The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-11-07

-Host people going Tor the hrSt time
into the region of the great anthracite
mines would at once put the mine
workers and their families in class
apart from the ordinary human beings
writes Paul Latzke, in the Detroit
Free Press. The newspaper accounts
have paved the way for this, and the
appearance Of the men and boys in
their working outfit clinchcs the i'm
preston. No other body of laborcrs
IN the world carry such strong cxtcr-
nal evidences Of their vocation. From
the top Of their heads, where their
mining lamps flare from the peaks Of
their queer shaped caps, to their feet,
shod with great, grimy, thick-soled i,
clamping boots, the mincworkers bear
the obtrusivc stamp Of their trade.
They look uncanny, fierce. Take the
most mild hammered and inoffcnsivc
little man that lives, clothc him in the
miners regalia, let him hammer for
eight or ten hours underground, and
he will come up fearsomc object.
The most courageous woman from the
outside world would run from such
man at the least demonstration.
Should she unexpectedly meet him at
dark on lonely road, having never
seen miner before, she would proba-
bly, have an attack Of hysteria.
The faces Of the men are hard and
scanned and sallow, and, thick with
coal dust, they are almost less than hu-
man to the eunaccustomcd gaze. Their
eyes are outlined with crows feet, no
matter how young they may be, and
they have peculiar squirting look,
due to their constant working in the
half gloom Of the coal tunnels. It is
recorded Of some of the mules that
pull coal cars in the mines, chat, hav-
ing worked for years under ground
without once coming up, they have
gone instantly blind, on being exposed
to the daylight. In measure it is so
with the men and boys who spend their
working hours day after day under.
ground. The daylight gives them an
uncomfortable sensation, and they &C.
quire the habit Of screwing up their
eyes that finally affects all the muscles
Of thesface
1t is owing to these strongly marked
peculiarities that the mine workers are
put down at first by newspaper CORES
pondents and writer's in the district as
something apart. Even the trained
observer requires some time to accus-
tom himself to their striking appear
ance and to realize that after oil these
men are like other men, and that their
women, though they have absorbed
many Of the characteristics Of the
men, are like other women. It is not
until he has spent little time among
the miners that he comes to regard
them as ordinary workmen. On q
Sunday or holiday with the CRIME
washed of their faces, their mining
lamps hung awsy. their working
clothes removed, the men look an en-
tifely different lot of human beings.
Then it's only by their crows feet
and the paleness Of their skins, due to
their underground life, that they are
to be recognized. The first time ]
ever saw considerable body of the
miners together was Sunday mass
meeting before the big strike was call.
ed. Twas amazed at the unlikenesf
to their pictured appearance. For all
! that anyone could have told the mass
meeting might have been at Cooper
Union in New York. The only differ
ence was that most Of the men-ant
women, too, for there were lots Of wo
men in the crowd were much bette
dressed than the crowd that turn ou
at Cooper Union mass meetings.
If the miners and mine laborer
were engaged in work Of an ordinar
character, no one would think Of put
ting them down as being underpaid q
class. Compared with other form
Of work, mining, even in its highes
form, is li.!lc more than unskilled IL
Dor, and the scale of prices may see,
high. But in determining the carr
ings Of miners as compared with tn
earnings Of other lsborers, numbe
of things arc to be taken into consit
GRAFTON. The character of their wor
is extra hazardous. Every time
man goes down the shaft he puts hin
self at the mercy Of all sorts of dal
gers over which he has no contro
Gas explosions, "squeeze," the fal
ing Of mass of coal, and dozen otl
er things menace his life every m
ment that he is underground. And
shrewdly have the operators manag,