Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-11-25
ITO be c%ontinued.)
IN a SULPHUR MINE.
Terrible Hardship. of the Boy. EN-

ploycl herein.
"Therc are but few who admire the
collection OF beautiful sulphur crys-
tails in the National Museum" remark
ed the gentleman who collected them
from the famed sulphur mines in Sicily
to a Washington Star reporter, who
have any idea in relation to the same
except their beauty. l don't Think"
he said, "there is another spot on earth
where such abominablc treatment, such
fcndish cruelty, is inflicted on the la
borcr as in the sulphur mines of Sicily.
They are paid barely enough to pro-
vide themselves with n scant supply of
the coarest, cheapest food, and n good
portion of the time they are in n state
of chronic starvation. When l was
last there. many of the mines were
closed, and a Sicilian paper stated that
10000 people were starving at the
mines. h work is of the hardest and
most eXhausting character. Very few
of the mines have hoisting apparatus.
and the sulphur ore Sulphur and lime
stone combined) is brought up from the
depths below on the backs Of men and
boys. Long, sloping, narrow tunnels
lead from the surface down to the sui
phur beds 200 to GOO feet or more be-
low. Miners dig the stuff out, and it is
carried up in stout sacks or fiat bas-
llets. Many Of the laborers, especially
the boys, work naked. On their backs
they wear a piece of mating, or ONE
thing Of the sort, held by q string
around the neck. This is to protect the
flesh from being torn from their bodies
by the tagged corners Of the ore they
carry. No n can imagine q more
heartrending sight than to see the
wretched creatures toiling up the long,
steep slopes in the mine with their
enormous loads. Every step they take
wrings a gronn from their tortured
frames. Most pitiful to me was the
sight Of the poor, bent, broken and
emaciated old men, mere battered
wrecks, and the yourg lads of 10 and
IL years, who have just begun this life
of cruel toll.
Staggering along under loads full
as heavy as a strong man ought to
carry, the dreadful procession winds
upward through the narrow drifts and
tunnels to the surface, where the ore
Is piled up in rectangular heaps and
paid for by the cubic meter.
IAN evidence of the awful severity
of the labor is the fact that a very
large percentage Of these lads are SO
badly crippled by the time they reach
the age for military service that the
conscript officers are forced to reject
them. And assure you that the Ital.
ian Government is not over-critical "a
to the physical condition Of the mer
she sends by the ship load to Masso-
wah to be butchcred by the Abys-
sinians. When the miserable creatures
leave the inferno underground and
reach the surface they find themselves
in a veritable corner of hades. The sul-
phur is extracted at the mine by roast
ing it in immense heaps slightly COW
cred with earth, not unlike in form to n
charcoal pit. The air is SO filled with
sulphurous vapors and dust as 10 al.
most su%ffocate enc. Not a green thing
in sight, for the poisonous vapors kill
all vegetation. The fierce sun beats
down upon one in those vendurelcss
valleys with great fury. On every side
there are the hot rocks, acres of i'm
palpabie sitting dust, md the vapors
from the calcining air can only he
compared TO blasts from the Internal
region"
Prof. Martin. the Swedish savant, has
discovered in the Krcmlin at Moscow
a large portion of the Swedish war