The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-12-10

ton, owing to her daughters death, when he left home last night he said
 No one cared to cross-examine, and Judge Gray said:
 'sThat is all, MT. Coll. and that's enough"
 Explains the Powder Question.
 National Board Member Gallagher at the afternoon session explained the pow der question as best he could, saying that miners employed by the Markle company do ont get the 10 per cent increase be- cause of the peculiar way the company has of figuring the increase in wages agreed upon at the end of the 1900 strike. The witness presented several of his own wage statements which showed that something had been deducted for every pay day. When asked what this meant, he said he did not know. It was taken off his earnings every since he went into the mines and he simply dismissed 1t be- cause he did not object to the assess ments.
 An 1S-year-old slate picker, employed by the Markle company said that before the strike he received 85 cents, now he received only 75 cents a day. The com pany never notified him of the reduction and he still does the same work. He said the breaker boss, who stands over the pickers often clubbed him, kicked him and swore at him for not picking slate faster.
 Worked 13 Years.
 Mrs. Kate Burns of Jeado was then called to the stand and told a story of how she and her two boys worked thir- teen years to pay off an accumulated house rent and coal bill, due to Markle and company, the narration of which deeply interested the commissioners. She was examined by Lawyer Barrow and in answer to his questions she said her hus- band was an engineer insde the Markle mines The husband was killed under ground, leaving her with four children, the oldest of which was boy of eight years The company never offered her penny but the employees gave her about S1S0 to defray the funeral expenses.
 After her husband had been killed she moved from her four-room house into che containing only two, one above the ether, and for the next six years she struggled as best she could to get along. She took in washing, scrubbed for the eighbors and ence in a while she was given work cleaning the offices of the Markle company. During these six years she said she kept her children at school. end as soon as the eldest child was 1f years old she sent him to the mines to help earn the daily bread At the end of the first month the lad brought home his V age statement, showing that the mother owed 1896 for back rent The boys wages for tho month had been taken off the bill ard he came home empty-handed. She submitted to this and in the course of time her next boy was old enough to help earn a living. and he, too, was sent to the colliery.
 Second Boy Got No Pay.
 Like the older brother, the second boy received no pay, his earnings being de- ducted for rent. Tears were by this time gathering in the witness eyes, and when she added that the money she earned for cleaning the Markle office was never given her, but kept by the company for rent, the commissioners looked at one an- other ;n surprise. She said 1t took the three of them thirteen years to make up the debt. the mothers earnings from Ieighbors being the principal ccntribu- tion toward the maintenance of the fam ily The debt was cleared in August. Dur ing the six years from the time her hus- bsnd was killed until the time the first boy went to work the company never asked her for rent.
 This concluded the mine workers case against G. B. Markle & Cc. except that MT. Darrow read ard placed upon the records of the commission John Markle's statement to President Roosevelt at the time of the now famous confereEcs in the temporary White House.
 he attorneys for the miners then con- sImed the remainder of the afternoon session by presenting ten witnesses who had bsen employed ty either the Della wsre and Hudson company, the Temple Ccal and Iron company or the Erie com peny, who testified that after the strike they were unaole to get back to their old employment. This was done to show that the companies were breaking part of the agreement by wi hich the strike was ended and the commlttes appointed. On cross examination 1t was shown they had not been -s-employed because they had re- fused to do other work