New-York tribune., 1903-01-11

- man who came from through
Southern train the other morning at'I aC'eU
attention of the Jersey commuter most apsoi Oe0
in his newspaper as the ferryboat paooleo 'ieiii
across the bay to Manhattan. The quar- I'e' "eie
-. e one could believe the greasy. lamp
hearing caps over their tousled halr' uleir piue
flannel shirts hip boots of rubber and the rest oi
- ,-s,b stained ard grimy with coal dust
..strikersr exclaimed more than one OF the
-,ou,.,-,, commuters Those who had empty
coal hins at home frowned; more fortuna'e oiie'
betraved curious interest
~Perbaps they've come to blow up the coal
-, >, o,,se,,,aa nervous whiskered citizen
10 the man who sat beside him.
..r,,. .ha strike is over now. and the aroltra-
3D., co,,n,ission nearly through with its WORK.
answered that one. More than hkel! 'heS Ne
come TO town holiday.
..1r those clothes said the man of nerves.
.cornfuly. Well ask them.
I'M. we're not from the strike district eH-
rlained the oldest of the group, with an acceh'
stst,,c+lv Southern. We're from the West Viz
pinia Central mines and we've been "orhiiis
overtime while the anthracite diggers have oeen
-. -bore,e been no time to spend the money
we've been making. and at last we just Simply
tore loose"
..-rore loose. did you?" asked the commuter'
How do you tear loose?
..1t started when we got down from the mine
night before last" continued the miner we
ran across some apple brandy. and IL was d
case Of first drink in five months Tor hosl VI
MS Then after about five drinks, we peeah
having visions of good times in Cumberland
the big town near US. So we lald IN supply
..o-- ,se on the train and started. At Cumber-
land one Of the boys sighted the train for New
York and it was all up with us, for. you see'
auipc before
inst got aboard that train. never thinking how
we were dressed, and here we are
what are YOU going to do?" asked the Jer-
.evnan to whom the whole thing was strange
proceeding and interesting
See the town"
by the light of those lamps?" he asked in his
Innocence.
-Oh. well slip into cheap clothing store and
shed this working she'll said the miner Then
do things and see things until there is no money
left TO pay the piper.
Then what
Go hack 10 the mines on the rods he said.
smiling; and, seeing that the other did not un-
dersfand. continued beat way under
freight trains"
Just then the ferryboat put into the slip and
the miners went their way, with never a thought
of the notice they were attracting The COM
muter went his way. and at luncheon told the
story as an Illustration of the irresponsibilty
Of the coal miner.
AS il happened, at his table was a man who
had once been superintendent of a railroad
mine AT Thomas. ". Va. and he took up the
story
The miners you saw, while peculiar to West
Virginia are not typical of the district" he be-
gan and every knew that story was com
ing They are careless young Southerners.
every inch American, and good workers for three
months at a stretch. Then they are due for a
spree which likely not lands them in New
York clad as they were on leaving the mine,
as YOU saw those four this morning.
The typical West Virginia soft coal miner is
either an Irishman or a Polander. Both are
naturally superstitious and working in the dark
bowels of the earth tends TO increase il. They
can see more things in the mine when perfectly
sober than these daredevil Southerners can
when their nerves give way after looking for
q week or so into the mouth Of the apple brandy
jug
There are haunted mines in West Virginia,
as there are in nearly every other mining dis
tr,c. Some of them have such bad reputa
,.on that il is difficult TO keep full crew at
vork Haunted houses, you know, are gen