The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-10
B|CKNELL TALKS OF
RED CROSS PLANS
Says Palos Work Was Excel
lenty Managed
HAS NEVER SEEN BETTER
VIII Remain in District Several Days
Assisted BY Major Lynch Who
Had Extensive Experience
in Manchuria

Palos. May s.-tspeclaL) ERNEST P.
Br.cknel, national director of the Red
Cross society, with headquarters at
Washington, arrived at Palos from Bir-
mingham at s o'clock yesterday morn
ing He was accompanied by Maj.
Charles Lynch. who is appointed by the
| United States army as an assistant to
the Red Cross work at Palos. and j. C.
Logan of the Atlanta first aid to the in
iured corps, who was at Key West in
the interest of the Red Cross some time
ago. when cyclone did great destruc-
| ton there. i,
Mr.. Bicknell went Immediately to the
mines and stayed there nearly all day.
When at the Offices of the company dur
| ing the afternoon, where he was rest
| ing, he said
ITO be perfectly frank, I am doing
nothing Mr. Willows and Mr.. Cabaniss
| have done everything and left nothing
wanting. 1t is a great satisfaction to me
to see how they took hold of the work
Tor the relief of widows and orphans of
| Paios. Everything possible is being
done by the Red Cross. the company and
the neighboring community. In fact,
the relief work at Palos Is the best man
aged and most successful work of its
kind that I have ever seen-and l have
been to many disasters of this kind. Es-
recially the company that owns the mine
is 10 be congratulated for the assistance
it has given and is giving to the Red
Cross.
The work in the future now depends
almost entirely on the amount of funds
that is given to the relief cause by Bir-
| mingham and the state. OF course the
larger number Of the widows will be
compelled to leave Palos. as they are
now living in the company's houses, and
these will have to be vacated to give
room for the men who will step into
the places of the dead miners, and move
here with their families.
1.-THE Red Cross tries to get into
friendly relations with these widows and
orphans and assist them with money and
help them to go to place to live where
they have relatives, when it is possible.
We take each family on It's own merits
and treat it individually
struck me most forcibly Is the cool, calm
way in which the rescue work is being
carried on. and the self-restraint dis
played everywhere among the relatives
and friends of the dead men. However
all mine disasters are more or less alike.
They have their own peculiar horror.
They have heart-rending scenes that are
all their own and impossible to be wit
messed anywhere else.
Another feature is the way In which
everyone seems to have given up the
idea that there could be any one alive in
the NINE This greatly relieves the sus-
pense of the situation and partly ac-
counts for the calmness that now pre-
walls everywhere about the mine and
among the rescuers. There is nothing
equal in horror to a mine disaster. The
idea and knowledge Of women and chill
dren's loved ones lying in the bowels
of the earth, cold and dead, is different
from every other.
81 will be here for several days to
help and give advice to the relief work.
Maj. Charles Lynch, who accompanied
me here, is very experienced in this
kind of work. He was in Manchuria
during the Russo-Japanese war; repre-
senting the war department of the
United States. He will be Of valuable
assistance to the Red Cross in the work
to be carried on here"