Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-07-13
HOW TO Save
MINERS LIVES.
Public Demonstration TO Be
Held at Pittsburg.
PRESIDENT WILL Be THERE,

Twenty to Thirty Thousand Miners
Expected to Be Present-Exhibiton
by Trained First Aid and Rescue
Corps.
In line with its effort to reduce
the number of deaths in the coal mines
of the United States. the bureau of
mines will hold national miners life
saving demonstration on Sept. 1G in
Arsenal park. Pittsburg. President
Taft, Secretary of the Interior Fisher
and DR.. Joseph A. Holmes, director of
the bureau of mines. will attend and
speak to the miners. The bureau of
mines will have the cooperation of
the Pittsburg Coal Operators associa
ton and the American Red Cross. 1t
is expected that between 10000 and
many of the important coal companies
will send their trained first aid and
rescue corps to take part in the eXhi-
bitiOn. Already number Of teams
have entered and are in training for
the event. which promises to be the
most important gathering Of miners
ever assembled.
Arsenal park is the site of the test
ing station of the bureau of mines. and
the experts Of the bureau are busy
arranging for unique program. The
arrangements for the first demonstra
ton are in the hands Of II. NJ. Wilson,
engineer in charge of the bureau Of
mines. Pittsburg. Major Charles Lynch.
medical corps. U. S. A.. in charge Of
the first aid department Of the Red
Cross, and DR.. NJ. E. Shields of Scran
ton. Pa. both Of whom are pioneers in
this movement. are assisting. The first
aid to the injured work will be one Of
the features Of the entire day. The
teams from the various coal mines
will not contest. but will give exhibit
tons of their skill in bringing injured
miners from the mines and binding
the wounds and fractures. Many Of
these teams have been instructed in
first aid by the surgeons of the Ameri-
can Red Cross and also by the rescue
corps o. the bureau Of mines
Thousands injured Yearly.
Between 5000 to 5000 miners are
injured each year in the United States,
some so seriously that they die per-
haps months afterward and others are
so MANNED that they are cripples for
life The work of the first aid to the
injured teams is to give the proper
emergency treatment so that injuries
will be leSSened in seriousness and
some of the fatalities perhaps avoid
ed In the anthracite region Of Penn
sylvania the first aid work has been
highly developed through the good
work Of the American Red Cross, and
many lives have been saved through
the prompt and efficient work of the
members of the various corps. This
movement has become so popular In
the anthracite region that annual field
contests between the teams are held
each year in the presence of thousands
Ut spectators. Prizes are given to the
winners by the American Red Cross.
and the operators join in with con-
tibutions of badges and cups. Fol-
lowing the example Of the anthracite
region and directly as the result of the
instructions in first aid to the injured
and in the helmet rescue work being
introduced in all parts Of the United
States by the rescue cars and stations
of the bureau of mines. teams have re-
Gently been organized in the bitumi-
nous mining districts throughout the
country. The members of these teams
are eager to show their skill and will
take part in the exhibition
Real Explosions.
In addition to the exhibition by the
first aid teams the miners will wit
ness gas and coal dust explosions in
miniature. which will be staged in the
great explosives gallery of the bureau
of mines. In Arsenal park there will
also be temporary gallery, which
will resemble coal mine. This will
be placed at the bottom of a natural
amphitheater. giving clear view to
thousands of persons. There will be
gas explosion in this play mine.
Miners will be entombed. and one of
the government rescue corps in oxy-
gen helmet will enter and save the
men. One side of the miniature mine
will be open it's entire length in order
that the onlookers may witness every
thing that happens in an underground
horror except the loss of life. The
famous oxygen helmets that members
of the rescue corps of the bureau wear
and which have been instrumental in
saving a number of lives will be on
exhibition and explained to the min
ers. The oxygen reviving apparatus.
which automatically takes the poison
Gus gases from the lungs of an as
phyxiated miner and fills them with
oxygen. will also be demonstrated.
This apparatus has already brought
back to consciousness a number Of
miners given up as dead.