Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-01-25
IN A SULPHUR MINE.
Terrible Hardships Of the Boys Z
nlOYed TherA1n

terrible Hardships Of the Boys EN-.
ployed Therein.
Ihere are but few who admire the
reflection Of beautiful sulphur crys
tails In the National Museum" remark
ed the gentleman who collected them
from the famed sulphur mines in Sicily
to 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 abOminable treatment, such
hendish cruelty, is inflicted on the Ia
borer as In the sulphur mines of Sicily.
They are paid barely enough to pro-
vide themselves with a scant supply of
the coarest, cheapest food, and a good
portion of the time they are in a state
OF chronic starvation. When 1 was
last there, many Of the mines were
closed, and Sicilian paper stated that
$4,000 people were starving at the
mines. The 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 600 feet or more be-
low. Miners dig the stuff out, and 1t is
carried up In stout sacks or dat bas-
kets: Many Of the laborers. eePas,ally
they wear a piece Of mating, or some
thing Of the sort, held by string
around the neck. This Is to protect the
flesh from being torn from their bodies
by the Jagged corners Of the ore they
carry. No one can imagine a 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 groan from their tortured
frames. Most pltiful to me was the
sight Of the poor, bent, broken and
emaciated old men, mere battered
wrecks, and the young lads Of 10 and
II years, who have just begun this life
of cruel toll.
staggering along under loads full
rs 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 1 assure you that the ItaI.
ian Government Is not over-critical as
to the physical condition Of the men
she sends by the ship load to Masso.
wah to be butchered 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 sui
phur is extracted at the mine by roast.
ing it in immense heaps slightly GOV.
cred with earth, not unlike In form to q
charcoal pit. The air Is 80 filed with
sulphurous vapors and dust as to al
most suffocate one. Not green thing
in sight, for the poisonous vapOrs xii
all vegetation. The fierce sun beats
down upon one in those vendureless
valleys with great fury. On every side
there are the hot rocks, acres Of i'm
palpable sitting dust, and the vapors
from the calcining air can only be
compared to blasts from the iDferna
region"