The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-28
THE COST OF COAL.
IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION!
The Cost of Producing Coal does
not Exceed One Dollar
per Ton!
A Dreadful Story of Wrongs and
Oppression.


A Dreadful Story of Wrongs and
Oppression.
| ACCIDENTS.
You have often read the accounts
of horrible calamities occurring in
the mines. A few days ago in Halle
ton water burst into the mine from
an old working and several men were
drowned. The number killed in
1891 was 427; injured 997; wives made
widows, 1856; number of orphants left
592. You can form an idea of the
large families the miners are blessed
with from the foregoing. The cause
Of many accidents can be attributed
to the carelessness of the miners and
employees themselves; but a great
many come from negligence on the
part of the operators. Such as the
affairs at HazeltOn, Evansville and
several others. If the survey was
properly made the accidents would
not have happened. When a Hun
garian or Pole meets with an acct
dent his friends will not keep him.
He is sent to the hospital: If one
| meets with death even his wife will
not recognize him. "Dead Hungari-
an no good" they exclaim. 1 know
a case where one was killed, brought
home and buried the same day and
his wife married the next. The wife
of Hungarian or Pole is an abject
slave to him. The mine law says
that all dangerous machinery shall
be rallied in. That is so no one will
fall in and be killed, yet a great
many are killed this way. 1t is the
most horrible death one could die.
l quote from this mornings papers:
"Stephen Ballo, married man, 48
years sof age met with horrible
death at Hazlebrook, few miles
from Freeland, last Thursday morn
ing, at about 11:45. While at work
he became over balanced and fell in
to the chute and was caught in the
rollers and ground to death before
the machinery could be stopped.
His body was SO terribly mangled
that it was deemed necessary to
bury his remains Immediately. The
interment will take place in the
South Heberton cemetery. Deceas-
ed is survived by a wife and four
small children"
MURDER OF CHILDREN.
You can form an idea of that kind
of death. A great many boys are
mangled owing to their insufficient
strength to stand an ordeal. A
short time ago when l was working
in shaft l was called to help lift
a loaded car off young boy. The
car had run over his arm at the
shoulder and was resting on his
back. He was little fellow, very
child-like and stood the torture like
an old soldier. After we lifted the
car [ put him on my back and car
ried him about mile where we put
him on car and took him home.
For weeks it was fight against
death but finally he recovered. His
arm, however was amputated near
the shoulder. This is only one of
many. There is a system which
caues considerable number of acct
dents without comment, it is care
lessness in repairing the roads. The
use of wooden rails with strap iron is
now in vogue. 1t seems to me that
r0i oh hn nf So
cheaper. Steel rails are dear owing
to the tariff, l suppose, and so the
WOOD is used. The strap iron is SIM
liar to an iron band, which is spiked
to the wood rail. The spikes wear
out and the strap springs up. When
the car comes it goes back to it's
place under the pressure. When
the mule is pulling the car it be-
comes very dangerous. A stretcher
connects the car and the mule to-
gether. A stretcher is composed of
two chains with hook on them and
a stick to keep the chains from rub
bling the mules legs. When car
is descending grade it is not please
ant to think: "What if the stretcher
should catch in the strap IRON" I
have thought Of it many time.
The thought of it makes me shudder
now. Here is a report of an accident
that occurred short time ago:
"A most horrifying accident oc-
cured in Jones & Simpsons mine at
the Ridge, on Tuesday afternoon, in
which Griffith, the thirteen year-old
son of Richard Reese, was fatally
injured. He was driving loaded
car in the mines, to which the mule
was hitched. The mule trOd on a
loose end of a long piece of strap iron,
about an inch wide, part of the
track, and raised the other olsen
gagged end to such height as to
reach the boys thight near the hip.
The rough and rusty iron penetrated
the fieshy part of the leg and taking
an upward turn came out at the
back just below the ribs. The poor
boy shrieked with the agony of de-