The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-19

 is sent up. It takes half a mans time to separate 1t. If man sends too much waste he Is penalized Cars hold 360o pounds. A good miner can make five tons day. About three times in two weeks a man will work hard and not send out any coal.
 It is no test of how much time a man works to take the tally sheet and check off what he sends out. These blank days would average six days week. l have been a miner about thirty-ffve years. We use black powder in the rooms. One keg of powder will pull IS tons of coal. Pow der costs $1.75 per keg; squibs, 15 cents hundred and oil 50 cents a gallon, A gallon of oil will last two to three weeks
 We get 471s cents a ton. Cars come to the face of the coal The top Is good as a general thing, and the miners do the timbering. The rooms are 20 by 30 feet In size. The timbers are feet apart and there are four rows to a room. The tim- bers are marked and piled up outside by the miner, The drivers deliver them to the entry and the miner takes them to his room, Searles mine has been opened for three years. My entry is 1900 feet from opening of the mine and I am 250 feet from outer end of the entry.
 Making Time.
 Miners go into the mine at 6:3O and stop work at 4:30 which is the afternoon shooting time At dinner time we stop for one hour. All men stop at the same time, drivers and all There are loaded cars left in the mines sometimes. l don't know whether any other mines in this district have the same rules. board. l don't keep house. They, that is other miners. tell me that they pay S.5O per month per room for their houses. The houses are box houses The front rooms are sealed.
 Cross-examined by Col. Bush, the wit ness says-I began work for the Ala bama Consolidated Coal and Iron com pany about March 1, 1903. I mined some thing over one hundred tons of coal in March. I don't remember how many days I worked. l think worked twenty days. I don't know how many tons mined a day. The seam will not average six feet. I measured it before I came to the convention in June. I am sure there was not six feet in the entry worked In. I work on No. ?. I think I was turning a room in March I worked about twenty days in the month of April. I got out something over a hundred tons. I ran about five tons day that month. When I turned room I was delayed. I worked thirteen days in the month of May.
 Statement by Col Bush-The. sheet shows that he mined seventy tons In twelve days. He also got s3.50 for yard age in those twelve days. and received all told $39.60. He may have entered the mine more than twelve days. Witness Golsen resumes-I generally stay in the mine about nine hours. l of ten leave the mine after being in half ' xTvt- 4f-x l.. I don't know how long I worked in June. I cannot say that I was in the mine on five days in the month of June. I don't know how long it will take to move the middle man., We get fifty cents a yard for removing the middle man." l am ffty-four years old. Young men would work faster. It takes one keg of powder to eighteen tons of coal in this seam. One keg of powder would not pull forty tons of coal. I never figured it out. It Is my opinion that it is an average of one keg to eighteen tons.
 Possibly gallon of oil would run a man from three weeks to a>nonth. A gal lon would not last me six weeks. I am only governed in making these estimates by my own experience The whistle blows at 6:30 a. m. Most of the men go in at 6:30. I generally go in when the whistle blows. I get in so early that don't know when the others go in. Most of the men go in with the mules when the whistle blows
 Home for Dinner. The men come out at noon for an hour, for dinner. Everybody starts back when the whistle blows at l o'clock 1 don't know how many stay out. I always went back and stayed if I could. I stayed un- less the powder smoke was bad We shoot there at Il 80 a. m. and 4:30 p. m. Some times one half the cars in an entry are left loaded over night and some are emp ty The three first days last week it oc cured with me and my buddy that load ed car was left overnight. On Tuesday or Wednesday last week there were fourteen loaded cars when went down. Generally there are few loaded cars. I don't rent a house. The houses are fairly comforta- ble. All I know about the rentals is from hearsay.
 The dockage for dirt in the coal is 1000 pounds for three spike or nail kegs For the first three kegs there is no dockage Four kegs or over means 15o0 pounds dockage. Nine kegs means discharge. I think the dockage Is too heavy. I have been docked for slate and bone. To take a whole car away for kegs is too much I don't think careful miner can help be- ing docked occasionally. I never tested what I could make in a month. I never tried what I can make Tn a day.
 Mir. Percy Cross-Examines.
 Cross examined by MT. Percy the wit ness said:
 I average eighteen tons to q keg. An other seam with less dirt. I could get lit tie more coal The days don't show coal on the weigh sheet are the days am get ting out "middlemman". don't know what part of car is represented by keg of dirt.
 In answer to questions by MT. Lewis witness said:
 I think three kegs of slate would weigh 120 pounds. In working in the mines we cannot see the slate clearly on account of the smoke and darkness. A man can not load much coal in turning room the room neck is twenty feet long and eight feet wide. We are paid sl.50 for turning a room. When turning we have to load the slate at night. We get s1.5o