothes donated by a prominent society
lady in indianapolis were given to the
little one who first saw the light OF day at