The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-08-14
Supt Herbert and COL Bush on
Stand Yesterday
MANY FACTS AND FIGURES
Mr.. Herbert Tells of His Experience In
Alabama MinIne-Was Himself
Practical Coal Miner-Col.
Bush Exhaustive.

scale and contract drDllfdllOH piouoHN
out very important testimony. William
Herbert, the superintendent Of the mines
at Belle Ellen mines, who was on the
stand when adjournment was taken on
Wednesday, resumed.
The crowd of interested auditors was If
anything greater than on previous days
and the testimony of the witnesses was
listened to with the greatest attention.
Judge Gray kept the proceedings well
in hand and very little time was wasted
The Interruptions were few and every
thing went smoothly. Col. T. G. Bush
gave a more or less extended disserta-
ton on the moral characteristics of the
common mine mule.
P. C.. Bowman and C. P. Bedlow ap-
peared as counsel for the miners. When
Mr. Flynn introduced them he said: 1.-THE
miners have employed counsel; they nave
had none heretofore"
| Judge Gray said IF the miners have
! had no counsel the board was not aware
of it."
Mr.. Herbert Resumes.
William Herbert took the stand and MS
| examination was continued from Wednes-
| day.
He saba negro without experience
! taken from fields and put in the mines
could mine four of five tons a day after
| ninety days We have one white man
at No. who has not been in the mines
more than three months who mines three
or four tons a day We have green men
coming into the mines constantly. There
is no underwriting at our mines. Under
cutting requires more experience and
muscle than shooting from the solid.
Most of the Pratt seam coal is under
mined. The Pratt seam coal breaks In
! small cubes or splits. The Blocton coa
Is solid A shot in the Blocton seam
brings down more coal than in the Pratt.
In underwriting you dig in from three
and one-half to four feet. Your trench
is that deep. When coal has been I'M
dercut it takes less powder to shoot it
down The miners shoot from the solid
coal whenever possible. When we want
the coal mined or undercut we have
trouble keeping miners from shooting
from the solid.
The miners on the Thompson seam
would be a long time learning to mine
on the Pratt seam, it is so entirely diff
ferent
| first became a miner in Wales. /
started when 1 was ten years old and
have done everything that is to be done
In mine When l came to this coun-
try to l went first to Bridgeport, Ohio.
1 was there for eight years as superin-
tendent of a mine.
NJ. al
and all over this state. I don't know any
place in this country or Wales where a
miner can earn as much money In the
same time and as easily as at Blocton
under the last years wage scale.
There are many miners in this district
who are Scotch, Welsh, English, French
and Hungarans and have worked in
Pennsylvania, and the northern states.
The best of those miners stay here when
once they get to Alabama. A man uses
more powder in the Blocton seam than in
the Pratt seam because he does not under
cut and prefers to shoot.
Mules and Drivers.
We start a green man at driving or
cleaning track and pay him S1.7s per day.
An experienced teamster outside of the
mine gets $1.25 per day. Ordinary day
laborers in our district get S1.25. We have
many mules killed in the mlnes-thirty-
three mules were killed last year, due
largely to the carlessness of the drivers
But we have to pay as much for care
ess driver as for an expert. Drivers start
into the mine at o'clock. Miners gen.
orally get to the face of the work about
7:40 Narrow workmen shoot at II a. m
Roommen shoot at O'Clock and leave at
once getting out of mines at from to
4:3O Drivers come out at about the same
time
The drivers wait in the entries until the
coal is hauled out by the chain cable
They haul today what was shot down
the day before. The chain stops and the
engineers quit work about the same time.
That is about 4:30 p. m. l have heard
miners say they don't care about the two
weeks pay day. They don't care about the
eight-hour work day as they don't work
much more than eight hours now. 1 have
talked with the men considerably. In
our seam they don't have to work stead
lily. Their time is taken up In drilling
holes loading, etc. Whenever I go in
the mines see half of the men sitting in
the entries. The bumpers work twelve
hour shifts. They hove only to oil up
three times day. They have the easiest
jobs in the mine.
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